I've grown Amaryllis belladonna in the garden for many years. Some years they are spectacular, some they barely flower at all. Maybe our climate is on the edge of what they like and only a particularly hot year suits them, maybe I just let too much else grow up around them and shade them. What…
seed sowing
Going to seed, a tale of excess.
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou, Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low, Each like…
Seed sowing, and then what?
I mentioned on Saturday that I’d sowed a lot of seeds this year. It may be of interest to some what I do with them if they germinate successfully. I use Sylvagrow compost for both seed sowing and growing on. It is supposed to have a base level of feed in it, but it is…
Seed sowing, a departure
I have been a member of the Alpine Garden Society for a very long time and every year they produce a most impressive seed list which for one reason or another, I've never had anything from. This year that changed, I dipped my toe into the 5621 items on the list, picked my allocation of…
Carrots
The picture above is of some carrots that I dug up on my allotment two days ago. As I explained back in June, I have taken to sowing carrots in deep pots and planting them out as an undisturbed pot full once they are a couple of inches high. I started to do this because…
A Sowing of Seeds
I claim no special knowledge of growing plants from seed. I’ve done a lot of it and I think I’ve had reasonable results, but I’ve had my share of failures too. There is an abundance of information available online about seed sowing, to the point that I wonder why I bother writing about my own…
Seeds for 2019
There must be gardeners who never grow things from seed, just like there are gardeners who don’t compost stuff. If gardening is about growing stuff you simply cannot get more engaged with the process than by sowing and growing seeds. I have a list of the seeds I hope to be sowing in 2019. It…
garden ruminations 