When seeds fail to germinate

Or, if at first you don't succeed, try, try and try again.

Like most gardeners (I imagine) I have a large box of seeds, the result of too many impulse buys online and in the garden centre. A magazine article or book has only to mention that this or that plant is edible and I'm straight off to find out more and, in all likelihood, add the seeds to my growing collection. I've tried to curb my curiosity but it seems to get the better of me fairly regularly so, with many tastes to try and with minimal space available, only a few seeds from each packet get sown*, the packet gets stored and, inevitably, there are still loads left for next year.  So is it a good idea to keep them?

Well, it depends on the seed and how they've been stored.  Store them in a cool, dark place (not the fridge) in paper packets (not plastic) and seeds should be good at least until their Use By date. A few will be duds from the off and will never germinate.  A few, like carrots, really are best used fresh for maximum success.  The other seeds, like you, me and the rest of the planet, are ageing slowly and imperceptibly, getting tired and, frankly, getting a bit past it. Of course I'm no longer talking about myself now. ;) Or you. Just the seeds. Plant seeds are a lot more reliable and vigorous in their youth.

This year when planning what to grow, I ruthlessly chucked out the seeds that should have been sown by 2012, if not before. It was a lot. (The photo above is the 'after' shot!) The packet of Canadian Wonder red kidney beans, exp date 2012, was kept.  I loved this plant - a bush bean, growing to about 2 ft tall with prolific fruiting.

Canadian Wonder bush beans in early August 2012

I had a long summer of all the beans I could eat from a May sowing and regular picking.  Wonder beans indeed.

Wonder beans in early September 2012.

This year's bean: After a 30 day germination, thought I may as well plant it out.

This spring, I blithely assumed that beans could be stored for years and confidently sowed about a dozen, just what I needed, into modules in fresh seed compost.**  Just one lonely bean emerged, after an extremely long wait and after I'd re-sown another 24 beans in a raised bed in the patch. Three weeks on from the outside sowing and there is nothing to be seen.  It's a mystery, especially as the soil is warm, the slugs have been kept away and there has been a good mix of sun and rain.  So, onto plan B…

Convinced the cause was the viability of the seeds, I decided to put it to the test. Seeds need warmth and enough wetness to swell and break the seed coat to germinate, so I put 40 beans on soaked kitchen paper in a plastic tray, covered with another sheet of damp kitchen paper, sealed with cling film and left on a warmish windowsill. After a six days of checking, 24 of the beans had produced a radicle (the root tip) while 16 had not.  The beans were in varying stages of germination, some with a long root and others just starting to sprout  - again, a sign of the poor quality of the beans.  Testing this way is a good way of removing the uncertainty over seed germination.  I tried the same method with some lettuce seeds and they didn't germinate at all - so in the bin they went!

The good news is that I now have bean seeds that I'll pot up and know will grow. I also know to let the last pods dry on the plant so that I can save seed for next year. (And, just in case any of the outside sown beans are simply lurking and not deceased, I'll cover the bed with fleece for a week or so and see what happens. It will be their Last Chance; you can't say I'm not being fair.)

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* For varieties where only a few seeds are needed, More Veg in Devon sell smaller quantities at a lower price and have a wide range of seeds.

** As a member of Which? Gardening, I always use their recommended Best Buy because compost compositions change from year to year.  Over the past couple of years, the best buy has been J. Arthur Bower's Seed and Cutting compost, a nice, fine, free draining mix.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

I'm sure that this is a sight being seen all over the country after all that rain we had earlier in the year. However, despite the excess of frothy blossom, the bees obligingly buzzing around the garden at the right time, underplanting the trees with nectar rich flowers, the few days of warm sunshine followed helpfully by a few days of rain - I still won't believe the trees will fruit until I see the evidence with my own eyes.  Looks like this could be it -  baby Braeburns! Thrilled, I am.

April/May: … Celebrating the start of summer!

Yesterday, despite the rain, was the start of summer. For Celts, the beginning of May is Beltane, an ancient day marked by rituals that herald the onset of the summer months. I like the idea that summer has begun, luckily though it was raining heavily so I resisted dancing around outdoors with flowers in my hair.  Although it isn't feeling too summery today, I'm not complaining as we've had some fabulous warm weather during April which has warmed up the soil and brought sowing and planting out on a bit earlier.

I have to say that I'm thoroughly enjoying participating in the Garden Share Collective, hosted by Lizzie in Australia; not only can I read what other GSC writers are up to but I'm motivated to get on with doing things in the garden so I have something to show at the end of the month!  I can therefore proudly report that I have been getting on with it this month, helped hugely by being able to get outdoors without a coat!

First up, balcony 'potting shed':

The greenhouse staging that I bought last month is a perfect fit for my tiny balcony, an area less than 1.5 square metres. I also bought a bunch of nifty seed trays at one of the RHS hort shows, perfect for setting up a Cut and Come Again salad bar - a few seedlings will be pricked out to be grown on as individual lettuces.  They're the brown trays in the photo above and have a snap on water tray as part of each unit.

