Never have any success with seeds

For illustration about the importance of light, I just nipped out and took this picture of the flower seeds in my coldframe. There are stocks, clarkia, sweet peas, none of which have been inside at all, they are a bit late because it’s cold, but good germination (the clarkia are taking their time but they are coming now). I’ve got lots of others at a similar stage in my lean to mini plastic greenhouse, which I think cost £14.99 in Wilko, and does an excellent job. I don’t bother with the windowsills at all now, but I’ve also got a propagator with a light which I use for the really tender seeds, it’s also good because I use it to grow lettuce through the winter in the house.

Light is definitely the key. I never have real success with stuff on the windowsill, or I might germinate them on the windowsill but they quickly place them into the greenhouse. Temperature of course also plays a part, but as long as it isn’t frosty, the seedlings will simply take longer to grow until they get warmed up and then they romp ahead.

I’m holding off sowing cosmos and other flowers/veg, they do like the unheated greenhouse, but it’s forecast cold overnight next week. Another week and I’ll start, they all get there eventually.
Tomatoes, chillies, peppers and cucumbers indoors need potting on this weekend.

My seeds do usually come up and grow into veggies for the most part I use my unheated conservatory ( that’s falling to
bits ) so mine get no heat I don’t cover them either I ve got peas beans courgettes leeks and cucumbers just starting I m a bit later than many this year as I don’t have heat so wait until the worst chill has passed

I saved seed from last year's Cosmos, sowed them according to instructions I found on the internet and they are a complete disaster. However, I am just leaving them alone and hoping some more will germinate and once the weather improves I'll scatter some remaining seed into the borders to see how that fares.

Last year I bought 14 packets of seeds (branded, bought from Sainsbury’s). They included cosmos, calendula, limanthes, oriental poppies, “butterfly mix”, wild flower mix, nasturtiums. Also courgettes, sweetcorn, and loose leaf lettuce.

All except sweetcorn and courgettes sown outdoors at the end of May, sweetcorn chitted indoors as I have always done, courgettes down indoors in modules, two seeds per module.

From 14 packets of seeds I got just one - yes, ONE - nasturtium. Everything else simply failed to germinate ( the sweetcorn started to sprout indoors but never grew beyond the first centimetre). I’ve grown cosmos and calendula for years, and they have self-seeded in parts, but to have multiple whole packets fail?

Germination is always a mixture of success and failure, some things come up all at the same time and look good and strong, otherwise it seems to be partial success and sickly seedlings.

Having a greenhouse now I see things looking much healthier due to the all round light, but before I had that I used to do everything for my allotment on sunny windowsills around the house, and to bounce the light back onto them I would use some standing up folded foil on the inside edge, this way they grew straight. I learnt not to keep turning them to straighten them, they seemed to put all their energy into straightening themselves every day - and not into growing.

Keep all seed packets in the fridge, they can have a mini winter in there, they seem to germinate quickly and with more success after a few months/weeks chilling in the cold.

Check the date on the back of the packet. Old seeds don’t want to germinate or grow properly and produce strange / weak growth.

Always follow the back of the seed packet regarding planting instructions.

I’ve remembered one last thing - I do cover seeds with a plastic freezer bag once sown and as they go on the propagater (which is a home made device with no lid) but it is always an open ended bag.

Good luck, and hope this helps!

I have started my beans tomatoes peppers and some herbs off in my dining room and so far even successful. In a sunny room when the suns out I don’t cover them up I just start them in trays making sure the compost is kept damp.
The tomatoes are a plum variety Roma and they are now big enough to be picked out and pot them up.

You need to get them outside as soon as they germinate. They are trying to get better light.

I have am growing cosmos seeds in exactly the same way as the OP. Mine are on a south facing windowsill. Not that we have had much sun recently. I didn't cover them. I planted them about six weeks ago and they are currently about four inches high

It was a new packet of seeds and only about half of them have come up. The ones that did currently have about three sets of leaves on them. They are dwarf sensation mixed so will only get to about 90cm tall.

I have grown cosmos quite often and they are always leggy. I do pinch out the tops when they have three or four pairs of leaves. This helps them to bush out more.

I do pot them on for a while, then harden them off before I plant them outside around the end of May

I also have problems with birds and cats scratching up the soil, especially in my pots. I have just bought loads of cocktail sticks to 'plant' alongside my little plants. Not sure whether it will work though.

I've never had much success with seeds either. They tend to grow very fast and then collapse. So I've given up now.

I love cosmos. I find seeds do far better outside with some protection than they ever do on the windowsill because the light is much better, they always grow leggier in the house because they don’t get enough. If you don’t have a greenhouse or coldframe, try planting them in a plastic container that has a flap over, grapes often come in them - they are great little mini coldframes.

I have an electric propagator, but I only ever switch it on overnight if I think it is going to be particularly cold (it is indoors in the boot room). It is good for starting seeds but needs to be looked at every day. This morning I have 2 cucumber plants over an inch high, where there was no sign of them yesterday. They are now out on a sunny windowsill to stop them getting leggy. Good luck with your cosmos, I find they always start off a bit leggy.

I don't think that planting seeds is actually that easy :

I tend the wet the compost before sowing .

You can't sow them thinly enough .

You have to be careful if using covers -I don't .

Sometimes they need to be transferred to a cold frame prior to the final planting .

If I sew them directly they are always uprooted by my neighbours cats !

Cosmos are relatively easy , but even so .

Years ago , I used to sow mixed seeds such as Cornflower Clarkia , Poppy and Godetia without any problem at all .

Now I have to plant them in protected trays and plant out using kebab sticks , citrus peel and black pepper to protect them .

In my little orchard ,I'm planning broadcasting wild flowers this year .

Thank your DH for me, MiniMoon. I shall give them a bit longer.

DH is the gardener in our house. He says you have left the cover on too long. He never puts a cover over seed trays if he's germinating them in the house. He reckons that they will come right. Wait until they have their proper leaves and plant them up into pots of their own.