I haven't planned anything yet. I learnt many, many years ago to wait, due to several years of wondering why things didn't work when following info on G's World, because it didn't apply to where I lived. I never watched Beechgrove at that time either. I rarely sow anything before mid March. The important thing is to not sow too much unless you have somewhere to put all those little plants when you prick out and pot on....
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I love it @Bee witched- that nasturtium. It also fades to a nice burnt orangey/bronze colour. I had another similar one called Black Magic [?] but it wasn't available so I bought that instead. A good doer. You'll love the campanula too - the Scottish bluebell. I grew it from seed, and it self seeds quite well here. It was still flowering in one site until well into late autumn this year. I grow it because it reminds me of my outings on hills. I have a lovely photo of a rain flecked one on my way to do my 100th Munro. It was also at a point when I spotted a red squirrel just ahead of me in a tree. Two good omens for that day, despite the summit view being less than impressive
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I loved all my cosmos this year. Perfect drought plant. And it is only a month or so till it's time for them to hit the propagator. None of the apparently red cosmos seeds turned out red this year so will grow pink and mixed ones to save disappointment.
Antirrhinums will also go on the propagator in January... have endless saved seed.
Found these delphinium seeds which the packet claims will flower in the first year so will try these.
Going to skip growing dahlias from seed this year. The plants are just too tiny and get annihilated before they come to anything (slugs we're terrible this past year and my dog forgets all rules if she sees or imagines a squirrel), so will grow from tubers in pots. It's less interesting, though...
Need to sow some more sweetpeas in Jan.
Will as always grow annual lavatera which are useful for plugging gaps in borders for a few months. I yank them out if they get too big. They don't need a propagator but can be started on a windowsill in March
I intend to grow some statice because who doesn't love the texture of the dried flowers under your finger?
and start some more black pansies as the ones in the garden as running out of steam. Also going to grow lots more ordinary cornflowers (blue packet and a mixed packet) as I really missed them this year! If I put in stakes strategically, a few might survive the rampages of my very bad dog.
I find growing from seed very satisfying but now suddenly have about 70 roses (venture onto the rose thread AT YOUR PERIL) so the annuals will also help provide a bit of variety!
I've got a mound of rough grass in the garden @Fairygirl, the "soil" is mostly what was dug out from when we built the house ... so is ideal for meadow type planting. Over the years I've been adding some native flowers, and we let the grass grow long until end Sept. So it is beginning to look good.
The nasturtiums are for flowing down the edge of 2 huge pots I've got agapanthus in.
We still get red squirrels here ... but not as often as we used to. We also get greys.
Bee x
Bees must gather nectar from two million flowers to make one pound of honey
The nasturtiums will be ideal for that. I have them in raised beds mainly. I don't have many pix of them but this is quite a true representation of the colour. That was last year. I had a load in the same site this year, but there was a few 'rogue' orange ones in the mix which took over. I didn't mind - I love orange
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
@WhereAreMySecateurs I started a packet of seashell cosmos last year that were just gorgeous, but I would say only half the plants had trumpet-like petals. This year I'm trying a cupcake variety.
I collected seeds from my prairie coneflowers this autumn and am going to try growing those.
New England, USA
Metacomet soil with hints of Woodbridge and Pillsbury
Looove the seashell type, @CrankyYankee . I think I will order some more of those unless I have half a packet somewhere. The germination rate wasn't so great on them for me though IIRC.
I'm too embarrassed to tell you of all the seeds I have bought recently but I know many of them just won't work. I have some hosta ventricosa inside under a grow light which could be promising. Some - already too many - sweet peas are in the unheated g/h and a few trays of things that need cold stratification (e.g. Leycesteria formosa, Albizzia). The fridge is full of Tupperware boxes of seeds and little sealed bags of seeds mixed with moist vermiculite (i.e. Acer collected from my garden, Cryptoaenia japonica...I could go on).
