what is surface sowing?

Surface sowing is sprinkling the seed on the surface of the compost, or earth and not covering it. I have lots of pansies that have grown from a bargain lot I bought over two years ago. They self seeded liberally & are very welcome. Easy to remove if they pop up in the wrong place too.

Wait til the seed pods are ripe and split open, pinch the pod off the plant and sprinkle the seeds where you want more pansies. Then leave them to it - couldn't be easier.

If you want the pansies for winter baskets and containers you could sprinkle the seed over trays of seed compost and see what comes up. You can then pot the seedlings into individual pots or the compartments of multi-section trays to grow on til you're ready to plant up the containers.