Verbena bonariensis - anyone tried growing from seed?

[LadyWellian]

Planted loads in a tray - said to keep at 24-27C so put in the utility room where the boiler is as it's warmer than anywhere else. Fast forward a few weeks, about 5 (!) had sprouted but they were ridiculously spindly and none grew more than 1in tall. Now the couple that looked halfway worthwhile have keeled over. Should I just give up and buy some plants?

On another point, my sweet peas (planted at the same time) are now approaching 1ft tall and starting to fall over in their 3in pots. We're going away for a week on Sat and a neighbour is going to look after cat, hamster and seedlings, but I don't want to stake them in the pots (was thinking it would make it harder to plant them out) but am worried about planting them out and then going away in case of slugs, frost, drought etc. Ideas?

VB self seeds quite vigourously,so it may be worth waiting a week or two and sowing directly outside.As for the sweetpeas,I'd take the risk and plant them out,with some frost protection fleece and some slug pellets.

Hello Lady W, I've just sown some Verbena on the kitchen windowsill, trying to encourage the butterflies into my garden I'd plant your seedlings up in pots outside and see what happens, they'll probably even themselves out once outside. Nothing ventured... and all that!

Yes, I'd plant the sweetpeas out too, the weather has much improved of late, and apparently April's going to be a very warm and sunny month, so they'll do well outside, just surround the base of your wigwam /structure with slug pellets! x

Thanks both. I try not to use slug pellets because of the effects on other wildlife. Will try to think of something else. Just toyed with the idea of smashing up some bottles but I'm not sure it would be very kind to our cat and the three next door.

Try eggshells,bran,sheepswool or hair.They don't like crossing over things like that and the bran kills them but won't harm anything else.

And coffee grounds are very good too - you do need to drink a lot of coffee or if you have a local friendly coffee shop they may put a bag on one side for you (they used to do that at a Starbucks near me and you could help yourself)

You can get eco-friendly pellets now, and I've found those slug granules extremely useful in the past.
Yes, those Starbucks granules are amazingly effective Christine, my local SB seems to have been lacking in them of late too!
Copper rings are the best deterrent that I've found so far, a little pricey, but they'll last a lifetime! x

Def plant the sweet peas out, they are hardy. Give the whole area a very good soak once they are in. Train them up your wigwam or whatever you're using as support so their juicy leaves aren't on the ground. Copper rings work brilliantly here - my mizuna was being decimated until I surrounded it with copper. I find the slugs like salad leaves best and aren;t so interested in the broad beans or peas.

Re the VB. I've never had any success from seed, each year I buy a few plants from Homebase when they are £2.99, and I notice a few cos are doing seedlings this year, which may be worth a bash. Mine don;t self seed, but then I have very poor soil.

Thanks everyone. Two of the VB seedlings are looking a bit less flat this evening so I'll prick 'em out tomorrow when I am doing the rest of the (healthier!) seedlings.

Will plant out the sweet peas and think I will try to create a barrier with ash - I think we've got lots of that still, unlike hair or coffee grounds!

Might try copper for the more precious things like beans when I get round to planting them (will probably sow in pots tomorrow). I've got some dwarf sweet peas for baskets and containers (will sow them tomorrow too) so it won't be the end of the world (although I will be annoyed) if the slugs get the tall ones.

Our garden faces east, so it has a sunny south facing side and a cooler north facing side, where most of the slugs hang out. I'm planting the sweet peas on the south side, so hopefully the slimy ones will stick to munching the lilies of the valley (which seem quite resilient to them) on the other side. Of course our south side borders our neighbour's north side, which might override my logic!