Home sown seedlings (lighthearted)

[hohohowheniscmascoming]

I was feeling really pleased with myself for my little cosmos seedlings. They are a tiny bit leggy so will repot. I don't have a greenhouse.

Then yesterday I went to a nursery garden centre and they had 6 or 8 cosmos seedlings that were so thick stemmed and bushy they were like little trees for about £4. And honestly I thought "why do I bother?!"

But anyway I will nurture my little ones. I know they will grow I've done them before but I have seedlings envy/inadequacy

They possibly started theirs earlier so theyve had time to fill out. Also remember the issue of stronger stems if exposed to wind!

I don’t buy Lobelia seeds any more. One forgotten watering and they turn to hay. Let the nurseryman take the risk. Last week I got 12cells of Lobelia for £2.99.

Similarly hyacinths - I can get them just coming into bloom for £1 or £1.50 each. Saves a lot of hassle.

I've got some tomato seedlings , only 5-6 as I don;t want loads of them. Still very tiny .

The local market had a stall with some that were like flippin' triffids .

Once I've sorted out where they're going I;ll plant them out .

I did briefly think about growing potatoes in one of those bags as the ones I;m buying are often bruised through harvesting but I'm not sure I will get round to it .

I also grew cosmos seedlings - took up a windowsill for weeks. Half germinated but were spindly. Have given up and bought some sturdy plugs from the garden centre.

Oh I so agree with this! I keep going because there are some successes among the failures (not cosmos though so well done you) but it can be demoralising at times.

See also: spindly, useless (despite being grown in textbook perfect conditions) seedlings go in their final planting position and look faintly disappointing all summer. The following year, self sown offspring sprout nearby out of pure concrete.

This is the last year I am doing any seed sowing, I too have a cosmos that is so thin and spindly even though I pinched out the top, it's just not growing very well. I gave several away that had put on more new greenery so hopefully, they will do ok, it's just mine that looks so sickly.

Tomatoes took absolutely ages to even appear but are ok now, zinnias seem to have stopped at about 3 inches, morning glory for the second year, grows about six inches then gives up and dies. So frustrating!

Not buying online again either, fed up with the disappointment and cost. I get more success with buying from supermarkets and the local plant man when he is in the market on Saturdays.

I bought 3 tomato plants so I've got some different ones not an excess of one variety.

My cosmos are a bit spindly but some are filling out. I've hope that some of these will still be flowering into October and even November when bought ones would be spent.

I feel your pain.

I used to grow loads from seed, but the abomination that is peat free / low peat compost has made it so difficult to grow them good and strong that I've all but given up. Now I just do seeds of varieties I particularly want that aren't readily available.

I agree with this 100%
My cosmos and tomatoes are absolutely pathetic. I blame lack of sunshine this year and the fact that I have few windowsills and no greenhouse now that I've moved

Just watch out for slugs, my self seeded Cosmos have mainly turned into sad little stumps.

Ditto sunflowers, cucumbers, courgettes... and half a row of carrots disappeared overnight.

They sowed them months ago in a heated polytunnel, spent time and alot of money keeping them alive and warm enough to grow fast, gave them loads of fertiliser and are probably selling them at a tiny profit.

In my experience with cosmos, buy one or two good plants the colour you want and just let them self seed. In 2 years you will be ripping them out.

This goes for quite a few self seeders. You only need to grow them once and just let them do their own thing.

I invested in a bag each of John Innes 1 and 2, which did seem better than the multipurpose. (The 2 bags of the latter I got this weekend are much better than the same brand was in early spring... I guess it varies seasonally according to temperature and what's available to make it from)

I don't cosset flowers. All flower seeds get thrown onto the earth mixed with a little compost and they either grow or they don't!

My tomato seedlings are also taking a ridiculous amount of time to grow, however. They're on a south-facing windowsill, but appear to be resistant to growth (I too blame the compost)!

I gave up my allotment for time / health / 2 years of shit harvest reasons, and I'm not missing battling weeds (which always grow like buggery, no matter what) or trying to get things to grow in shit compost!

I gave up growing seedlings when I realised all I was doing was preparing a lavish buffet for the slugs and snails

Oh no :(

Yes, but the joy I get out of nurturing mine, checking and watering them every morning makes it worth it, even if only about half will survive planting out, the satisfaction of seeing them grow when you have sown them yourself is immense. Mine do self seed to some extent every year but I have sown new ones this year as I only got one or two self-seeders last year. All my seedlings have been a little but slow and small this year due to lack of sun/warmth but they are being planted out anyway.

I took a huge pot of snails to the nearest green space earlier I hope it was far enough!

It's all the plastic though for shop bought seedlings.

I like the idea of self sown flowers but not much evidence so far apart from forget me nots and one Erigeron

True

Every year about this time I think that…then come the late summer and they are all blooming I’m happy I did and I’ve forgotten the failures!

agree with poster above about self seeders, verbena bonaseires self seeds for me, Californian poppies, calendula but not cosmos.

tomatoes I get from a friend who can’t stop himself sowin* packets and packets of seed!

I use a 50:50 mix of compost amd perlite or vermiculite to sow seeds.. they don't need any nutrients to germinate.. just moisture and light.. then increase compost ratio when you prick them out.. immediately at 2 leaf stage!
My tomato seedlings were transformed overnight when I potted them up... 2 days late! Now flourishing.
Sorry if you know all this above already!

I absolutely agree about the challenge of growing in peat free compost. Last year was absolutely dire for me. This year I've had a bit more luck with mixing perlite with the seed compost, but still some failures. I always laugh at Gardeners World when Monty says 'I sowed these about a month ago' and you see huge bushy plants - not my experience at all.

The only things I grow from seed now are sunflowers and cosmos. It would take me a long time to recoup the cost of a greenhouse or even a decent polytunnel and a load of trays etc. vs buying established plantlets from garden centres and superstores.

Well at least you can grow Cosmos. I tried twice but both times when I planted them out they looked fine to start with, grew a bit and then went brown and died off one by one. Yes, Cosmos that everyone says are foolproof, perfect for beginners…. Then I tried sowing direct last year, got just one plant that didn’t flower until about October.
I do have the advantage of a sheltered balcony so I can start seedlings early on a windowsill then pot up out there to be large and healthy by the time I take them down to the allotment to be destroyed by the slugs.

Even better is the feeling when you see a flower on a tree you’ve grown from seed