If it is drying out that fast, it sounds as if you are going to have to do some soil improvement work first for direct seeding to work. Have you tilled or hand tilled the areas and worked in some soil amendments - compost preferably - but if all else fails, at least some good, well amended potting soil of some type? Perlite, coir, vermiculite are all good water retention elements.

But even once improved, if you plan to seed directly, you will still have to mist the area at least every other day (depending on weather) until germination. Keep in mind that when working with poor soil pre-germination always works best despite what the seed package says. And, except for the surface sows, you can lightly mulch the seeds with a light potting soil, shredded leaves, of straw until they germinate. Hope this helps. Good luck.

See this link for more reading on:

Here is a link that might be useful: Direct Sowing flower seed

I know about improvement but was in no shape to mix all that stuff in myself. Was lucky to get someone to rototill it for me. We ground up all the grass and everything, the grass was healthy. Then it took several months to settle down to level as it was mounded for months (and bare).

I have all that stuff you mentioned, but it is too late to do the whole works. My idea of gardening is dig, chop it up as fine as possible, plant, then use Miracle Gro (not on my new roses). I just had 12 roses planted spaced out there, the horticultural student who did that for me thought the soil was ok and drained well.

Thanks for the advice, will read the link tomorrow. I'll worry about the other seeds later, but you did give me an idea. Baby's breath grows in a huge mound if you are lucky, don't need a whole row of the stuff, so I can scoop the soil out a few places and replace with potting soil. BB you cover 1/8 inch which is a little better than surface sow. My peat I found gets crusty when dry even mixed with the potting soil, probably mixed in too much the last batch. Maybe if I throw in some more pearlite that will help. The potting soil holds moisture better than anything yet I've worked with, and then I can mist like you said, although if it heats up again, it will be like four times a day and not every other day because the surrounding dry soil will grab the water before I put the hose away so I'll water that, too.

Thanks a lot for the help. Maybe I can get it a little better, not sure how now, don't have a composter but can dress it with something at some point. Just can't work it in, it will have to leach down and let the plants do the work, maybe throw leaves on there in the fall, plenty of those.

I wish I could do everything exactly the right way, but I have to do most of it by myself and do well to get anything done.

I think I'm having more rototilling done, and this time I'll throw that stuff on there during the process and let it get worked in that way. I didn't know any better before.

Sorry I'm so long-winded.

I live in North Central Texas and the ground dries out quickly here where we're already having temps in the 80s regularly. I lightly water the seeds I've sowed in my beds, in the morning and then early afternoon. That's enough for them to germinate successfully here in zone 8a. It'll work in zone 5a also especially this time of year when there are spring rains to help out.

Just sow them in plain old Texas dirt? Maybe I won't bother with topsoil for that then, just scratch it up a bit, cover the seeds and do like you do. I haven't been able to do it because I built a small french drain and was waiting for a good rain to see if it is going to work, then finish the fill for it, decided not to put the old dirt back in but use topsoil.

We ARE supposed to have thunderstorms Mon and Tue and rain on Wed, cloudy the next couple of days, good for transplanting.

It's been supposed to rain for the past several days, a few drops, nothing to amount to anything, so I had a nasty pile of clay and gunk all baked in a pile and decided I'd better get it out of there before it rains, so just finished filling two wastebaskets full of that. Now to get somebody to get it out of here because it's too heavy to lift. I use buckets.

Then I will fill that drain with topsoil if it works, and save a few seeds and plant them there. I'm not if BB will grow there, probably nothing deep-rooted, but most plants seem to have a way of adapting though if you give them half a chance.

Maybe I'd better go ahead and sow the other ones before it rains to give them a little jump start and me a break from watering for a couple or three days.

Thanks much for the encouragement. It it works in Texas, it should work in Iowa.

You could always pick up a few bags of topsoil and put an inch or two down, then scratch your seeds in. I just did that today in my front beds because they've got a layer of leaves from shrubs lying on top of the soil. I covered the layer of leaves with an inch or so of topsoil and I'll put my seeds down tomorrow. Do you have a hand trowel? They work great for this type of thing. btw-I grew up in Illinois and that is soil you have there. What I've got here is solid clay which I've been amending with topsoil and compost for 12 years now.

diddirt implied that, too, so I'd better play it safe and go with the potting soil. It will hold moisture longer, and I will still have to mist it but should work better.

Thanks!

Another good idea is to put a thin layer of hay or straw over your newly sown seeds to help hold the moisture in.

It came to me, and it wouldn't work for everything, but I only need to end up with one bushy plant every gap.

I'm going to save a few back, sow them in the bare soil as directed on the package only in one confined area.

Then I am going to cover them with my pepsi bottles I use for rose propagation, water well. Then humidity will appear in the bottles. If it disappears, time to water again, bet I'll only have to water every three days or so.

As soon as they start germinating though, I will have to whip those bottles off or take the caps off (think that might not even work in that hot area) or they will cook.

That won't help with my zinnias where I want them in the worst spot, spread out, baked and sloped. I'll just have to water that 3 times a day, no kidding, but I'm going to put some salvia plants in there, so will have to until they get established. Once they get going, if they get going, they should be ok.

I don't have any hay or straw and don't want to buy any if I don't have to, need more bags and bags of mulch and potting soil, probably more topsoil.

I am going to try it.

They have germinated except for one spot I finally got filled back in and just planted those the other day. I opted to leave the caps off for a little ventilation, and watched the humidity in the bottles. They germinated well before the package said. Today there was moisture in the bottles but it looked dry down in there so I gave them some extra water around the bottles.

Now I'm inclined to leave them on for a day or two longer, then take them off and watch them closely.

With the bottles, I could go two or three days without misting. It wouldn't work very well for a whole row, but for spot planting, it is definitely the way to go. I did cover the seeds with a potting mix the required depth I made up and had handy rather than use the soil in the bed.

I'm going to try that for other things from now on when I don't want to mess with transplanting.

Some grew outside the bottle here but not the other seven or so spots where I sowed them. Now I'm going to have way more than what I need and do not like thinning seedlings. Should I let them fight to see what they will do?

If I thin them, should end up with one bushy plant, I could end up losing them all.

I think I will take the bottles off tonight and keep a close eye on them for awhile, may have to slap them on briefly again because now they've been protected from the real world.

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