Your time and timiing is a factor. As is the temperature. Don't worry too much, sow little and often, and in different places. You will gain experience.
Yes, I already know that. The question was to try and get a more accurate sowing, and so a better germination rate. I don't have the space to keep just putting seeds in pots and hoping for the best. I'm also someone who likes to understand how things work. I've got experience with just trying and keeping fingers crossed, I'm now trying to be a better gardener through better understanding.
I think you're doing fine @NormandyLiz. The little astrantias have obviously germinated well, so keep them ticking over. No matter how experienced we are, we still make errors, especially when trying something new. Without windowsills, it might be worth rigging up a simple bench/table that you can put near a window, so that you can turn your seedlings, and they get enough light for strong growth. I turn my seedlings umpteen times a day if I'm here, even when they're small. I should have asked you what other seeds you have for sowing too. I rarely grow anything which isn't a hardy annual, although I occasionally do a few more bits and pieces, as I now have a bit more time, being retired. I bought some seed recently, but they're still in the back hall cupboard as it's just too early for anything. Like you - I went by the info on the packets when I started out, and couldn't understand why things didn't work. It didn't help that all the popular gardening programmes never addressed the fact that conditions vary enormously even in a small island like Britain. Once I started watching Beechgrove, I realised the importance of growing to my climate, and that's different from theirs too. Soil temp is important too, so if you're planting into the ground, take that into consideration. Our soil tends to be around 2 - 3 degrees colder than the air temp, so it might be worth keeping a check on that. I have some of those little outside thermometers, and they're quite useful for getting an idea of the overall pattern. It's the putting stuff outside that's the main factor. We can often get snow and sleet through April, and even though the weather/climate has been changing, I 'm not being duped into going daft with the pots and compost just yet
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Seed germination has nothing to do with time of year or how much daylight there is. To actually germinate the seed, it needs moisture to stimulate the germination process, oxygen, and then a growing medium which is usually soil but for some seeds can just be kitchen towel to start off. Temperatures vary by seed but in practice a temp of 20-25c will germinate 95% of seeds with no problem at all. I use a dark airing cupboard at the above temp range and it works fine for the 10000s of different seeds i sow throughout the year. When the seed germinates it needs light and maybe heat so this is where it is more relevant the time of year you sow. In my experience anything that is not heat loving, eg toms, courgettes, chillis, etc can go in a cold greenhouse from mid feb onwards no problems. If it is really cold less than say -3 for several nights take them in the house. Forget about what it says on the packet, it is generic advice that is most of the time wildly inaccurate.
thrxvs said: "Temperatures vary by seed but in practice a temp of 20-25c will germinate 95% of seeds with no problem at all. I use a dark airing cupboard at the above temp range and it works fine for the 10000s of different seeds i sow throughout the year. "
I don't know where you live @thrxvs, but - my house is rarely 20 - 25 degrees until late spring or early summer, when there's enough sun to heat the south facing rooms, especially this winter when the heating's hardly been on and it's never been above 17 or 18 for any length of time. It's 15 at the moment in the lounge. For outside, we'd be waiting until June for those sorts of temps. I still consider this to be a mild winter. If you read the thread, you'd also have seen that @NormandyLiz doesn't have those indoor temps either Nowadays - fewer and fewer people have airing cupboards either. I certainly don't, and all the new boilers don't have hot water tanks to heat an airing cupboard, as they're condensing boilers. My growhouse would never be warm enough in mid Feb for sowing anything, and it's pointless anyway, when I could just wait for a month, and I wouldn't have to be constantly taking stuff in and out.
So - yes, it has plenty to do with the time of year, and where you live
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I should have asked you what other seeds you have for sowing too.
A bit of this and a bit of that... Mostly veggies - various brassicas, climbing peas & French beans, cucumbers, tomatoes (both to go out), squashes - and annuals/biennuals such as cosmos, different foxgloves, sages, eschscholzia, calendula, etc, with just a couple of perennials this year. Obviously some of the annuals will be sown directly into beds.
The veggies are the ones I'm mostly looking to start as early as possible, without it being too early, to extend the cropping period. Although I'm itching to get going, I'm also patient though and don't think ending up with pots and pots of seeds that may or may not germinate/develop is sensible.
