Very Nice!!

You are so lucky to be planting out already!

About those Cosmos...I love too tall flowers! Wanna trade for something? Is there anything you don't have that you want?

Very organized - impressive!!!

Yes, babies can stay in jugs. Sometimes they stay in jugs till August (not recommended)!!! Many of us like to plant out at the "true leaf" stage, but that does not mean you HAVE to. I would leave any tender annuals growing in jugs till after your last frost date.

Nancy

anewgarden,
I would sent you those seeds but am in UK and postage may be more than seeds cost.

Nancy,
thanks. That gives me some confidence that those babies would be ok in jugs.

I am not only newbie as a wintersower, I am new to gardening itself. I have a very small area to garden but I am so happy with my wintersowing success that I have bought some hanging baskets, window boxes, pots, watering can, plant food etc. I hope I can nourish well all these little plants i got by wintersowing.

Daisy, if you are somewhat new to gardening, I wonder if you know to wait to dig in your soil until it is not so wet from winter....spading and digging in overly wet soils can harm the soil structure - particularly those soils with some clay to the base (like my own).

To determine whether your garden's soil is dry enough to work, dig a trowel full of soil and squeeze it in your hand. Soil that crumbles through your fingers when squeezed is ready to garden. If the soil forms a muddy ball, give the soil another few days to dry, and sample again later.

Those seedlings with first true leaves can wait - I give my own more time than that before transplanting.

morz8,

thanks a lot. actualy i have not done any reading about soil improvement and i should read more info before i plant.

looks like my soil also has clay and i will check the moisture level before digging.

Daisy,

You have alot going on! I can't wait to see pictures
of your babies this summer.
Mary

this weeks report:

open issue:
- shall i start runner beans now?
- out of this list what can go in part shade? nicotiana and lobelia and ???

planted out
- bachlers button - cornflower
- calendula
- california poppy
- candytuft
- Night Scented Stock

with true leaves- still in jugs
- Alyssum Carpet-of-Snow
- coriander (part of it cooked not in container but in a recipe ;)
- aster
- livingston daisy
- Stock: Dwarf Ten Week
- Swan River Daisy Bravo Mix
- sweet peas (just three plants)

sprouted
- Nicotiana Sensation
- Mignonette
- petunia - pot - multi
- Rudbeckia
- Convolvulus tricolor

not yet sprouted
- Gazania
- lobelia - blue
- lobelia - crystal-trailing
- marrigold - african
- marrigold - french
- pansy - clear
- pansy - mini
- pansy - giant
- petunia - rose - single
- petunia - balcony - pendula
- phlox (annual one)
- salvia
- tomato
- verbena
- impatien double

waiting to sow
- nasturtium
- zinnia
- morning glory
- runner beans

autumn sown in bloom
- pansy

autumn sown showing some growth now
- sweet william
- snapdragon

Daisy 08-
welcome to the wacky world of WS'ing.
You sure got into it in a big way!

I'm sure you'll have great success. :)

er

I've been following your posts with interest, Daisy, because I am just outside London and reckon our weather must be more or less the same. Your carpet of snow can go in part shade and the pansies too, when they come up. I am waiting to sow runner beans (painted lady) until after Easter - only because I am away over the Bank Holiday weekend. My nicotiana isn't up yet - is yours the sylvestris or the other kind? I planted some of both - neither up! And my sweet peas are doing nothing at all...

keble,

I had bought nicotiana seeds from a 99p shop.I will check if any detail is there on the packet. The photo is similar to this link below.

I am also going away on bank holiday week. I will be moving all containers to shade and have arranged for regular watering if it does not rain. Ok, then i can also start runner beans once I am back from holiday.

I started half the zinnia packet today. Remaining seeds are for backup if some bad frost kills these.

Here is a link that might be useful: a similar nicotiana picture

Can't wait to see the pictures!

anew garden I have lots of cosmos seeds. Your email address isn't listed or I would have emailed you. Send me an email.

Seeds at the 99p shop? Not at mine - you're lucky! I think the photo you linked is the Nicotiana affinis which I grew last year (Sarah Raven seeds, £1.99) - they are beautiful - mine were all white and grew in shade, semi shade and full sun. They are late bloomers, I think - provided flowers when most others had stopped. I am trying both affinis and sylvestris (long trumpets hanging down) this year. I did a milk jug of coriander today, inspired by your success. Beautiful weather at the moment - perfect for the G20 demonstrators....

keble,
thanks for info on nicotiana. i will keep something with early bloom near them.

i have one question for you. what do you use for wintersowing containers and for pots/beds? i have tried different multipurpose composts : miracle-grow, wilkinsons, west+. Now i am using something i got from budgen superstore. this one is dark and finer than wilkinsons and west+ and looks better for tiny seeds.

i was thinking of getting those 3 for £10 multipurpose compost packets from homebase to fill up pots and baskets but not sure how good is that? have you used that type?

