Seedling progress
31 March 2020 03:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
igenlodeI now definitely have five basil seedlings; I split up the two that had both germinated in the same compartment of the seed tray in the hopes that the smaller one might survive if not right next to the larger one, but it's still very tiny and yellow.
The dill seed I put on the windowsill a couple of days ago has started to put out roots.
I have six and a half rocket seedlings (I'm not sure about the last one as a slug seems to have eaten one of its leaves) in a margarine tub outside, which have been doing very little, probably owing to the temperature, but are now just beginning to start to show their second leaves.
I think I may have a couple of seedlings from my third attempt at sowing marigold seed from last year; the earliest batch germinated three seedlings which subsequently died for no obvious reason (frost?) and the second batch failed to germinate anything at all. I now have a couple more little red-stemmed seedlings (and have put some more seed into the barren compartments of the basil to see if it likes it better indoors).
The "corn-field mix" that grew with such embarrassing vigour last year germinated after a very early sowing, but hasn't been doing an awful lot since, again probably because it got colder. After last year's experience I have an idea of which varieties need thinning and have had a go at it.
I also tried sprinkling out copious amounts of saved poppy seed that I harvested from the railway embankment last year, but failed to germinate anything from in the autumn when testing for viability — somewhat to my embarrassment, as I'd concluded that the seed was 95% if not 100% sterile, this time all the seed seems to have germinated, and I have a dense carpet of poppy seedlings (and a few that evidently blew over into other pots). They are much too thick to thin out individually, and I'll have to assume they will do it themselves by means of competition and hope the result isn't an environment so crowded and unhealthy that they simply all die off instead.
A couple of weeks ago they alarmed me by almost all going brown, which I assumed was the prelude to a mass damping-off. But oddly enough it doesn't seem to have been significant; the seedlings are still alive, and just as many of the ones with brown leaves are producing the first signs of true leaves as the ones that remained green. I wonder if it was something to do with sun exposure, since the remaining green ones are mainly round the edges of the pot or wedged deep in cracks — they are the ones that were more widely scattered, so I assumed the vibrant colour was a sign that they were stronger and healthier, but it may simply be a sign that they haven't received direct sunlight!
The miniature rose is starting to put out new leaves, and managing to attract aphids on the buds alone. The briar rose, far more vigorous, is already well in leaf, although the only way to smell the sweet scent I had hoped for is to stick your nose right on top of the new leaves, which with the surrounding thorns is a bit hazardous :-p
Oddly enough the mint didn't lose its leaves this year, after alarming me by dying down to bare sticks the previous winter (as is apparently normal).
It's so jolly cold that I feel like cooking a steamed pudding -- Bachelor's pudding (made in layers) or Apple Hat (made hollow).
The dill seed I put on the windowsill a couple of days ago has started to put out roots.
I have six and a half rocket seedlings (I'm not sure about the last one as a slug seems to have eaten one of its leaves) in a margarine tub outside, which have been doing very little, probably owing to the temperature, but are now just beginning to start to show their second leaves.
I think I may have a couple of seedlings from my third attempt at sowing marigold seed from last year; the earliest batch germinated three seedlings which subsequently died for no obvious reason (frost?) and the second batch failed to germinate anything at all. I now have a couple more little red-stemmed seedlings (and have put some more seed into the barren compartments of the basil to see if it likes it better indoors).
The "corn-field mix" that grew with such embarrassing vigour last year germinated after a very early sowing, but hasn't been doing an awful lot since, again probably because it got colder. After last year's experience I have an idea of which varieties need thinning and have had a go at it.
I also tried sprinkling out copious amounts of saved poppy seed that I harvested from the railway embankment last year, but failed to germinate anything from in the autumn when testing for viability — somewhat to my embarrassment, as I'd concluded that the seed was 95% if not 100% sterile, this time all the seed seems to have germinated, and I have a dense carpet of poppy seedlings (and a few that evidently blew over into other pots). They are much too thick to thin out individually, and I'll have to assume they will do it themselves by means of competition and hope the result isn't an environment so crowded and unhealthy that they simply all die off instead.
A couple of weeks ago they alarmed me by almost all going brown, which I assumed was the prelude to a mass damping-off. But oddly enough it doesn't seem to have been significant; the seedlings are still alive, and just as many of the ones with brown leaves are producing the first signs of true leaves as the ones that remained green. I wonder if it was something to do with sun exposure, since the remaining green ones are mainly round the edges of the pot or wedged deep in cracks — they are the ones that were more widely scattered, so I assumed the vibrant colour was a sign that they were stronger and healthier, but it may simply be a sign that they haven't received direct sunlight!
The miniature rose is starting to put out new leaves, and managing to attract aphids on the buds alone. The briar rose, far more vigorous, is already well in leaf, although the only way to smell the sweet scent I had hoped for is to stick your nose right on top of the new leaves, which with the surrounding thorns is a bit hazardous :-p
Oddly enough the mint didn't lose its leaves this year, after alarming me by dying down to bare sticks the previous winter (as is apparently normal).
It's so jolly cold that I feel like cooking a steamed pudding -- Bachelor's pudding (made in layers) or Apple Hat (made hollow).
no subject
Date: 2020-03-31 02:55 pm (UTC)I think basil is next on our list to plant.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-03 07:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-03 11:23 am (UTC)But I did remember reading that poppy seed was largely sterile, and concluded that the commercial variety must have been heavily screened for viability before sale. Evidently this is not the case.
(I really should try thinning them, as the isolated seedlings in other pots are much more advanced than the crowded ones. But they are so tiny and very thickly sown that it's mechanically extremely difficult to see how it could be done. Other than by simply destroying most of them and hoping the surviving clumps spread sideways.)