yes it will be fine,i normally plant mine out in empty loo roll tubes and then plant them in the flowering position, but it wont hurt if you stick them in as long as the roots can go down a bit.if they grew last year then they will again.

I love that tip with the tubes, Plantmaiden! I'll have to remember that this fall, when my season starts. I also usually pre-sprout the seeds indoors between layers of moist paper towels, because we have such a short window of proper soil temperatures here in the desert. I guess that that may not be a problem in the UK.