Cold Climate, Direct Sown

Here is a list of our favorite direct-sown seeds. We don’t leave much up to chance when it comes to seed sowing. But we’re happy to scratch these into the spring soil, water in, and walk away.

Nigella: the first seed we direct sow every year. It likes some punishment from ice, snow, frost. Just when you think it’s not going to come up, it does.

Silver tip wheat: drop it as a cover crop in the fall, or spread it around in the early spring. We love silver tip wheat fresh or dried.

Sunflowers: we plant sunnies in weekly successions up until mid July here on our chilly little farm (USDA zone 5a). The fastest sunflowers take about 50 days, but that is with optimal light and temperature. They move slower the further they have to grow into the fall.

Amaranth: Amaranth is so easy to grow. We give some a head start in the greenhouse, but also happily sprinkle it about. If you choose not to pinch it, you’ll get a single talk stalk and huge flower with smaller branches that are often large enough for bouquets.

Cress: We’ve found that some of our best cress harvests come from plants that are direct sown. Cress likes a cool start. The flea beetles might attack it early on— leaving it looking weak. But in my experience it always comes back strong.

Agrostemma: Once you get a patch of agrostemma going, you may never need to sow it again— as long as you leave some plants to go to seed, you’ll be good to go.

Celosia: If we have extra tunnel space in mid summer, I love to scratch some celosia into the soil for a late crop protected from frost. We plant only the spicata varieties, because they are beautiful fresh, seem less attractive to aphids, and dry well. A late harvest close to dried flower season works well for us.

Larkspur: Every spring we see some larkspur volunteers from see dropped the previous season. We start our own larkspur and transplant it. But if I get ahead of the game and select a special place for it next year, I’ll direct sow some in the fall. It does best for us under cover.