Germination Part II

Well, where to start!

Firstly the majority of seeds although much slower than their original expected timescales they have actually germinated. I have a butternut squash and a gourd as well as 3 out of 4 courgette plants. I have 9 out of 10 runner beans and all bar one of the Harlequins, the maskotska have a 50% germination rate and I will have to resow to get the 6 i need for the hanging baskets.

The peas have again been abysmal, i planted 50 Meteor and i have had 4 grow up, closer investigation has discovered the others rotted in the tub. I have started some Kelvedon Wonder on paper towels indoors which have now germinated, i am leaving them another day and will then try to transplant them.

Flower wise I have been quite successful, the sunflowers really need transplanting on tomorrow into larger tubs, they are dwarfs so I am going to plant some on in the greenhouse and the rest out in pots with some protection. I also have harebells, marigolds, lemon balm (slightly sickly but 1 is there), parsley (yippee!), and teh sweet peas are coming on in leaps and bounds looking really strong. I have also has some success with teh ones i planted directly outside around the old willow. Those ones are slower growing but with the weather we have had over teh last few days i am confident they'll be ok.

The crab apple is doingbrilliantly, a million and one blossoms, the vine, elstar eating apple and acer are also doing very well, as is the rose. The herbs are doing well and the honesty is bringing lots of bees.

Onto the other thing which has been brewing a while - I had my first Magic Garden placement this afternoon at a local primary school - here is the aim of the project which has been running since 1997.

"The aim of the Magic Gardens Project (MGP) is to promote the appreciation of quality food by providing knowledge of production. Our aim is to encourage the notion that to grow food yourself is surely one of the best things which can be introduced to children and adults alike. Staff at the Magic Gardens Project teach these values in primary schools and Sure Start centres through environmental education and practical gardening classes."

Today I did spend most of my time weeding, and then assisting with the after school gardening club, the vegetable patch they have is really 'magic' and they have lots of different spaces to use such as the wildlife garden, the pond (with tadpoles), the bird hide and the open spaces. As I have mentioned before I am interested in Forest Schools and although the time isn;t right for me to go further down that path I think the Magic Gardens project will go some way to letting me learn about children and the way they learn in an outdoor environment.

Will they? Won't they?

Overnight Low: 8.0C Daytime High: 26.2C

This is a picture of the greenhouse after I had been out to play today. I have sown additional seeds, mostly flowers and mostly old seeds from our trip to Heligan in Cornwall in 2008. Hence the title of the post - will they germinate or not?

The Zinnia, Aster, Ox-Eye Daisy and Mesembryanthemum are sown in big pots inside plastic bags to try and up the temperature to enable germination. The Sweet William, Marigolds, Parsley, Harebells and Lemon Balm are in my white plastic pop up seed try which enables me to extract easily the plants which need potting on while leaving the roots of the others untouched.

The only other plants to be given very special treatment are my sweet peas, seen inside the propoagators. This year I have spent very little on seeds and gardening materials. I did buy some new seed labels and Parsely seeds which are notoriously difficult to germinate anyway and wanted to start with the best possible chance.

I am wondering about a little sideline in money earning - maybe pot up 20 or so tomatos (I have the seed left from last year) and extra butternut squash, as well as cucumbers and rom them big and string before selling them for a pound or so each through hubbys work. Having taken a gander at the offerings at a few garden centres its obvious that the only seedlings available are bog standard run of teh mill types where as I have some really interesting varieties.

Tomorrow I'm going to get the soil in the tubs for the potatos to let it start warming and turn my eyes to the weeding as opposed to the fun planting. I have been advised by my yoga teacher to practice my squats so I will do this while weeding. Then I'll have lots to take to the dump on Saturday (we don't compost our weeds) when I have an extra pair of hands!

Rain and Flapjacks

Overnight Low: 5.0C Daytime High: 26.3C

The greenhouse seems to be really making a difference to the surrounding temperature, obviously keeping the wind off the plants is great but I need to find a way to store the latent heat in there overnight. I have collected a lot of plastic water bottles and tomorrow I am going to fill them up and leave them lying in the sun inside the greenhouse - hopefully it will work as a heat store.