I would really like to investigate growing with a Vitapod and LED lights if I can work out which to buy (not T5 which are more expensive to run) but I am not convinced that this would be suitable for me. I am not certain of the advantage of germinating something and growing it on well then finding I have nowhere to put it from, say, March. If I were to put it on a heated bench in the greenhouse or an unheated bench it would have a horrible check in growth before it was ready to go outside. Germination is exciting and, generally, relatively easy but keeping things alive and healthy is the hard bit. It does give me the most tremendous pleasure to look at a patch of ground and know that I grew them from seed.
@sarahaway I bought some smaller LED grow lights last year and was very happy with them. I think the seeds would have developed even better if I'd invested in heat mats, but I can only afford so much. Instead, I had them set up on a small wire shelving system placed near my wall heater, which blows warm air down on them. I read that having a fan on seedlings helps prepare them for the real world outside. The lights I purchased (from Amazon) were short and I hung them off the bottom of each wire shelf above. The lights can either run independently or be hooked together to run on one switch. That's what I chose, and I had the main cord plugged into a timer system.
New England, USA
Metacomet soil with hints of Woodbridge and Pillsbury
Posts
I learnt many, many years ago to wait, due to several years of wondering why things didn't work when following info on G's World, because it didn't apply to where I lived. I never watched Beechgrove at that time either.
I rarely sow anything before mid March.
The important thing is to not sow too much unless you have somewhere to put all those little plants when you prick out and pot on....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The Tropaeolum was a tip from @Fairygirl and I'm looking forward to seeing it.
But I won't be sowing anything yet ... even in an electric propagator.
Plenty of time to catch up in Spring.
Bee x
You'll love the campanula too - the Scottish bluebell.
I grew it from seed, and it self seeds quite well here. It was still flowering in one site until well into late autumn this year. I grow it because it reminds me of my outings on hills. I have a lovely photo of a rain flecked one on my way to do my 100th Munro. It was also at a point when I spotted a red squirrel just ahead of me in a tree. Two good omens for that day, despite the summit view being less than impressive
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Antirrhinums will also go on the propagator in January... have endless saved seed.
Found these delphinium seeds which the packet claims will flower in the first year so will try these.
Going to skip growing dahlias from seed this year. The plants are just too tiny and get annihilated before they come to anything (slugs we're terrible this past year and my dog forgets all rules if she sees or imagines a squirrel), so will grow from tubers in pots. It's less interesting, though...
Need to sow some more sweetpeas in Jan.
Will as always grow annual lavatera which are useful for plugging gaps in borders for a few months. I yank them out if they get too big. They don't need a propagator but can be started on a windowsill in March
I intend to grow some statice because who doesn't love the texture of the dried flowers under your finger?
and start some more black pansies as the ones in the garden as running out of steam. Also going to grow lots more ordinary cornflowers (blue packet and a mixed packet) as I really missed them this year! If I put in stakes strategically, a few might survive the rampages of my very bad dog.
I find growing from seed very satisfying but now suddenly have about 70 roses (venture onto the rose thread AT YOUR PERIL) so the annuals will also help provide a bit of variety!
Over the years I've been adding some native flowers, and we let the grass grow long until end Sept. So it is beginning to look good.
The nasturtiums are for flowing down the edge of 2 huge pots I've got agapanthus in.
We still get red squirrels here ... but not as often as we used to. We also get greys.
Bee x
The nasturtiums will be ideal for that.
I have them in raised beds mainly. I don't have many pix of them but this is quite a true representation of the colour.
That was last year. I had a load in the same site this year, but there was a few 'rogue' orange ones in the mix which took over. I didn't mind - I love orange
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I would really like to investigate growing with a Vitapod and LED lights if I can work out which to buy (not T5 which are more expensive to run) but I am not convinced that this would be suitable for me. I am not certain of the advantage of germinating something and growing it on well then finding I have nowhere to put it from, say, March. If I were to put it on a heated bench in the greenhouse or an unheated bench it would have a horrible check in growth before it was ready to go outside. Germination is exciting and, generally, relatively easy but keeping things alive and healthy is the hard bit. It does give me the most tremendous pleasure to look at a patch of ground and know that I grew them from seed.