So you’re trying to plant some cosmos. These delicate flowers of the sunflower family are incredibly pretty and are actually fairly easy to grow. Here’s how to grow cosmos!

**Feature/header image courtesy of Pexels! (Until my own flowers bloom)

Now a few notes to mention. I’m not an expert and everything below is MY experience growing cosmos here in Ireland. This is my hobby and I hope these notes help you when planting your own cosmos!

What I used:

• Multi-purpose compose
• Nursery tray (with clear lid)
• Mixed cosmos seeds
• Water
• 3-4 pots (for transferring later)

When I sowed seeds: April 22nd 2019
First sprout: April 24th 2019 (2 days after sowing)
Transfer to pot: May 4th 2019 (12 days after sowing)
First bloom: N/A (coming soon!)
Maintenance: low
Location: Cork, Ireland
Temperature when sowed: between 10 & 15°C
Sun: average 6 hours sunlight each day

The best part of growing cosmos is that they are fairly low maintenance and can handle poor soil conditions. The soil I used was actually really dried out and something I bought at the euro store – so if it can hold up in 1 euro dirt, it can handle a lot.

How to Grow Cosmos:

If you want quick germination, I recommend using a nursery tray with a plastic clear lid (or cover with plastic bag/cling wrap to keep in moisture)

First off – make sure there’s no more frosty nights coming. After the last frost of the season has happened, it’s time to plant the seeds.

Fill each section of your nursery tray about 3/4s of the way full with the multi-purpose soil. Place 2-3 seeds in each section. Lightly press the seeds about 1/4 inch deep into the soil.

Give it the seeds a good watering and place the clear plastic lid on nursery tray.. Keep in direct sunlight. I placed mine on a windowsill that faces west and get about 6 hours of direct sunlight in the afternoons.

Pictures

The photo above is a good indicator of when to transfer them to a pot. The seedlings should have to leaves that are open and spread apart!

To take them out of the nursery, just tug LIGHTLY on the stems and it should pop right out!

I recommend using a pot that has a drainage hole. If your pot doesn’t, add some grit to the bottom of the pot before adding the soil.

After transplanting the cosmos, I put them on a table in front of a west-facing window, which was kind of a mistake. I don’t recommend placing the transplanted cosmos into in a west-facing window with direct sunlight..the light was too intense and I immediately moved them to behind a white curtain that sort of dimmed the sunlight a bit so they wouldn’t burn. South or south-east windows are best.

As for watering, I gave my cosmos that had a drainage hole, 1/4 cup (60ml) of water every day as well as a nice spritzing on the leaves.

If my pot doesn’t have a drainage whole, I judged by the moisture of the soil. If it felt wet on top, I let it sit for a few days before watering again as there was water sitting in the bottom of the pot with the grit.

My pot with the drainage hole usually dried out significantly faster than the pot without the drainage whole.

More pictures and information on blooming will become available as they bloom!