First Zinnia in my Garden

I have been a plant lover since childhood and would attribute this trait of mine to my mother. However, I was not that much passionate until recently when we shifted to our new house wherein I had some space to cultivate this hobby of mine. For my summer annuals, I decided to try the seed pack instead of purchasing the mature plants from the nursery. Though I would need to do a little extra effort to start the seeds and keep them watered while they are ready for transplantation but it feels great to see the whole life-cycle of a plant. Moreover, it would give me a plenty of plants at a cost lesser than a single mature plant from nursery. 

Germination from seeds

Feb 18: after around 3-4 days of sowing the seeds

Feb 24: after around 10 days of sowing the seeds

I started my zinnia seeds in the mid of February; this is when we start summer annuals in North India. Here is what you need to do to get started: Fill the container with some cow manure and soil mix. Water thoroughly and wait until it is all soaked in (around 15-20 minutes). Now make small holes in the soil with the help of some pencil/stick, put one seed in each opening and cover with some soil. I read somewhere that use as much soil to cover the seed as is the size of the seed, and it works for me. Sprinkle some more water and here you go. You just need to put the container in a sunny spot (sun is not that harsh in February here) and keep the soil moist for a couple of the days. Just after 3-5 days, I started seeing small seedlings appear from the soil and within a month they were ready to be transplanted.

I only expected that even if I would be able to successfully get 4-5 plants from the whole pack, I would be more than happy. Though it turned out that most of my first set of seeds germinated. Then after an interval of 15-20 days I used the rest of the seeds too so that I would have flowering throughout summers. Though I lost a number of them due to my little knowledge/experience with these plants and some neglect, I still have around 30-40 plants in my garden, some have started blooming and others ready to bloom.

Needs a lot of sunlight during growth

The mistake which one can do with these plants is not to provide proper sunlight. I put a lot of seeds in an area which lacked proper light and were overcrowded; and could not transfer them to sunny spot on the early stages of their development. The seedlings became too thin and tall in search of light(I could not take pic, but the seedlings had grown so leggy that the first false leaves were at around 4-5 inches above the ground), and could not sustain thereafter when I transplanted them. The one's which I transplanted in the sunny spot are doing better as compared to the one's which were transplanted later.

Pinching the Plant

Mid April: One of the first buds

Though you can let the plants grow freely. After attaining some height, it would show its first bud, which itself appears pretty. Then the vertical growth stops and plant starts branching out. The branches in turn would start producing flowers. You can instead pinch (cut the top leaves with some sharp scissors) the plant when it reaches a few inches or desired height. Pinching would then stop the vertical growth and encourage branching and keep the desired height of the plant.

Watering needs

They would need almost daily watering (to keep the soil moist) in the initial phases of developed till a few days after transplanting, after that you can reduce watering. I have planted Zinnia in ground and they forgive me if I don't care for them for 2-3 days; I have not tried longer. I generally water all my plants at least every other day during summers.

First Flowers

The buds started appearing after around 2 months of sowing the seeds. The first zinnia flower in my garden just started fading after around 10-12 days. I like the plants whose flowers stay on the plant for quite a few days OR they manage to bloom daily :-). My seed pack resulted in a number of different colors in the garden - purple, orange, light orange, red. I am waiting for the second set of zinnia's to bloom. It was a wonderful experience and I am definitely going to try them again.