How to sow your free cosmos seeds

You Will Need

• Cosmos seeds
• Multi-purpose compost
• 10cm pot
• Watering can with rose attachment
• Plant label
• Pencil or dibber

Step 1

Fill a 10cm pot or seed tray with multipurpose compost. Gently tamp the compost level so that the surface is around 1cm below the top of the pot.

Step 2

Sprinkle 8-10 seeds across the surface of your compost, spacing them out evenly - use a chopstick or pencil to move them if they're too close together. Cover with a 0.5cm layer of compost, and gently tamp that down. Add a label.

Step 3

Water thoroughly, using a watering can with a rose attachment. Then place somewhere warm and bright. Covering with clear polythene or placing in a propagator will help germination.

Step 4

Once your seedlings have germinated and are large enough to handle, fill a couple of larger pots with multipurpose compost and gently firm it down.

Step 5

Use a dibber, or a pencil or chopstick, to gently ease a seedling out of the pot. Take care to hold the seedling by the leaves and not the stem, to avoid crushing and breaking the stem.

Step 6

Use your dibber to make a hole in the compost in the larger pot, and gently place a seedling in. Firm the compost around the seedling so most of its stem is below the compost and it's held securely in place. You can fit around 4-5 seedlings in a 20cm pot. Transplant your remaining seedlings, using the same method, into your second large pot.

Add a label and water thoroughly, using a watering can with a rose attachment. Keep somewhere warm and bright until after the last frosts, and then gradually acclimatise to the outdoors. Transplant into a sunny border, spacing around 45cm apart.

Coming up - more free seeds

June: Zinnia and cornflower

Get speedy results with this colourful couple, worth £4.80

• Zinnia 'Early Wonder' – large dahlia-like blooms in a mix of showy, vibrant colours
• Cornflower 'Blue Ball' - easy to grow, with masses of bee-friendly blooms, cornflowers are the perfect cottage garden flower