This is a tray of Fox Gloves. Never grown them before - they will be going out into the more shady parts of the front garden - for blooming next year. I'm in two minds about what to do with them: - wait for them to get larger - take out the block of plants - cut them into squares and plant the squares. I have used this approach with trailing Lobelia - it works and none of the plants are thrown out, or - prick them out into pots to grow on - which means I have to buy more compost and more pots and more than likely a large number of the smaller plants will be damaged or thrown on the compost heap. This is also very time consuming. What would you do
They are too small to survive outdoors slugs will target them. So I would prick them out into a seed tray to get bigger. They need a bit of space each plant so unless you have a massive area to cover many will have to be composted.
Work out how many plants you need, you can prick out 16 to a seed tray. Final planting is about 1 foot apart, they get big.
Initially I'd thin them out in the tray they are in, then maybe move on into cell trays the ones you want to keep. I dont grow these but is there some means of telling the flower colour by the leaf colour? Seem to remember something like that from somewhere. I definitely wouldn't keep them indoors any longer.
Foxgloves do not require compost , they will grow and establish in suitable soil; from where you intend to plant them out, if its not suitable then there is your answer! Pot them into 1 litre pots in some of the soil, place them in a pest free shady space and occasionally water them. I would plant them out in late September, disturbing the potted plant as little as possible. Just pick out the best from your sowing, and recycle the rest to the compost pile. They are naturally a woodland plant, robust when conditions suit.
Thanks all I've pricked out 18 of the seedlings - those that I could transplant without too much disturbance to the roots. Mixed up the compost I already had with some garden soil to eek it out a bit - it's all gone now. I couldn't bring myself to throw away the remaining seedlings - so have planted them in blocks in the area where I would want them to grow. If they do survive, I'll take out the weaker plants and chuck on the compost heap. Ended up recycling some plastic containers from shop bought Marigolds. I'll post up some pics of the results of the block planting and the pricked out plants when they are ready.
