Anyone grow basket plants from seed?

[nickdub]

I'm beginning to wonder - if - by the time you've bought all the seed, some packets aren't cheap are they?, plus the compost (plus extra modules/pots - if you need them) if you actually do save money growing your own...
What do grapes think?

Depends on a number of factors if its cheaper to grow your own or not, one of the main one's being how many plants you want - my rule of thumb is if I want fewer than 10 plants for hanging baskets, then I buy them as plug plants unless I already have a cheap packet of seed I picked up at a bargain bin price.

[Babru]

I stopped growing petunia due to the incessant dead heading. Not a task I enjoy, made more unpleasant by the stickiness of the plant . After a while I'd end up with scraggly stems with a few flowers on the end

I'm with everyone else on the petunias. I'm going to buy one pack of purple ones so I can have a lovely perfume in the greenhouse, otherwise I've had enough of them. Always covered in greenfly and look awful by the end of August.

I'm not sure if it is a saving sowing from seed, not always. However I find plants like cosmos can be very expensive, one plant for £4 or more. Verbena rigida likewise, so if I'm selective maybe it is worth it.

[bobbin]

Re. Growing for baskets or patio pots. ..I
am growing LOBELIA again. As previously said prick it a clump as very fiddly otherwise. Had good results last year. I’m trying BIZZY LIZZY too. I always grow COSMOS as too expensive in garden centre. Dwarf variety for pots. Big uns for borders. Ive tried a number of basket plants in previous years with disappointing results. For the simple reason the perfect conditions in a nursery produce very uniform results. I think the home grower can rarely meet such exacting demands and the plants always seem quite weak. Like others I’m fed up with petunias. Lovely though they are i hate the sticky mess of dead heading and they get very straggly too. Plus heavy showers send them into a yucky mess sadly.

[bobbin]

Oh forgot to say the reason I am growing lobelia and bizzy lizzy is because there are no garden centres to buy them from as we are home bound. I wanted a challenge to fill my baskets. The seeds ..
25p lobelia and the bizzy lizzy i think £1. Wilko. The other seeds in Wilko were Johnston’s
The equivalent cost £8 ...so its fun to try.

[Babru]

As there are no garden centres to buy them from now, growing my own lobelia now looks like a plan.

[NatalieCooke]

I’ve tried my hand at growing begonia plants ready for my hanging basket. They are taking forever!
So far I have 13 tiny seedling I was hoping for more. They are in a heated Propagator with a sheet of glass over them. At this rate they will be ready for next year.

[rary]

Just a reminder that there are a number of hardy annuals that can be grown for baskets, such as, some varieties of sweetpea, nasturtium, pansies and calendula as well as many others all of which you can grow without needing heat

[nickdub]

Being mean and lazy I rarely throw anything away over winter, and as it has been very mild here this time round most of my geraniums and fuchsias from last year left in containers in a cold greenhouse are regrowing now.

[Babru]

My fuchsias have come through fine in a cold greenhouse- and boy am I glad I saved them now, when it's nearly impossible to replace them. I've been rooting cuttings on my windowsill for the past month.