Want alot of plants without alot of $$?

Here is a seed trick. (Zone 5)

Some seeds are very easy to start the fall before. All you do
is sow them in the fall for spring emergence.

Allium giganteum --- will do this easily-- and at $10 a bulb, you can grow your own for pennies for 50 of them!

Black eyed susans-- sow now

Daisies-- sow now

Lychnis coronaria -- rose campion-- very easy sow now

What I do is sprinkle these seeds in my containers as the flowers fade (I have toonies and gazanias just going past now)
I put them in a sheltered spot--I pile leaves all around the containers and try to keep them in a winter sunny spot.

The seeds then germinate over the winter and in spring I have babies in those containers which I move into small cells and nurture along and then plant in the garden when they are old enough.

This season I am adding siberian iris to this routine.

I have had nicotiana self seed this way, as well as petunias sometimes. (things I did NOT plan at all).

This is pretty easy. I discovered this at our summer home which is very cold in winter...almost zone 4. Each year I sprinkle seeds in my planters, and when I return in early July, there they are! Last season I did two varieties of new annual black eyed susans, and they all germinated! (those planters have SOIL MOIST in them, which I do all season because I can't water them all). Soil Moist is a great gardening aid. ( you use a few crystals in a planter and you don't have to tend things like before)
My $12 jar is 4 yrs old now, and still more than 1/2 full--- it goes a LONG LONG way!

These volunteers seem to come more easily from container soil with some very little care, than the basic garden soil that would be there.

Ebay still has many seed providers there...at very low prices.
So do the catalogs-- Thompson Morgan, Burpee etc.

You want the seeds out there in Zone 5 when the cold is reliable. This week it is turning out to be the best for us.

But up North I leave seeds in the containers in early Sept. And they germinate amazingly!

Don't be afraid of seeds... they will work for you!