From left: Golden Streaks mustard, rocket, Broadleaf mizuna

So the balcony is looking very productive with seedlings of broadleaf mizuna, salad rocket (arugula), Golden Streaks mustard, Red Russian kale, Bubbles and Saladin lettuce, Lamb's Lettuce (aka corn salad/mache) and watercress. Seeds are taking about 8 days to germinate and they're just left, uncovered, outside on the balcony.  Inside, on the 24th, I sowed tomato seeds (late, I know!) of Gardener's Delight, Sungold, Yellow Pear and Maskotka, only two per module, into an unheated propagator; they all germinated within 4 days and are growing strongly.  In the same propagator, I also sowed cucamelon (a tiny oval cucumber, just germinated) and a range of broccoli as it seems to be the one veg I can't do without. With good germination, I should have 4 summer broccoli, 4 autumn/early winter broccoli and 4 purple sprouting broccoli for late winter/early spring next year.  It sounds a lot of sowing but the veg patch is not huge so, over time, I figured out it's best to sow less and have more variety.

In the Veg Garden:
Peas, courgettes (they finally appeared!), mange-tout, potatoes and a few of the sweet peas that were started on 11th March have been successfully planted out into the garden 10 days ago. I say successfully but I lost a courgette to slug attack; I noticed the nibblings and popped a cloche over the other one and brought the third back indoors (I only sowed three so that we didn't have a glut). A subsequent dusk slug hunt netted over 50 slugs of various sizes in 2 nights! That's the way to do it!

The broad/fava beans sown on 9th March are doing really well and now stand about 8 inches/20cm high. This cultivar (Karmazyn) grew to about 70cm last year so, if the weather holds, I expect to be seeing some flowers by the end of May.

My fledgling Asparagus bed will not be tempting my taste buds this year.  Just one spear per crown has appeared - but at least I know they all survived!  I'll let these grow, cut the fronds down in early winter, mulch and wait to see what happens next spring. I've read that asparagus should be given a bed to themselves, with nothing else growing in it. In my little patch, I need to use all the space effectively so I've resolved that dilemma by placing crops in pots in the spaces between the plants; I can't see why that won't work!

After a long wait, only one of my module sown bush beans germinated. With the temperatures outside rising, I decided to sow a bed of beans outside. The seeds went in on the 20th and there's nothing to be seen yet.  As my blog friend Flighty has been saying "Surely it's too early to plant beans?" I guess he's right!

Several times this past month a few neighbours have come out to help.  Luckily we have different skills: I like planting (and being in charge!), Frank is terrifically good at digging, Karen enjoys weeding and replanting, the children like watering and sowing seeds.  A very complementary set of skills! So, what did we achieve?  lots of raspberry runners have now been removed and the beds dug over, a mature horseradish plant was dug out - a huge job, carried out by Frank - quince and honeyberries were potted up, fennel and sweet cicely moved, another small brick path was laid (by me!) so that I can reach the raspberries easily without walking on the soil, wigwams of canes were built ready for the climbers and dozens of self-seeded ornamentals were relocated by Karen, mostly foxgloves, cowslips, primroses, rudbeckia and day lilies … and, it goes without saying (sort of), lots of weeding!

Clockwise from top left: Strawberries, cherries, tiny lemons, gooseberry bush, raspberries, honeyberries.

I'll write more about the fruit trees in my next 'tree following' post but, apart from the pear trees, the promise of tree fruit is looking very good - including my lemon tree although it will have to be a very small gin and tonic for those lemons!  I'm not sure if the gooseberry bush I planted last year will fruit but it's very leafy and green; there are also a couple of tiny fruits on last year's honeyberry bush; the Physalis (cape gooseberry) is re-emerging; I should get a few redcurrants, the raspberries are about to blossom and there is a sea of strawberry flowers under the fruit trees, around the edges of the raised beds, in one of the raised beds, etc, etc. I grow a variety called 'Rambling Cascade' (from Victoriana Nurseries in Kent) and it's certainly living up to its name. Apparently the runners can be trained up canes, trellises and trees - I might have to give that a try! We certainly won't be going short of strawberries this year! I just hope I get there before the garden pests!

So that's where we are at the end of April.  Going into May I still need to find the time to fence around the veg patch island which Frank has promised to help with.  Crops still to sow outside are beetroot, carrots, salad onions; I have 3 40-cell trays waiting to receive flower seeds and I want to start off some climbing beans and more squash indoors.  Hopefully I'll be potting on my tomatoes by the end of the month and able to start off some basil and other herbs on the balcony.

Till next time, I'll leave you with a glimpse of my veg patch flowers this week - there's a purple theme going on and the lovely tulips are finally on their way out (although I may have a few more to come in May!).  Happy gardening - and congratulations to our host Lizzie on the birth of her baby daughter!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: State of Progress

A year ago this border in the garden really annoyed me every time I walked past.  It's at the other end of the veg patch gardens, next to the driveway, and was slowly filling up with rubble, litter, animal poo, toys, weeds and leaf litter.  The large Viburnum x bodnantense shrubs at either end were overlooked in favour of the detritus underneath.  Finally I could stand it no more.  I gave up a weekend to clear it all out, dig the soil over, and think about planting it up.  A year on, this is the state of progress.

