Gardening - germination
Moving the seedlings up to the loft was a stroke of genius - good temperature, plenty of light. Only downside is that of course I don't see them, the stairs are a nightmare, and I have to carry water from the basement - so I may have neglected to water them for four days...
Tomatoes are doing ok, they had too little light earlier, so a lot of them have grown too tall and broken as a consequence. The Harbingers are doing worst of the lot, maybe 50% germination and a lot of wilting.
I'll plant a couple more trays in the coming few days, and plant the seeds deeper this time.
Calendula and french marigolds are a disappointment. Calendulas have about 50% germination, and the ones that are up look strong and healthy. From a full tray of marigolds, so far I have maybe 10 little seedlings. Not sure what happened there, but I'll plant another tray this week and see if it's more successful. Also, I might try to get hold of different seeds at the garden centre and see if they are more successful.
Of the stuff I planted a week ago, there's no sign of the broad beans, sunflowers or flowers in the flower trays (Zinnia, home made violets, and other stuff).
Some of the sweet peas have just started sprouting though. Seems like at least some of them will have a good success rate, where all the seedlings in one pot are already showing.
Sunflowers will probably fail - I forgot them in the garden last night and I suspect it was a frost night... :)
Will move them up to the loft later and start a new batch.
In the queue, we've also got popcorns and more flowers. And a batch of herbs, but I'll buy ready plants for most of the herb garden, to avoid boringly slow germination.
Will try to go to the nursery tomorrow, to investigate what flowers there are for the front of the house, back yard, and get some window sill flowers and more seedling compost.
I like the idea of the dry coir bricks (just add water for compost) - however, shipping what is essentially soil from wherever coir grows seems pretty wasteful. Shipping compost at all seems wasteful, but we don't have a lot of home made compost yet.
Tomatoes are doing ok, they had too little light earlier, so a lot of them have grown too tall and broken as a consequence. The Harbingers are doing worst of the lot, maybe 50% germination and a lot of wilting.
I'll plant a couple more trays in the coming few days, and plant the seeds deeper this time.
Calendula and french marigolds are a disappointment. Calendulas have about 50% germination, and the ones that are up look strong and healthy. From a full tray of marigolds, so far I have maybe 10 little seedlings. Not sure what happened there, but I'll plant another tray this week and see if it's more successful. Also, I might try to get hold of different seeds at the garden centre and see if they are more successful.
Of the stuff I planted a week ago, there's no sign of the broad beans, sunflowers or flowers in the flower trays (Zinnia, home made violets, and other stuff).
Some of the sweet peas have just started sprouting though. Seems like at least some of them will have a good success rate, where all the seedlings in one pot are already showing.
Sunflowers will probably fail - I forgot them in the garden last night and I suspect it was a frost night... :)
Will move them up to the loft later and start a new batch.
In the queue, we've also got popcorns and more flowers. And a batch of herbs, but I'll buy ready plants for most of the herb garden, to avoid boringly slow germination.
Will try to go to the nursery tomorrow, to investigate what flowers there are for the front of the house, back yard, and get some window sill flowers and more seedling compost.
I like the idea of the dry coir bricks (just add water for compost) - however, shipping what is essentially soil from wherever coir grows seems pretty wasteful. Shipping compost at all seems wasteful, but we don't have a lot of home made compost yet.