Seeds are up - Page 11

Funnly enough my lobelia are also doing very well. They have grown bigger since i planted them out and look really good at present. Will see if they survive be a pleasent surprise if they do. I am just really struggling with getting penstemon off to a start. All my first seeds died i am on my second batch.

I bought my first aubreittas as plants from my local market for 75p last year and the stall holders did say that they are difficult to grow from seed, I don't know. Think I will give them another try but probably wont spend too much time and effort on them given the price you can get small plants for.

Bad luck with the coldframe, if the roots are good I would think they would have a good chance of surviving. My white lobelia are still alive and growing, forming a mat of green. This is what they looked like this time last year and they made it through.

Not ever grown penstemon form seed, got some tiny tiny plantlets from a T&M offer last year that I grew on and planted out last Summer. They have survived the winter so should flower this year

I potted on the Lupins that I planted last year, hoping they will shoot up now and gove me some good plants this year. My Hostas didnt really amount to anything last year, just 2-3 tiny plants then the leaves died off, but left them and they all have very good roots so hoping that I will get something from them this year. I recently planted up some Rose Campion, Dahlia & Sweet Peas, they are all doing very well. Will plant another batch in a month aswell to see the difference. 

Hollie hock thank you for your reply, I still have no sign of cleomes after a week. I will keep my fingers crossed.

I think I would leave the cleome seeds for a while yet before giving up hope. I've not grown them before but most advice is the majority of seeds can take between 7- 21 days to geminate.

I sowed some Lupin seeds last year as well Dave, I've got a couple of plants that are sprouting some green leaves so hopefully they will grow into plants this year, not sure about them flowering them this year though.

Hi Sam, started off some more wallflowers last weekend as well as some sweet rocket, all have geminated well, I did put some of  the rudebekias out in the cold frame a couple of days ago but they didn't do well with the cold temps so I've had to move them back indoors. They have bounced back so will wait for a bit before trying them outdoors again.

Hi Sam, good news about the sea holly, just had a look at them, they do looking very attractive. It's great when you can move stuff about, I was always a bit shy about doing this at first but I've since learnt that they don't really mind.

Did relent and buy some seeds last weekend, some rust resistant snapdragons, they were the same seeds that did so well for me last year, they filled my garden, a few of those plants are still alive now and am hopefull I might get another season out of them.Mental note to me, I now do not need to buy any more seeds

Here's my space saving kitchen windowsill

 I'm experimenting with using a light bulb to the right of the picture.

All my seeds finally get moved out to my coldframes, which are all homemade on the cheap if not free

The photo below below was last April

New additions to the coldframes

Sunflowers and cornflowers

 lettuce and spinach

I use light bulbs but really you need the 6500k energy saving bulbs and as high a wattage as you can afford, it definately helps the seedlings get off to a good start but once they are past the seedling stage the lights are no good. I am exclusively using lights for 1 set at the moment as i dont have south facing windows. They dont get leggy and get the first true leaves much quicker.

Globe artichokes can be kept going each year by removing the new shoots at the base of the parent plants, pot them up and over winter in an unheated shed etc. where they have some light. I always try to take some roots with each shoot, they should produce heads the following year instead of waiting two years as you do for plants grown from seed.

Joyce's method is the best as the plants start bigger and stay true to type. In the past I've sown seeds that have all come up like different varieties, some not very good.

another seed has popped up a teasel one may be the rest will pop up another day but nice to see that one

Is anyone else sowing more seeds yet or waiting a bit?

Sown tomatoes and cucumbers over the weekend-still waiting to do the rest.

But Geoff it's not March yet!! You said to wait until March.

Lol, she's right geoff you did... 

Wow Sam, that's masses. I cheat with a lot of summer bedding because I send off for plug plants, then I have fun in the GH potting them on. Often there are 2 in a plug and I separate them. They come in trays of 36 for about £8.50. Sometimes there are over 60 plants per tray.