The Flower Seed Sowing Thread 2015 - 2018

[Martin H]

The Mesembryanthemum and Schizanthus I sowed last week have germinated already. No movement yet from Asters, Delphiniums, Aquilegias.

The sweet peas I sowed in autumn had very poor germination, so I'm soaking another batch of seeds overnight for planting tomorrow. I also ordered some more varieties online today, so if everything grows I'll have far too many!

[Neilbaldwyn]

Is this thread likely to carry on for 2016? If so, I've sown the following so far:

Sweet peas (8 varieties)
Astrantia major
Lysimachia atropurpurea
Foxgloves (3 varieties)

So far all the sweet peas have come up and been eaten by something in the greenhouse, and some of the foxgloves have just started to show. I'll try a second sowing of sweet peas at the weekend!

[bramble]

The Sweetpeas I sowed in Autumn are galloping away. think I will have to put them out soon or they will take over.
Its either a feast or a famine.

[Scarlet]

As for valerian, the blooming stuff seems to sprout in every garden wall and pavement crack all over the village, but I can't get it to grow for love nor money. Got any tips Gilly? Is my soil too rich, do you think?

I have it growing out of my old stone walls, and the old paving slabs in my front yard, so very dry, it self seeds but never in the borders. Likes waste ground.

[veggiechicken]

Perhaps we should start a Seed Sowing Thread 2016?

I sowed Borage and Hollyhock yesterday and two varieties of Sweet Pea today

I've added "2015 & 2016" to the title of this thread. As there weren't many posts last year it didn't seem to need a new thread for 2016.

[boatsman]

I sowed Russel lupins and climbing nasturtions yesterday. Last week allysum.

[plam]

I sowed allysum last week as well, they are just starting to germinate, and one of my giant feather grass seeds has germinated too

[mothhawk]

I have it growing out of my old stone walls, and the old paving slabs in my front yard, so very dry, it self seeds but never in the borders. Likes waste ground.

that must be it then. I'll have to try shaking a few seeds between the slabs of the path

[Martin H]

I sowed the sweet pea seeds that had been soaking overnight. I did my autumn ones in pots but for this batch I've gone back to tubes of rolled up newspaper filled with multipurpose compost. 8 varieties, 3 tubes of each, 2 seeds in each tube.

It's a while since I did the pre-soaking thing, last year and in the autumn I just nicked the seed coat with my knife before sowing.

Less than half of the soaked seeds had swollen up, maybe I have viability problems with the seed I saved last year. Still, I only used the swollen ones so I'm hopeful. If not, well in a moment of weakness I ordered another half dozen different varieties yesterday so if all goes well I'll have to devote more space to sweet peas this year!

[Bigmallly]

Martin - Re Sweet Peas - Don't non viable seeds float in water?

[Martin H]

Martin - Re Sweet Peas - Don't non viable seeds float in water?

Don't know, that test works for tomatoes and curcubits...

None of my sweet pea seeds floated. But many didn't take in any water so won't germinate. The ones I'm confident in swelled up to twice the size.

I'm tempted to dry off the failed ones, damage the seed coats and give them another try.

[Martin H]

Another 6 varieties of sweet peas came in the post today, so I sowed them in newspaper tubes. The instructions said to chip the seed coat but not to soak, put in cold greenhouse or cold frame, max temp 60F.

This is interesting because I've previously always germinated them in a warm place because that's what my dad used to do. It'll be interesting to see what happens!

[Florence Fennel]

I sowed hollyhock on 27 January indoors and there's no sign of them. Do you think there's any hope?

[Small pumpkin]

3 x 40 cell trays of sweet peas. 2 seeds per cell ! Because I'm not happy with the germination from earlier this month.
I've just seen in previous posts you soak sweet peas. Here goes with lots of questions
I've never pre soaked sweet pea seeds. Does it improve germination a lot? Should I dig them all out again and soak them & how long for? What about the ones sown at beginning of the month. Can I soak them or will they be beyond help now? Sorry about all the questions ( and in the wrong thread ). I really would like to grow some good healthy plants this year.

[lolie]

Carnations I sowed Tuesday have started germinating. w00t!