Daisy - you are smart to keep those records so you can compare them next year. I never did that and relied on memory - which doesn't always work :0(

Can't wait to see your gardens

Carrie

Carrie,

i have a very small space to garden. this is my new hobby so too much worrying, reading and notes.

I've used the Homebase compost but my first choice is the John Innes No. 1 seed compost. You can usually find a three for £10 deal - I usually get two seed composts and one John Innes No. 2 for potting on. But I'm not fussy - earlier this year Tesco was selling small bags of all purpose compost for 99p and I bought some of those - worked out more expensive than the big bags but sometimes it's easier to have the small ones....I haven't noticed any difference in germination rates depending on compost used.

this weeks report:
planted out a few things. they look so tiny on ground. hope rain does not drawn them. many new sprouts coming. i saw some sprouts in tomato bottle but not in all of them. bought new packets of composts. potted dwarf dahlia tubers. squirel took those out and i have put them back again.

neighbours complained about bottles in backyard. anyway now i have moved everything to shade so less visible. I hurt my toe also :(

planted out
- bachlers button - cornflower
- calendula
- california poppy
- candytuft
- Night Scented Stock
- Alyssum Carpet-of-Snow
- Stock: Dwarf Ten Week
- Nicotiana Sensation
- Mignonette
- few petunia (just to see how they do. i have too many petunia to experiment!)

with true leaves- still in jugs
- Alyssum Carpet-of-Snow
- coriander (part of it cooked not in container but in a recipe ;)
- aster
- livingston daisy
- Swan River Daisy Bravo Mix
- sweet peas (just three plants)
- Rudbeckia

sprouted
- petunia - pot - multi
- Convolvulus tricolor
- Gazania
- lobelia - blue
- lobelia - crystal-trailing
- marrigold - african
- marrigold - french
- pansy - clear
- pansy - mini
- pansy - giant
- petunia - rose - single
- petunia - balcony - pendula
- phlox (annual one)
- salvia

not yet sprouted
- tomato
- verbena
- impatien double
- zinnia

waiting to sow
- nasturtium
- zinnia (remaining seeds)
- marigold (remaining seeds)
- morning glory
- runner beans

autumn sown in bloom
- pansy

autumn sown showing some growth now
- sweet william
- snapdragon

Daisy, welcome to the mad, mad, mad world of gardening. A special brand of madness is WS. I'm new to that, but after gardening for almost 40 years, this has brought a new thrill to the already addictive gardening life. You're definately hooked. You'll find many helpers (enablers) here :)

OK, today I checked each one and seperated them into the good kids (spouted) and the wannabe's (no sprouts) here's what I have: I'm so excited.

Flowers:
Mixed carnations
Mixed asters
Bachelor Buttons
Swan River Daisy
Wildflower Mix (several jugs)
Sweet William
Hollyhocks
Snapdragons
Gypsophillia
Alyssum
Silver Dollar
California Orange Poppy

Herbs:
Cilantro, Fennal, Parsley, Catnip (my inside and outside kitties love the stuff)

Veg's:
Swiss Chard
Spinach
Baby Romaine
Parris Island Romaine
Red Radicchio
Mixed Blens Lettuce
Cucumbers

BIG SMILE FROM BARBIE~~~~~~~~~~~~

newbie back after a long vacation. in my absence i had asked someone to water if it does not rain. to my surprise most of the things survived and growing happily. i am desperately waiting for the weekend to plant out. will update with pictures and details sometime this week.

need to read a lot that i missed during these three weeks.

everything growing nicely. two failure cases. impatiens and gazania. hardly any seedlings, may be seeds were bad, these were last year's bargain seeds.

major damage that happened during vacation is to poppies. poppies are lying on ground and turned yellow. looks like lack of water, sun or may be a fox walked over them. i am trying to revive them. a bush which looked so thin while planting poppies, has grown so much in my absence and taken over the poppies area.

person watering jugs in my absence removed all tags. i have no way to distinguish between different lobelias and marigolds!

planted out
- bachlers button - cornflower
- calendula
- california poppy
- candytuft
- Night Scented Stock
- Alyssum Carpet-of-Snow
- Stock: Dwarf Ten Week
- Nicotiana Sensation
- Mignonette
- petunia
- aster
- livingston daisy
- Swan River Daisy Bravo Mix
- sweet peas (just three plants)
- Rudbeckia
- petunia - pot - multi
- Convolvulus tricolor
- phlox (annual one)
- verbena
- runner beans
- lobelia - crystal-trailing

with leaves- still in jugs
- Alyssum Carpet-of-Snow
- lobelia - blue
- marrigold - african
- marrigold - french
- pansy - clear
- pansy - mini
- pansy - giant
- petunia - rose - single
- tomato
- salvia
- zinnia

failure cases
- Gazania
- impatien double

yet to sow
- nasturtium
- zinnia (remaining seeds)
- marigold (remaining seeds)
- morning glory

autumn sown in bloom
- pansy

autumn sown showing growth now
- sweet william
- snapdragon

non wintersown plants
- dahlias tuber transplant successful and it got leaves
- one of the dead geranium showed some sign of life!
- rose have got buds.
- jasmine blooming
- lily of valley pips showing some leaves.

