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Exciting Times
Jacqueline29
Posts: 393
in Plants
The seeds I planted had been potted on and are doing really well. I am planting about 40 different plants for my garden this year. And I am also looking forward to see what will come up in the garden from last year.
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Some things bush more readily than others so it depends upon the plant.
Did you have particular seedlings in mind?
@Tin pot, to pinch out the top of a seedling is to snip off the top of a seedling's stem just above a node (the point where a leaf is attached to the stem). It can be done with the fingernails or with a small, sharp pair of scissors. It encourages a plant to grow more bushily.
Pricking out is the separation and transplanting of seedlings from the container in which they germinated to a larger container, where they can be spaced out more so that they have more room to grow.
Deciduous and most evergreen shrubs and trees have what are known as epicormic shoots . These lay dormant just beneath the epidermis , only usually coming into growth when the growing point has been clipped off ; they then initiate side-shoots (bushiness) and soon 'fill-in' to form a hedge or shapely shrub .
The majority (but not all) of conifers do not have these shoots ; they cannot regenerate from bare wood if cut back too deeply ; hence the 'brown-hedges' commonly seen in gardens . Several coniferous tree species will re-grow .
I've heard (but never done it) , that a summer hanging basket (do people still buy those)? , bought in full flower , can be improved by removing with secateurs all the flowers (!) ; this encourages more flower stems to develop and increases the longevity of the aforementioned throuhout their growing season .
Hope that helps a bit Alison and Tin pot !!
Im also very excited to see my garden this year. I only started my garden last year, I bought a newbuild and built the bones of my garden last year and planted lots of perennials and some shrubs - planted some seeds and bulbs at the end of summer and also have put some more in a couple of weeks ago after the last snow we had. Now I can’t remember what, or where I planted anything so it will be very interesting to see what my garden will look like!
I’m also excited to get these seedlings in the garden so I can have my windowsills back. I don’t have enough space for a greenhouse!
@Notyalca, pity about your Dahlias - sort of thing that my three feline fiends would get up to....
Last year, one of my cats knocked off a tray of pots containing sweet peas three times, each time in different places where I thought he wouldn't bother with them. Each time they were scattered all over the floor and I had to try and put them back into the right pots. Then they were knocked off for a fourth time (by me)!
Most survived though and flowered beautifully.
Certainly heroes of the plant world!!
Thank YOU ! One interesting conifer I have is Cunninghamia lanceolata (Chinese Fir).
Imagine my horror when (as a young plant) it was severely damaged (broken off) by a ride -on mower !
Within a few weeks this was sprouting readily from the base ; classic case of conifer re-generation . Now a multi-stemmed shrub resembling a miniature Araucaria .
Happy days !!