As I said before, I'm trying to learn how to do things 'properly'. I've done the 'pot and hope' method before, with indifferent results, so time for a more thought through approach and understand the principles of what makes a particular seed germinate, what it needs then and thereafter. (And a greenhouse, but don't tell my husband I said that, although I have a sneaky suspicion he may have guessed).
@punkdoc has summed it up very well. The sowing 'too deep' is definitely a common mistake. I don't grow much veg, but loads of folk here do, so that might be better for a separate thread. I do toms in mid March - in the house, and they go into the growhouse around mid to late May. They need potted on once or twice, and they can be buried deeper each time you do that. Bit too unreliable here for outdoor growing. Probably be ok for you though. It's the 'outside after last frost' scenario with those, because the night time temps are important. They need consistent double figs to really thrive, but good sturdy plants will cope with a bit of variation. I occasionally do dwarf squashes or pumpkins, but those are quite tough. I think I started them indoors in March again, then they went outdoors in May. I don't have enough room for big ones. Foxgloves can be sown direct, and you can also sow in trays etc. I tend to save seed and just sprinkle it around where I want them, at the time I collect them. They produce so many that it's easier to be a bit slapdash with them. I don't grow the others you have - although I've bought some calendulas for this year, and they'll be getting done in a month or so. I rarely sow direct though, as it's too hit and miss re the weather/soil. @Lyn has loads of experience with sowing all sorts of stuff, so she'll be able to help you if she sees my name tag to her.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I sowed my hardy annuals in October into unheated propagators and left them in my cold frame which is against a south facing wall. Some of them were slower to germinate than their packets suggested but I have got something of everything I sowed. At the moment I also have a protective jacket over the cold frame just to keep the frost off. I did sow some more sweet peas three weeks ago, same way as before, root trainer with lid and left in the cold frame, and 21 of the 23 seeds have germinated. I definitely don't need 24 sweet peas (including the 3 from the autumn sowing) so if they all make it past the last frost, I'm not sure where they'll all go. I've warned my OH's mum that I shall need to keep some of my seedlings in her unheated greenhouse.
I'm a bit limited on windowsill space as well. I sowed tomato seeds into an unheated propagator a few weeks back because the packet said so and left it on a windowsill. They germinated really quickly but it's looking very much as though I sowed way too soon. We live and learn though!
Don't we just, but I guess that what it's all about.
On the veg, I did ok with the tomatoes last year, given that for various reasons (mainly I was planning on doing any gardening at all!) they didn't get started till July and then didn't really get enough sun. I had salad coming out of my ears but we ate it all, and the courgettes did ok. But this year I'll have more of everything, and heaps more variety. I can't resist the weird and wonderful - white cucumbers, walking stick cabbage, celtuce. Nothing like a dive towards the deep end.
I'm not sure where they'll all go. I've warned my OH's mum that I shall need to keep some of my seedlings in her unheated greenhouse.
It's so easily done @februarysgirl. I've done it on many occasions, and then had nowhere to put plants if they've succeeded. When you have a greenhouse or a conservatory, it's much easier to manage everything. I no longer have the room I had in previous houses and gardens, so I have to be more restrained. Have you got some big pots you could put your sweet peas in? I know you have your lovely raised beds, but a fifteen to eighteen inch diameter pot will take approximately 8 or 9 plants on three canes, [ more if it's a straight sided one with four canes ] if they have plenty of depth and a good soil mix. That's about the amount I do in each pot
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
I should have asked you what other seeds you have for sowing too. I rarely grow anything which isn't a hardy annual, although I occasionally do a few more bits and pieces, as I now have a bit more time, being retired. I bought some seed recently, but they're still in the back hall cupboard as it's just too early for anything.
Like you - I went by the info on the packets when I started out, and couldn't understand why things didn't work. It didn't help that all the popular gardening programmes never addressed the fact that conditions vary enormously even in a small island like Britain.
Once I started watching Beechgrove, I realised the importance of growing to my climate, and that's different from theirs too.
Soil temp is important too, so if you're planting into the ground, take that into consideration. Our soil tends to be around 2 - 3 degrees colder than the air temp, so it might be worth keeping a check on that. I have some of those little outside thermometers, and they're quite useful for getting an idea of the overall pattern.
