Shall we share our seed-sowing success (or failures!)?

Davesnave

misskool wrote: »

Do you just stick the cuttings in the ground with a cover around them? At the moment they are in a small plant pot with 50/50 compost/grit and covered with the top half of a large squash bottle.

What you have done is fine & exactly as some 'experts' suggest (though they usually come up with it on 'Gardeners' Question Time' around summer's end.)

I got better results in my frame which has improved, faster draining, gritty soil in it. That starts off closed & is gradually ventilated more as summer progresses. It's in a place which gets sun late afternoon rather than all day. This worked better than my heated sand bed, which really didn't work at all!

Having said that, I got the best results by taking my own seed, The trouble with that is the seedlings are variable, some being really good and others straggly. This is all from a plant that, reputedly, came over from France with Mary Queen of Scots, but then, didn't they all!:rotfl:

olly300

misskool wrote: »

Do you just stick the cuttings in the ground with a cover around them? At the moment they are in a small plant pot with 50/50 compost/grit and covered with the top half of a large squash bottle.

I copied this last year - http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0804/lavenderrosemarycuttings.asp
but with my second batch of lavender I forgot the hormone rooting powder, and found it made no difference.

I didn't expect them to root at all so was happy when they all did.

beckstrous

Great thread!

Last year we had good success with courgettes, tomatoes (except we went on hols for 3 weeks when it was harvest time - doh!), potatoes, parsley, basil, dwarf French beans, perpetual spinach, beets and carrots. It was our first year so we were pretty pleased.

This year it has been a challenge to get seeds to germinate! I used a special soil-based compost for seeds, which was quite expensive, and I don't think any of my seeds liked it. We just used bog-standard compost last year and some of the seeds, like French beans, have not germinated yet after having been planted at Easter. In the bog-standard last year, they were very quick to get going.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Our only failure last year was the aubergine and the coriander - we produced just one fruit, which was really small, and it got eaten by some animal or other. And the coriander just went to seed. We only managed a couple of butternut squash from three plants but that was not too bad from a first attempt...

kunekune

So far:

mixed heritage tomatoes doing nicely - unfortunately I put more than one seed in each 'module' and I think some will end up being sacrificed
aubergines - 4/6 came up, and are looking ok
runner beans - 4/6 came up and they are doing brilliantly, will have to repot them this weekend as they are growing about an inch a day and the windowsill is no longer a good home for them
capsicums - I thought these weren't going to come up but they have started now, and it looks as though I'll get about 6 modules with 2-3 each in them, which I'll then thin
mixed salad - planted in trough in mini greenhouse last week, doing well
calabrese - coming up nicely in mini greenhouse
basil - slow but it looks like I'll get about 6 plants from my first planting

Failures:

sunflowers started well, got too leggy and although I've repotted I'm not sure they're going to make it
rainbow chard - planted outside in large trough three weeks ago, no sign of life, and now next door's cat has dug up the compost and poo'd in it, so I think that nothing will happen now!!!

Unclear:

no sign of life with the salad onions yet, but it's only been a week
lambs lettuce - one tray shows signs of life, the other doesn't

Primrose

Successes are: Peppers, Aubergines, Chillis, Tomatoes, Leeks, Kohl Rabi, Sweet Corn.
Failures: None of my courgettes have germinated. Think I drowned the seeds with compost which was too moist.

I've been told that it's best to sow in damp compost and then use a hand mister to keep the soil damp thereafter. I've tried this with some runner beans I've sowed in loo rolls and it does seem to be working as every year a good proportion of my Climbing French & Runner Beans rot in the compost.

I agree that it's easier to sow in cells than in a tray as it's less hassle pricking out.

Jake'sGran

I have already done this, got up, sat down and it had disappeared. Why does this happen.

Lots of seed sowing done e.g.

EASY
Begonia Sempervirens
Lobelia 3 trays
Nemesia KLM
Marigold - for keeping greenfly off tomatoes
Cosmos = free seeds from BBC trial last year
Bidens - saved from last year, only first lot has germinated
Tomatoes - Have done three types, Sweet Olive ( cherry type) Sungold and
Ailsa Craig
Chillis - hope one is very hot for son easy to germinate
Cucumber - small ones, sowed yesterday & one already showing

Larkspur - No show
Verbena Hasta ditto
White River Daisy
Astrantia - in and out of the fridge - very dissapointed

Large poppy head saved seeds - very easy, too many for me
Teasel - don't ask (son brought them in from one of his foraging trips)

Finally, Peppers - free from lady on Allotments4all. She said they are like
fruit!
Wild seed for birds, and welsh poppy which are just scattered

Most of my seeds are free from other gardeners or half price in Wilkinson's sale

csnann

My failures have been parsnips - I sowed them too deep, 2 lots of peas that rotted in their pots - I put the 3rd lot in where they are to grow and they are coming up now, and chives that were from an old packet.My successes are potatoes - vales emerald and cara, both doing nicely, radishes, carrots, beetroot, cos lettuce and spring onions all coming up, red cabbage, green cabbage, psb asnd sprouts just starting to show. I also have broad beans almost in flower and tomato plants potted up and sitting on my windowsill.

Davesnave

Jake's Gran, astrantia are easy if collected & stored cool till autumn and then sown in pots & left outside to be frosted. I never have much luck with the fridge method.

That way, they come up late January or February, often like weeds.

Make sure the seed you collect is 'fat' and not sterile, thin stuff with no body to it. I've had good seed from the RHS and HPS, and my own, but I don't think I've used commercial seed. Late summer visits to gardens can be productive too!

Jake'sGran

Davesnave wrote: »

Jake's Gran, astrantia are easy if collected & stored cool till autumn and then sown in pots & left outside to be frosted. I never have much luck with the fridge method.

That way, they come up late January or February, often like weeds.

Make sure the seed you collect is 'fat' and not sterile, thin stuff with no body to it. I've had good seed from the RHS and HPS, and my own, but I don't think I've used commercial seed. Late summer visits to gardens can be productive too!

I have only the packeted ones from Thomson & Morgan and a lady on another thread told me to put them back in the fridge if they did not germinate first time round in the propagator/fridge way. I have never had any luck with seeds that require this method for germination. I will try your method - if it works with commercial seed - but I will worry about forgetting them. I'll keep them near the back door under a shrub.

jimbo007_2

Achillea 50% germinated
Bidens 20%
Black eyed susie 50%
Busy Lizzie 40% (needed 2 weeks in heated propogator to germinate)
Cosmos 10%
Ivy leaved geranium 90% (needed 2 weeks in heated propogator to germinate)
Nasturtium (trailing) 90%
Petunia pendula 5%
Sunflower 99%
Sweet pea (spencer mix) 99%
Verbena none
Viola none (despite keeping in cold and dark to germinate)
Cucumber burpless 50% so far seem to like heated propogator to germinate
Runner bean celebration 99%
Tomato gardeners delight 90%

All seeds kept in a greenhouse heated to 10 degrees c (ish)

All seeds bought from a supplier that many people on this site recommend. No complaints really as the lot cost me £12 and would have been £60+ from garden centres.