Does anyone know anything about gardening?

I usually just sow in trays. Usually flower in year 2 but had some weird ones that flowered straight away last year.

Threw some seeds around last year but nothing happened.

I blame slugs. Frustrating when I see 7' specimens in cracks in the pavement. Rescued two from being mowed in my dad's lawn last year, one seems to have survived. I'd like a row against the sunny fence.

In my experience, trays with lids from the local shop (BM bargains is good for those) and growing out seeds inside / in a greenhouse, shed etc. really increases success with seeds.

Seeds get eaten by birds and if slugs love hollyhocks and you have loads of slug it might not work at all.

You can surround plants with garlic to keep slugs away so that the plant gets a chance to grow out.

What's the soil like?
They grow like weeds in the gravel courtyard at my parent's house.
It seems they like it very dry and well drained.

last year but nothing happened.

They need quite a while to establish. Maybe 2-3yrs.

If you dig even a small one up you'll see like 4" of a massive thick root section. It takes time to grow that.

To sow, I was always told to cut them off at the end of the season, hold it like a whip and beat the wall where you want them.

Here's a few coming into their 2nd year... I think, could be 3rd. This is a sort of raised wall soakaway thing, so the ground is a mix of concrete, hardcore, stones and washed/blown soil.