I have occasionally kick-started something that seemed to be taking a long time to germinate but I whip them out of there at the first sign of action so they don't get soft.
But I only grow hardy stuff so no trouble with aftercare. I wouldn't do that right now, they're just outside or in a cold GH and germinate when they will. Come April, when I think they should have germinated, I might try it as a last resort.
I start tomatoes and half hardy annuals in heated propagators and I get them out as soon as they have germinated. But I have a greenhouse with a cold frame in it that has a heated cable buried in damp sand and I put young seedlings there. The GH also has an elderly little heater that keeps frost off. Otherwise it is a struggle. But I don't start sowing until spring.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
That sounds like a great plant Clueless and thanks for posting up the specs for it but I'm on Marsh Grazing Land and very heavy wet clay in the winter so I don't think it looks a likely candidate for my garden unfortunately!
The only thing I could offer it would be baked cracked dry soil in the summer but the winter would finish it off pretty rapidly I should think!
Clari - i love my windowsill heated propagator. I start half hardys off in Feb, and when they have germinated i move them to another windowsill one that has capillary matting to help with the watering - then i get another set of seeds going in the heated one. I normally move things out to an unheated gh when the clocks go forward (by then the mornings and evenings are light enough that i can get to the gh before and after work). In a bad year that means lots of putting fleece on, and taking it back off again, but i don't have many casualties. Plus it feels like my gardening year has really started then.
Clueless, that could have been me posting! I've been paper potting and seed sorting too! Going to start some onion seed and have a go at growing an exhibition sized one just for the heck of it.
I have a slightly heated gh that I overwinter my standard fuchsias in, and as I'm training twisted and braided stem ones, I still have tying in to do, so I get to play out a little.
I have a jumbo propagator that I use in my garage/dog grooming salon with a grow light. In the winter I bring on fuchsia and other cuttings, then soon I'll start half hardy and tender seeds. It's full for a large part of the year and I couldn't be without it.
Well I'm glad I'm not the only nutter obsessing about the spring and wanting to get out in the garden.
well it's back to grey and wet weather watching for me put I think I will go in to the conservatory today and start cutting dead foliage of my plants and maybe a small tidy up so I can make more room for seedlings in the coming months GJ can you turn any Fuchsia into a standard ??
Can somebody slap my wrist and stop me ticking so many items in the seed catalogue - I'm going to be on my travels in May and OH and you lot will be in charge of all my little seedlings
“I am not lost, for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost.” Winnie the Pooh
Posts
I have occasionally kick-started something that seemed to be taking a long time to germinate but I whip them out of there at the first sign of action so they don't get soft.
But I only grow hardy stuff so no trouble with aftercare. I wouldn't do that right now, they're just outside or in a cold GH and germinate when they will. Come April, when I think they should have germinated, I might try it as a last resort.
In the sticks near Peterborough
I start tomatoes and half hardy annuals in heated propagators and I get them out as soon as they have germinated. But I have a greenhouse with a cold frame in it that has a heated cable buried in damp sand and I put young seedlings there. The GH also has an elderly little heater that keeps frost off. Otherwise it is a struggle. But I don't start sowing until spring.
That sounds like a great plant Clueless and thanks for posting up the specs for it but I'm on Marsh Grazing Land and very heavy wet clay in the winter so I don't think it looks a likely candidate for my garden unfortunately!
The only thing I could offer it would be baked cracked dry soil in the summer but the winter would finish it off pretty rapidly I should think!
Oh well it's always worth asking...
Best
Higgy
http://higgysgardenproject.blogspot.co.uk/
Clari - i love my windowsill heated propagator. I start half hardys off in Feb, and when they have germinated i move them to another windowsill one that has capillary matting to help with the watering - then i get another set of seeds going in the heated one. I normally move things out to an unheated gh when the clocks go forward (by then the mornings and evenings are light enough that i can get to the gh before and after work). In a bad year that means lots of putting fleece on, and taking it back off again, but i don't have many casualties. Plus it feels like my gardening year has really started then.
Clueless, that could have been me posting! I've been paper potting and seed sorting too! Going to start some onion seed and have a go at growing an exhibition sized one just for the heck of it.
I have a slightly heated gh that I overwinter my standard fuchsias in, and as I'm training twisted and braided stem ones, I still have tying in to do, so I get to play out a little.
I have a jumbo propagator that I use in my garage/dog grooming salon with a grow light. In the winter I bring on fuchsia and other cuttings, then soon I'll start half hardy and tender seeds. It's full for a large part of the year and I couldn't be without it.
Well I'm glad I'm not the only nutter obsessing about the spring and wanting to get out in the garden.
well it's back to grey and wet weather watching for me put I think I will go in to the conservatory today and start cutting dead foliage of my plants and maybe a small tidy up so I can make more room for seedlings in the coming months GJ can you turn any Fuchsia into a standard ??
Can somebody slap my wrist and stop me ticking so many items in the seed catalogue - I'm going to be on my travels in May and OH and you lot will be in charge of all my little seedlings
Slap wrist Dove,
Put the catalogue down and do some knitting instead
or you could bake us all a cake to go with a cuppa later 
Dove where are you going ?? any where nice ??
Clueless