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The end of the compost
I have potted up my three largest towel-tomatoes and the big Roma tomato into what will probably (unless I have to take extreme anti-drought measures) be their final large-size pots, which are considerably larger than the previous ones; I am hoping to save myself time and trouble later on, and I think the plants are sturdy enough to take it. The original seedling from the 3rd March batch now definitely has a yellow flower on it :-)
This used up all my stored compost from emptying the pots last autumn, so I shan't be able to pot up anything else until I take the bike trailer out to bring back another bag -- to my surprise, there were sizeable live worms again in the bottom of that compost sack, despite its having been stored indoors and left to dry out for months! Possibly that explains why it was such lovely friable stuff, if the worms had been busy eating all the organic matter over the winter, but I'm still surprised they don't desiccate to death :-O
In order to finish filling up the small pot into which I had split out another one of my four rudbeckia seedlings (one has already been hived off into a paper pot for potentially giving away), I had to resort to using the sort-of-compost from the bottom of the 'stick-heap' bag that I dumped a lot of boscage into about four years ago, when I had no means of disposing of excess woody bits; it contained a lot of gravel, glass and plastic fragments and I think I probably dumped in all the balcony-sweepings that I didn't want to put into plant-pots in there, but although it was dry as dust and had a lot of still undecayed sticks on top -- having been stored indoors for years -- the earth at the bottom was sort of usable. Although it will be interesting to see what germinates out of all that rubbish!
Although there has been no sign at least as yet of any germination from the 'saved' rudbeckia seed ironically enough I think a third and unwanted honesty seedling is now emerging from that 'failed' seed compartment... (Also, the extra marigolds I planted last Monday (May 20th) are germinating already!)
Growing peppers: https://www.realseeds.co.uk/hotpeppers.html
Well, I currently have quite a lot of very small seedlings growing outdoors, looking quite vigorous from a mid-April sowing after my start-of-March attempt resulted in total failure; as always, it is a question of whether the fruits when they eventually appear will have time to ripen! (Currently still waiting for more than one pair of leaves to appear :p)
Interestingly (and mercifully) I don't seem to have had any trouble with cross-breeding, although this may be due to my manic hand-pollination!
This used up all my stored compost from emptying the pots last autumn, so I shan't be able to pot up anything else until I take the bike trailer out to bring back another bag -- to my surprise, there were sizeable live worms again in the bottom of that compost sack, despite its having been stored indoors and left to dry out for months! Possibly that explains why it was such lovely friable stuff, if the worms had been busy eating all the organic matter over the winter, but I'm still surprised they don't desiccate to death :-O
In order to finish filling up the small pot into which I had split out another one of my four rudbeckia seedlings (one has already been hived off into a paper pot for potentially giving away), I had to resort to using the sort-of-compost from the bottom of the 'stick-heap' bag that I dumped a lot of boscage into about four years ago, when I had no means of disposing of excess woody bits; it contained a lot of gravel, glass and plastic fragments and I think I probably dumped in all the balcony-sweepings that I didn't want to put into plant-pots in there, but although it was dry as dust and had a lot of still undecayed sticks on top -- having been stored indoors for years -- the earth at the bottom was sort of usable. Although it will be interesting to see what germinates out of all that rubbish!
Although there has been no sign at least as yet of any germination from the 'saved' rudbeckia seed ironically enough I think a third and unwanted honesty seedling is now emerging from that 'failed' seed compartment... (Also, the extra marigolds I planted last Monday (May 20th) are germinating already!)
Growing peppers: https://www.realseeds.co.uk/hotpeppers.html
Peppers grow slowly in our short summers & need to be started early - you really need to plant them by the start of March at the very latest to have any chance of a decent crop.
Beginners may not realise that chilli and pepper seed doesn't have as high a germination rate as other vegetables, which is why packets contain more seed than you might need - do sow many extras to be sure of getting enough plants.
TIP: The biggest cause of problems is lack of moderate heat. An electric propagator is ideal, but if you don't have one, you can still get excellent results by improvising with a warm airing cupboard, a radiator shelf or anywhere that is around 25-30C for at least a few hours in each day
Well, I currently have quite a lot of very small seedlings growing outdoors, looking quite vigorous from a mid-April sowing after my start-of-March attempt resulted in total failure; as always, it is a question of whether the fruits when they eventually appear will have time to ripen! (Currently still waiting for more than one pair of leaves to appear :p)
Interestingly (and mercifully) I don't seem to have had any trouble with cross-breeding, although this may be due to my manic hand-pollination!