Kitchen Garden Forum

I did find some seeds prefer a Levington soil type and some prefer multi purpose , chillies did not like levington at all, but onions and leeks thrived in it. My problems with carrots(notorious for dodgy germination) and sweetcorn are odd, same compost, same sized cells/pots, some germinate well, most not at all. Same heat, same watering, same light conditions and these are not crops new to me, I've grown them before. Call me old fashioned, but some of the seed packets, vac packed foil one side plastic the other don't feel right to me, the seeds were actually charged with static and clung to surfaces, not right to me.

Not growing any packed like that Tiger! Goodness the field is opening up even further with variables that could be causing the failures.

Suttons Chillies came packed like that this year Westi

Our lottie ordering is via T & M, so that is why then - but still failures! Hope the rats / mice don't eat the 2 sweetcorn I have growing, but at least have a fair bit of a bed free for something else! Always look at the bright side etc!

I saved my own sweetcorn seeds from the Special Swiss open pollinated variety I got from Real Seeds last year. I sowed ten of the original seeds I had left over and one germinated but 19 out of 30 of the new seeds have germinated and most of them look nice and strong.

I was disappointed until I read everyone else's poor/non germination results.

I've had one little gem lettuce from forty sowings

Hi,

So, what a difference a week made! Re started courgettes, sweetcorn and squash in the windowsill. I would say 95% success on germination. the differences -
- all were in a west facing upstairs windowsill (previously in east facing)
- all were new seed - the one courgette which didn't germinate was from an out of date pack.
- the sweetcorn were in root trainers - previously a few in a pot. Also different variety - these are swift.
- all were in a general multipurpose compost

Maybe starting them too early was the reason...... who knows.

Pawty

Maybe the Moon has played a part.....

OH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not sure that your mooning will encourage the little darling seedlings

Can you expand your statement and do a full blown article on the subject ??? Bound to go down well

robo wrote:I've had one little gem lettuce from forty sowings

What on earth would you have done with 40 lettuce if they had all germinated? They'd run to seed here before we ate them.
Planting out 6 lettuce at a time is max for us

They grow at different rates I didn't plant them all at one go but around twenty at a time

I had given up on a couple of trays of lettuce seed and left them out on the side before discarding - you can guess what's happened!

Obviously just not the right conditions and had stayed dormant. Strange isn't it. I sowed some lettuce seeds into a trug thing we keep in the garden for easy access baby leaves, and they germinated within a week.

I transplanted my celery seedlings yesterday. Amazing really because they come from the smallest seed imaginable. They are still only a few centimetres but now they're potted on I have a feeling they'll grow at a fair rate. My allotment neighbours are all growing it this year. I gave them each a bunch last year (with roots on) and told them to keep it in a bucket of water. They did, and it kept them in delicious fresh celery for stews and soups for a couple of months. A fiddly veg to grow - but worth it.

Pawty

I'm having a go at celery this year I've not grown it for forty years but I did have a large gap in the middle years caused by working long hours

Is that proper trench stuff robo? I'd be interested to know how you get on if it is.

I've never tried the trench celery. I'm growing a limited amount of celeriac instead but find it a rather dispiriting pursuit as no matter how much I try and nurture it, it never seems to give me anything bigger than the size of tennis balls. I think this year's effort will probably be my last attempt to grow it. Our local market stall occasionally sells huge roots of it at a reasonable price which last for ages, so probably hardly worth me growing, except to use up the seed packet !