impatien seed propagation?

I am going to plant some annuals among my bulbs as I don't dare dig into that area. But my impatien seeds were part of a trade with no directions. Should they be covered with soil? How deep to sow? Any other information would he helpful...

impatiens need lots of humidity and heat to grow - they must be grown on the surface so do not cover them... they are fun to grow because they are a challenge... good luck!

I start mine inside, then transplant. I cover the flats with a dome to hold in the humidity. And like mdeano, you place the seed on the surface and don't cover up with dirt.

Betty, don't cover, just scatter...Brenda

It's not very warm here.....

Sounds like you already got the same advise I would give you they need the light , don't cover them and they have to have heat to germinate. If you direct sow them if your nights are still cool they probably won't do anything until you are having warm days and nights.

hmmmm, I think I'll try both starting them indoors and sowing them outdoors, too. I'll wait until about May 10. That's supposed to be our last frost date. However, the first year I moved to the mountains, we freakishly had frost on June 1.

I live in southern Indiana. Last year my Impatiens went to seed in late October and have done so again this year. I did not know they would self seed, but they did. I had a bumper crop of little ones in the spring. I transplanted them around my yard in late May and they grew quite nicely. I hope they do the same next spring. We had 24" of snow in December and quite a cold winter. I was amazed when I saw them in the spring.

I find them everywhere! I could'nt start them indoors if I tried, but they show up everywhere in the gardens. Go figure.

That's how I cultivate my impatients. The seed pod is spring loaded- if you see a seed pod on the impatients, thats fairly big- touch it - and it will pop open with alot of force scattering the seeds. So just look around impatients..You'll find them growing as far as 4 to 6 feet away..
Rj