Seed Sowing March 2025

@pete @NigelJ My observations are based on a 8 years gardening experience and is by no means scientific proven. But once you have experienced an Autumn 2020 to Spring 2021, then you know what it looks like if it's abnormal.
If you want to know when Spring starts, plant Gladioli. They need 7 months between flowering and Spring starts. They are one of those plants that if they flower in December, Winter in April will hit. By chance, I remember that time very well and how desperate I was to get the plants planted before my operation on the 28th of May.
This was the year when my tomato seeds needed 2 weeks with something that is normally done in 7 days.

 

Helicodiceros musciverus is a new one on me, I had to look it up but decided I didn't fancy 'Dead horse arum! I'll be interested to see how you get on with Gladiolus tristis, I have tried it several times in the past without much luck and Dahlias all get eaten by slugs and snails in my garden.

 

What mechanism are you proposing for the ability of tomato seeds to react to a season several months before it occurs?

 

I grew it out of interest from seed about 2017 and it flowered in 2020, unfortunately I lost it in 2022.
Gladiolus tristis I first grew around 2000 and it was successful, flowering for the next 7 or 8 years when it died off. Since then I've tried several times from seed with no success yet. This will be the last go.

 

Where did the gladioli know in August that they have to flower in December so that winter can be over in May? Where does neighbour’s tree when March is in one year to flower, but next it has to be April?
What noticed was a change in Spring 2020 and I was wondering if the 3 months world-wide lockdown with no pollution had changed something. Glorious April and May 2020, but then the weather played crazy. Interesting was that the MetOffice didn’t really say what caused the 6 weeks cold in April/May 2021.
There was probably something different at the end of February 2021.

 

At the other end of the spectrum, I sowed Petunia 'Stars and stripes' today. One sneeze and they'd have all gone! How something as small as that can produce such striking flowers amazes me.
Tigrella, gardener's delight and gold sun tomatoes germinating well and sowed Black cherry today.
Black eyed Susan sown last week are through, as is sage, flat leaf parsley and more basil.
Got my 3rd elec propagator up and running today, so more space for pricking out, as and when.

 

I think its generally accepted that plants and seeds respond to the conditions that are taking place now, so the warm spell for a few days has brought the blossom on on my Apricot tree, its now sitting they with open flowers in cold weather.
It happens most years, our weather, in the UK, is just changeable at any time of the year, but mostly in spring and autumn when the biggest changes can happen almost from day to day.

Plants often get confused by all this and make the wrong move at the wrong time of the year.

Seeds in a propagator or in a greenhouse have no real idea what is happening outside.

 

I wonder whether or not you have to take into account the fact that some plants are GM and we aren't always aware of that ? Change in weather along with that may make a difference to how some plants behave/react ?
Not scientifically knowledgeable to say one way or another but perhaps someone on here is ?

 

Are GM plants allowed in the UK?
I thought there was only a few small trials mostly of crops.

 

@NigelJ I ordered some gladiolus tristis seed from Plant world and stuck them outside in a covered propagator on 2nd Feb. They are now germinating. So fingers crossed for you!

 

They say ‘beware the ides of March.’

 

And Darwin's 'survival of the fittest' hasn't gone away.

 

Yes they do, apparently the "Ides" make hares go mad.
Or have I got it wrong?

 

That article doesn't mention gladioli, gladioli foliage is not frost resistant and they won't flower if there is frost if they have been frosted.

 

From the temperatures that year, plants cannot communicate with themselves or others retrospectively and neither can humans otherwise my younger self would have received the message don't bother end it now.
I note you still haven't a proposal as to how it they would do this communication.