I did some more planting today, having eaten lunch outside (now if I can do that everyday between now and July I'll be impressed) I skipped off to the garden centre in search of some sunflower seeds and more parsley - can't seem to find Rue anywhere anymore. I found some sunflowers named 'Irish Eyes' which are a dwarf variety suitable for shubberies (tee hee) and pots. They are also edible as young buds so I may try some in the vegetable garden.

Getting home I realised I had promised 'him' some flapjacks so I sorted those out with a very quick recipe.

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110g margerine

110g soft brown sugar

225g soft rolled oats

3 tablespoons of syrup

150g sultanas

Warm the oven to 180*C. Heat the margerine, sugar and syrup together in a saucepan, when melted and gooey pour over the oats and sultanas. Put in an 8" square dish and cook for 20-30min. Remove and draw a knife accross to cut into squares, allow to cool

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Then I got out into the garden, at which point it decided to rain. So I resorted to my deckchair in the shed and sowed

• 24 Sunflowers 'Irish Eyes' - dwarf variety
• 24 Lettuces 'Cos' - will also do some of these in the ground under the fleece polytunnel but need to prepare the ground first and allow it to wrm up a little.
• 6 Chilli Pepper 'Hot Tepin' - I wanted to try these as they grow as a shrub and have very pretty bulb shaped chilli fruits. I'll probably keep a couple in the greenhouse and have the others outside in pots - they have to be protected from the cold and frost at all times - can live to 30years old!
• 6 Gourds - Seeds from either last year or the year before, I will see if they germinate and if they do I'm going to grow them over the pergola on strings with the pots in the bathroom roof.
• 6 Sea Hollys, beautiful plants and very attractive to bees appartently. I am going to plant a couple in the back but most in the front as they are more likely to be able to deal with the south facing aspect. These seeds are from Heligan in summer 2008, as are the Globe thistles below, I hope the seeds haven't dried out.
• 6 Globe Thistles - these are specifically for the cats. I am going to place them at the entrance to the lawn so when one of the little sods tried to get past it'll get prickled.

Spring Cleaning

Overnight Low: 5.7C Daytime High: 25.2C I like my new toy.

This morning was bright but cold, after lunch I decided to clear out the shed and the sun came out - glorious! Grabbing my tools and my seed box I started to sow seeds and finished with;

• 10 Runner Beans 'Celebration' - two year old seeds but cropped well and by planting early if they don't germinate I can replace with 'Painted Lady' which were last years poorer cropping variety.
• 4 Greenhouse Tomatos 'Harlequin' - fabulous croppers, by reducing the number of plants I actually gorw in the greenhouse I hope to improve the crop.
• 6 Vine Tomatos 'Matkotska' - a new variety but I'll reuse the hanging baskets from last year and grow them around the edges of the pergola.
• 1 Butternet Squash 'Cobnut' - an old seed but going to try in a lined deep pot and see how I get on, my little sister makes the most jawdroppingly good soup from butternut squash (and cream - reather a lot of cream!).
• 2 Courgettes 'Midnight' - a very dark skinned variety, last years seeds but trying again for a better crop by planting in the veg patch rather than tubs.
• 2 Courgettes 'Black Forest' - these are the climbers from last year and I hope to get some decent crops off them this year, again by planting in the veg patch and not in tubs.
• 36 Peas 'Meteor' - winter peas but inspired by a few coming up of my pre winter sowing I redug one of the long thin tubs we used last year for onions and mixed in panty of home compost before covering with fleece to raise the germination rate and keep mice and pigeons off.

I have lots left which I want to sow, carrots and spring onions will go directly into the ground. I will do half and half for little gems - some outdoors inder the polyfleece tunnel and some in the greenhouse. I do need to do some tidying of the front garden which if the weather hold tomorrow I may do then. The tulips are now appearing in the front to the delight of the bumbly bees. which I am pleased to say I have seen many of. I am going to let just one borage grow at the back of the veg patch this year, along with cornflowers and limnanthus. I also have the honesty which is growing big and strong in the veg patch and will hopefully really bring bees in this year.


And then there are our wedding flowers as well to plant :)