We have germination!

I'm so excited!!! Checked my seeds in the greenhouse and various other places like I always do, expecting to see zilch, as i usually do. But no!

Today I have coriander and sunflower seedings!! :yess:

(Actually, the sunflower seedlings are more green blobs beginning to emerge, but it's definitely green stuff in there!) :happydance:

I'm encouraged now, more seeds will go in this weekend, and let's hope the good weather keeps up.

 

I bet you that by morning they'll be more than just green blobs. I love it when seeds germinate. You wait what seems like forever (usually just a few days or a couple of weeks), regularly checking bare compost, then you see the tiniest hint of a green dot, then they just sort of burst out.

One of my favourites are courgette seedlings. A tiny little monster suddenly rears its head, often, strangely, with the seed shell stuck to its head

 

Got knocked out by a Coconut doing that once

Its a good feeling Rachael

3 of my very expensive tomato seeds have come up

 

Well done Rachel. Yes I know that happy feeling. It doesn't matter how long I've been raising seeds, I still get the same thrill when they pop up. I'm surrounded by seed trays and seedlings now - it's that time of year.
You'll have much more confidence with seeds now that you have seen success. Enjoy.

 

Thats great! I completely agree though, it's so rewarding when your first seeds appear. Had a lot germinated this week, definately enjoying this weather. My coriander finally appeared after 7days, and sunflower 'eclipse' (think it's a dwarf) all popped up within a couple of days. I'm just waiting for some mixed phlox and diascia to make themselves known!!

Has anyone had success with phlox from seed, this is a first for me.

 

What you have to be aware of is some seeds take longer to germinate than others, I have chinese cabbage up and going in 4 days ,with just a plastic lid in unheated greenhouse.Yet my peppers no sign after nearly 3 weeks in the heated propagator.

 

Great news Rachel...

 

When germinating both of those in my greenhouse, I'll get them into a coldframe then open ground ASAP or the sunflowers will grow spindly (which may be OK if you want to deliberatly stunt them so when they get planted out they're the right size to use as cut flowers, but the corriander may bolt prematurely (but are you after leaf or seeds?).

 

Well done Rachel. Its always a wonderful feeling - especially if you weren't expecting anything yet.

 

Just checked the selection of seeds sent to me by Atticus L. We have lift off of the Ne Plus Ultra peas, Red Sunflowers & Tree Cabbages (Not the Walking stick cabbage, but a rare variety from Spain)

Cheers Atticus

 

Eeek - this is abit more complicated than I thought then.

With my sunflowers, they're for the kids, and they just want to grow them as tall as possible. I don't have a cold frame, so my options are
indoors
in a porch (south facing, gets really hot during the day)
in the pop up plastic greenhouse
What should I do?

The coriander is for leaves, and I'm planning to put it on the kitchen windowsill? What do you reckon? Kitchen is north facing, not too hot, not very sunny.

Oh, and today I have the beginnings of tomatoes, and I can see one sweet pea starting as well.

 

Sunflowers are really easy, that's why they're a popular plant for kids to grow.

Starting them off indoors is fine, BUT the trick is, as scrunge says, once they germinate they will grow tall and weak if they don't get enough sunlight.

I'd say they're fine until they get to about 5cm in height. Any taller than that before they go out and they may flop as soon as you transplant them outside.

It sounds more complicated than it is. Its just a matter of getting them as much sun as you can, and supporting them when they start to get a bit tall.

And a couple of tips for sunflowers, protect them from slugs and snails while they're young. And if you grow them in containers, put an inch of sand, gravel or heavy soil in the bottom before filling with compost. Basically anything that makes the bottom of the container heavy, overwise once they get tall, the slightest breeze will have them over.