Then I Realised........

Orange_King

This is a thread for all of us who have planted something or inherited a plant thinking it was one thing only to find out later that it was something else.

Today I have just had my moment of realisation!

Way back in February I asked my 14 year old to plant some seeds and look after them, labelling them carefully.

Anyway, for weeks I have looked after chilli peppers in the greenhouse and have cheerfully planted out the crop of leeks in the patch. I thought that the chilli peppers should develop leaves but the growth only came in the form of a few long green shoots. The leeks I thought I had in the patch of course have some leaves resembling those that are now growing on the sweet peppers I have growing in the greenhouse.

Now I'm fairly sure that my son has mixed up the seeds when planting and I should be getting the leeks into the patch asap! And I'm now wondering if the chilli peppers will do ok outdoors!!!

At least he got the cucumbers right.

s4lvatore

If you got a few pics I am sure some of the experts on here will help identify whats what.

billieboy_2

If it's any help, I planted my pepper plants outside at the weekend with fingers crossed!;)

csnann

One year I planted what I thought were leeks (thats what it said on the packet!), only to realise that they were spring onions!

lolly5648

A friend gave me two small plants in pots and said they were peppers. One rapidly outgrew the other and I had to keep repotting. As it is now around 18 inches high I have just realised that it must be a sunflower! Feel a bit silly as at first I just assumed they were two different type of pepper!

pookiewn

I've done that with my tomato's. I am growing five variety's of them and up until the point of re potting again and being moved about the garden they all had their own lables, now it's a bit of a lucky dip!

Genuisscuffy

Oh Lolly that did make me laugh!! - my Dad did something similar with loads of bulbs he found in the greenhouse he planted in the front garden thinking they were daffodils - 30 years later we are still pulling up spring onions!! (not what you want in the front garden!!!)

conradmum

Even without pics it seems clear that your son has indeed mixed up the seeds. The chillies won't die outside as long you don't get any late frosts, but they'll do much better indoors. I would definitely put the leeks outside, though. I think it'll get too hot for them in a greenhouse. I just planted mine out yesterday.

haycorns

Sorry to interrupt, but how big should leeks be before they go out? Mine are about 6 inches but still very skinny. They are in a 24 cell seed tray and the roots are just coming out the bottom, so do I pot on or put out?

conradmum

haycorns wrote: »

Sorry to interrupt, but how big should leeks be before they go out? Mine are about 6 inches but still very skinny. They are in a 24 cell seed tray and the roots are just coming out the bottom, so do I pot on or put out?

They sound a little small to be putting out in the open ground just yet. You see, when you plant them out, you poke a hole deep in the soil then drop the leek into it, then water it to bed the leek in. If the leeks are too short, there won't be any leaf sticking out of the hole to sustain it and basically you'll just be burying the thing.

Ideally, you would have either sown in a seed bed in the ground or in larger pots. In a 24 seed tray they probably won't grow any bigger because the roots will become restricted, so you'll have to pot on. Bear in mind, though, that when they're big enough to plant out (about 9-12 inches) you won't be planting the whole pot with compost attached. Unusually, probably uniquely, you'll be taking off most of the compost so that the leek roots can fit down the hole.

conradmum

I'll share my 'then I realised....' moment although it isn't about mixing up seeds, though I've done that too, and lovingly nurtured weeds.

I was staying with my parents in Spain one time and saw some pepper seeds for sale in a local shop. They had packets with green peppers on the front and others with red peppers, so I thought I'd buy one of each. The peppers were identical, just different colours.

I carefully sowed the different types in different seed trays, properly labelled red peppers and green peppers. I even planted out the plants in different halves of the greenhouse. It was only when the peppers themselves started to grow that I realised.... And I'd been gardening for about 10 years by then.

One good thing that came out of it was that I found that these long pointed peppers were much easier to grow than the bell types and tasted nicer too.