signs of life in the Sweet Pea trough

Good luck with that Fran. It's not been the best year for germination...

Yes good luck, ours are really tiny.....

thanks Stera and DD - I'm not very good with seeds - but maybe this time ...

I put twenty Sweet Peas in each tub, plus a pack of other flowers between then - then, later, I added about 30 Sunflowers and a couple of apple pips (i did manage to grow seedlings from apple pips before, on a windowsill, but then they fell over).

So if even 25% eventually take, those troughs are going to be a tad crowded!

I started mine off in the greenhouse Fran, they've been planted out in the garden a few weeks now and although looking very healthy they are very slow this year, good luck with yours, those troughs wlii be a treat to look at eventually, we've just gotta be patient.....

the packet instructions said, soak them for about 8 hours in water, then plant where they're to grow - I did that with half the pack, but they looked a bit lonely, so I shoved the other half in, unsoaked. Still looked a bit lonely, so I put in a pack of seeds that Katrina very kindly sent me. Then came the snow, and I thought, end of story! so I chucked in a pack of dwarf sunflowers.

I have tried growing seeds on windowsills, but not with very much luck: i keep forgetting to check them every day to see if they need water, and then drown them. I've also tried seed trays in the mini-greenhouse, but same prob there - also, if I leave the lid on fully, i only seem to grow mould, and if i leave it slightly askew, theydry out at a phenomenal rate.

I don't know if it's the pre-soaked or unsoaked Sweet Peas that are coming up - I assume it's not sunflower or Kat's seeds, as I don't think they'd throw out tendrils. Stand to be corrected, though - and hope I get the chance to be!

Fingers crossed, Fran. Although, I seeded sweet pea in April and now I have almost 20 cm plants. So - this is suspicious. No, these are not my seeds. They would look better, lol.

...although, that winding plant -I sent something like that to you, don´t I?

I think the winding plant is the Sweet Pea, Kat, they're climbvers. There's a couple of tiny seedlings of a different kind just showing, I think they're yours - I put the seed packet in a plastic bag and put that by the trough so I could tell what they were, but it's dark out there now, so I'll look tomorrow.

there are many types of Sweet Pea, i think. I wanted something to grow up my new trellis, but didn't want a permanant plant just yet - i thought an annual plant would do for starters, so I could check out how much light it blocked off from the window just beside the trough.

This year I planted Sweet Pea for the first time, too. I bought 2 sorts in the GC, one is said to be climber, which needs some strut and the other one is said to be "creeping" (sorry, do not know the correct expression) and doesn´t need support. In my case the most dangerous predator of the sweet pea are blackbirds, which I have in garden. So will see, if I get some to eat. I don´t know, if squirrels consume sweet pea :-)

"Creeping" is a very good word, easily understandable!

the seeds that you sent me that I put in thiese torughs are the are the "Aquillegia Caerulea mix" - I just kept a strip off the packet to remind me what's there, so I don't have the instructions or guidance on how long before they start showing - if they do! the @@!!!! squirrels are still digging holes in the troughs.

Katarina, you don't eat sweet peas! They are grown for the flowers only. It is the flowers that are sweetly scented.

Fran,I sat and laughed about your seed sowing. If all those germinate you are going to have a mini jungle! Let us know what happens.

lol Stera, might have been a bit of overkill! but maybe if i get more than looks comfortable, I can transfer some elsewhere. at the very least, if the sunflowers come up, even though "dwarf", they'll block the light from everything else

How are your Sweetpeas doing, Fran? You really did go in for the overkill, didn't you? ;-)) Sweetpeas also need a LOT more soil/compost than you have! Besides half-a-dozen would have been more than enough in a trough that size! LOL! They are very hungry plants & will not do terribly well in such a little amount of compost!

Nevertheless I wish you all the very best with them as they have a lovely scent when the flowers open! :-))

One more thing, pick the dead flowers off daily or they will stop flowering in short order! You can pick a few to take into the house as just a few will perfume a room for days!

I have two self-sown plants in a trough just like yours - only it's filled to the brim with compost! They are both flowering & have been doing so for well over a month now! :-))

thanks, Balcony. I've just added a couple of update pics. They're spindly, but as I've never grown them before, maybe that's normal. Or not!

I don't usually have much luck with seeds - if I plant a whole pack, I'm lucky if half a dozen come up.

I usually overfill pots and troughs, so this time I'd thought I'd use some moderation - maybe I moderated too much. The soil has settled since plantint, and the squirrels still keep excavating, which can't help. But once the seedlings broke surface, didn't think they'd like it if I dumped more soil on top of them. These are the biggest/deepest planters I have, if this isn't enough for them, well, I'll never be able to grow them.

Ah well, it's all experience.

Thanks for the flower tip - if they ever get that far, I'll remember to do it!