It's the putting stuff outside that's the main factor. We can often get snow and sleet through April, and even though the weather/climate has been changing, I 'm not being duped into going daft with the pots and compost just yet
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I don't know where you live @thrxvs, but - my house is rarely 20 - 25 degrees until late spring or early summer, when there's enough sun to heat the south facing rooms, especially this winter when the heating's hardly been on and it's never been above 17 or 18 for any length of time. It's 15 at the moment in the lounge. For outside, we'd be waiting until June for those sorts of temps. I still consider this to be a mild winter.
If you read the thread, you'd also have seen that @NormandyLiz doesn't have those indoor temps either
Nowadays - fewer and fewer people have airing cupboards either. I certainly don't, and all the new boilers don't have hot water tanks to heat an airing cupboard, as they're condensing boilers.
My growhouse would never be warm enough in mid Feb for sowing anything, and it's pointless anyway, when I could just wait for a month, and I wouldn't have to be constantly taking stuff in and out.
So - yes, it has plenty to do with the time of year, and where you live
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Sowing late is always better than sowing early.
Light is far more important than heat
Most people sow seeds too deeply.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
@Fairygirl, thank you so much for taking time to reply so clearly and in answer to my posts.
A bit of this and a bit of that... Mostly veggies - various brassicas, climbing peas & French beans, cucumbers, tomatoes (both to go out), squashes - and annuals/biennuals such as cosmos, different foxgloves, sages, eschscholzia, calendula, etc, with just a couple of perennials this year. Obviously some of the annuals will be sown directly into beds.
The veggies are the ones I'm mostly looking to start as early as possible, without it being too early, to extend the cropping period. Although I'm itching to get going, I'm also patient though and don't think ending up with pots and pots of seeds that may or may not germinate/develop is sensible.
As I said before, I'm trying to learn how to do things 'properly'. I've done the 'pot and hope' method before, with indifferent results, so time for a more thought through approach and understand the principles of what makes a particular seed germinate, what it needs then and thereafter. (And a greenhouse, but don't tell my husband I said that, although I have a sneaky suspicion he may have guessed).
I don't grow much veg, but loads of folk here do, so that might be better for a separate thread. I do toms in mid March - in the house, and they go into the growhouse around mid to late May. They need potted on once or twice, and they can be buried deeper each time you do that. Bit too unreliable here for outdoor growing. Probably be ok for you though. It's the 'outside after last frost' scenario with those, because the night time temps are important. They need consistent double figs to really thrive, but good sturdy plants will cope with a bit of variation. I occasionally do dwarf squashes or pumpkins, but those are quite tough. I think I started them indoors in March again, then they went outdoors in May. I don't have enough room for big ones.
Foxgloves can be sown direct, and you can also sow in trays etc. I tend to save seed and just sprinkle it around where I want them, at the time I collect them. They produce so many that it's easier to be a bit slapdash with them.
I don't grow the others you have - although I've bought some calendulas for this year, and they'll be getting done in a month or so. I rarely sow direct though, as it's too hit and miss re the weather/soil. @Lyn has loads of experience with sowing all sorts of stuff, so she'll be able to help you if she sees my name tag to her.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I'm a bit limited on windowsill space as well. I sowed tomato seeds into an unheated propagator a few weeks back because the packet said so and left it on a windowsill. They germinated really quickly but it's looking very much as though I sowed way too soon. We live and learn though!
On the veg, I did ok with the tomatoes last year, given that for various reasons (mainly I was planning on doing any gardening at all!) they didn't get started till July and then didn't really get enough sun. I had salad coming out of my ears but we ate it all, and the courgettes did ok. But this year I'll have more of everything, and heaps more variety. I can't resist the weird and wonderful - white cucumbers, walking stick cabbage, celtuce. Nothing like a dive towards the deep end.
It's so easily done @februarysgirl. I've done it on many occasions, and then had nowhere to put plants if they've succeeded.
When you have a greenhouse or a conservatory, it's much easier to manage everything. I no longer have the room I had in previous houses and gardens, so I have to be more restrained.
Have you got some big pots you could put your sweet peas in? I know you have your lovely raised beds, but a fifteen to eighteen inch diameter pot will take approximately 8 or 9 plants on three canes, [ more if it's a straight sided one with four canes ] if they have plenty of depth and a good soil mix. That's about the amount I do in each pot
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...