weekly report.

most of the things planted out. except for sad looking petunias and leggy pansies everything seems to be doing fine after plant out. I still have jugs of petunia, pansies and lobelia. time and weather permiting i will plant those to some area of communal garden next week.

i have run out of space so not sowing
- nasturtium
- zinnia (remaining seeds)
- marigold (remaining seeds)

the base of pole has concrete immediately below grass so place to sow morning glory.

wintersown in bloom:
alyssum
livingston daisy

wintersown having buds:
marigold
swan river daisy

autumn sown in bloom:
pansy

autumn sown having buds:
sweetwilliam

non wintersown plants update:
- rose have got flowers.
- an overwintered stock has grown healthy and many flowers.
- overwintered calendula have flowers

wintersown impatiens did not come up. may be lack of water in my absence. i bought 6 pack each of impatien, white begonia and pink begonia for £1 each. i guess these are better bought from superstore.

we are having nice sunny days. today one tomato plant got flower :)

other plants doing well except for zinnia which is going very slow.
dissappointments: Mignonette hardly any scent, night scented stock beaten by last week's rain lying on ground.

full of blooms
- livingston daisy
- sweet williams(autumn sown)
- Swan River Daisy Bravo Mix
- Alyssum Carpet-of-Snow

some flowers and buds
- bachlers button - cornflower
- calendula
- california poppy
- candytuft
- snapdragon (autumn sown)
- Night Scented Stock
- Mignonette
- petunia
- Convolvulus tricolor
- marrigold - french
- viola
- pansy - giant
- tomato
- impatien(not winter sown)
- begonia(not winter sown)

green- no boolms yet
- aster
- Stock: Dwarf Ten Week
- Nicotiana Sensation
- Rudbeckia
- Gazania
- lobelia - blue
- lobelia - crystal-trailing
- marrigold - african
- pansy - clear
- petunia - rose of heaven
- petunia - balcony - pendula
- phlox
- salvia
- verbena
- nasturtium
- zinnia
- geranium
- runner beans

Yes, we are having glorious weather! wow, Daisy, you are doing great. None of my stuff is 'full of blooms' except for the dianthus which is 2 to 3 years old. Do have some blooms on my cornflowers and alyssum but still very much in early stages. Plus I have huge gaps in my border - am wondering if it's too late to sow anything else. Still have nicotiana to put out - they bloom late so I think the beds will look better towards the end of the season than they do now. But congratulations on your success!

i am very happy with wintersowing and how things have come up.

last year i was late to start anything so i had direct sowed calendula and nasturtium and they grew quickly.

After knowing that nicotiana will flower late, I have put some impatiens in front of them. i got those as 6 pack for £1 from morrisons.

sunny days gone :( anyway atleast i don't have to water.

livingston daisy was doing great show in sunny days. now it is no longer opening the flowers. same for california poppies. Next year i would avoid plants which open flowers only with bright sun. we don't have so many bright sunny days and usualy when it is bright i am not at home.

annual phlox was supposed to be small but it growing and getting leggy in the pot. may be i should have pinched it.

everything doing good. some plants got promoted to flowers and buds catagory.

full of blooms
- livingston daisy
- sweet williams(autumn sown)
- Swan River Daisy Bravo Mix
- Alyssum Carpet-of-Snow
- petunia (though not full capacity, still giving decent number of flowers)

some flowers and buds
- bachlers button - cornflower
- calendula
- california poppy
- candytuft
- snapdragon (autumn sown)
- Night Scented Stock
- Mignonette
- petunia
- Convolvulus tricolor
- marrigold - french
- viola
- pansy - giant
- tomato
- Stock: Dwarf Ten Week
- impatien(not winter sown)
- begonia(not winter sown)
- petunia - rose of heaven
- salvia
- nasturtium
- runner beans
- petunia - balcony - pendula

green- no boolms yet
- aster
- Nicotiana Sensation
- Rudbeckia
- Gazania
- lobelia - blue
- lobelia - crystal-trailing
- marrigold - african
- pansy - clear
- phlox
- verbena
- zinnia
- geranium

i have little tomatos! i took out that livingston tomato feed and gave them a good watering. i have got buds on nicotiana.

my small garden smells heavenly with jasmine, stock and sweet williams. i did not know petunia also have some fragrance. alyssum might also be contributing there. i even like marigold smell. i even like smell of tomato plant!

i am not happy with night scented stock and Mignonette. they can barely stand, have hardly any flowers and whatever has flowered has no noticeable scent.

reporting after a long time. Now everything is in flowers. Even the asters and rudbeckia.

lots of tomatos, all green, no red.