Tree following… Choices, choices!

I managed to miss the deadline for Lucy's Tree Following last month so this month will be an introduction and a catch up on my tree so far.

Firstly, which tree to choose? We do so well for trees here in the UK.

A. lamarckii leaf buds about to unfurl

I love Amelanchier lamarckii, also known as Juneberry, such a pretty tree and it fades so beautifully at the end of the year.  Camden Council have just planted six Amelanchiers in a side street near to the local City Farm.  It's an unusual choice for a local council to instal, one rarely seen. A nearby householder has planted up the tree pit of the Amelanchier nearest to his house.  This would have been a good tree to follow, there's obviously a story there.  On the other hand …

There's a huge, mature and gloriously swooping willow on the Heath by the path to the duck ponds, lots of activity and dog walking going on nearby, plus the occasional art installation …

Then there's the poor lopped off plane trees under my window.  They were severely pruned in late Autumn last year.  Will they resprout? Will the robins return? Will the ivy survive?  And what of the garden that they're in? We might never know …

The canopy of these London Planes completely shaded this garden in past years.

Also under consideration is my urban orchard; eight fruit trees planted as one-year old bareroots in December 2009, this is their sixth year in the veg patch. A specially-developed-for-London apple tree joined the patch in January 2013, making nine trees.  I really feel I should get to know them better. They were covered in buds in March and I honestly can't tell a leaf bud from a fruit bud plus there's the whole pruning for fruit thing. Worthy of a closer look?  I've also just added a quince tree to this collection.  I haven't grown quince before so if excitement levels are a measure of tree following worthiness, this would be the one.

Tangled branches of Ulmus glabra.

But there's more.  Just when I'd almost decided, I walked past a tree of such quirkiness that I was all of a doodah.  Ulmus glabra, also known as Wych elm.  This is in front of the manor house at Capel's Enfield site and I met it on an ident walk in my first year.  Its pendant branches hide a glorious spaghetti like tangle on top of the trunk but the downside is that I probably won't see it during the summer months until my college studies resume. It was a real contender though and one I may sneakily report on from time to time throughout the tree following year.

Being realistic, the trees I see on a daily basis are my fruit trees so I'm going to follow these. I know I should pick one but as an orchard they all contribute to the garden.

Mid border looking south: two apple trees, two pears and a cherry in the corner. 

Over the past few weeks the blossom has been luxuriant with the pear and plum flowers showing first, followed by cherry and apple.  The plum blossom has almost gone leaving the cherry blossom to steal the show.  So many people have stopped to comment or take photographs and I'm really pleased that all this beauty is getting noticed.

I think the most interesting of these trees to look at (at the moment) is the cherry tree.  It's a Morello which is a sour cherry - good for pies and compotes (and perhaps dipped in dark chocolate!) but, for me, not for eating fresh off the tree.

There are two of these trees; one I dug up and moved to another corner plot a couple of years ago, this one stayed put; both are doing really well.  It was grafted onto dwarfing rootstock and, bizarrely, this rootstock grew a couple of stems.  After a couple of years, I was fairly confident this leafy growth was not contributing anything to the cherry tree and chopped off the usurping stems.  They still sprout leaves from time to time, and I'm enjoying the greenery this year but think it should really be pruned off.  You can see this in the photo below which also shows the plants surrounding the tree: day lilies and ivy to the right,  Jacob's Ladder (pulmonaria) and rosemary to the left.  The metal spire was for the clematis to climb up but it's making its own way up the tree!  (nb. must tie it in!)

I love the bark on prunus trees, this one is no exception being a deep bronze.  Like some Silver Birch trees, the young bark peels off to reveal a beautiful surface underneath.  I don't know if this is standard for cherry trees, I'm certainly enjoying the effect on this one!

One other point of interest about this tree: a couple of years ago, I found a tiny plant growing out of the soil under the tree.  I assumed it was a sycamore or such like and was about to pull it up when I saw a split cherry pip by the tiny plant.  I carefully transplanted the tiny tree to care for it on my balcony and then replanted it a year later.  That was a couple of years ago.  The tiny tree is now about 13 inches high; I'll probably have to plant it into it's final place at the end of this year so that it can grow big and strong away from its parent.

May 2012, just a seedling. March 2014 coming back to life; April 2014 in leaf.  

Looking up into the canopy of blossom - look at all those potential cherries!

PS.  The apple blossom is looking pretty special too at the moment!

A slug is a slug no matter how small ...

Gastropod, the biological name for a slug, literally translates as stomach foot.  At any time of year, it's good to have some strategies in place to control them but it's especially important in spring when tender little plants and seeds are about to go out into the garden.

I googled the word 'slug' … 

I was reminded of this when my cousin mentioned that he'd returned home to find half his marigolds were missing after being away for just a few days.  According to this fact sheet, 95% of slugs are underground munching on seeds, laying eggs, chomping roots. They've been around since the Ice Age so nothing we gardeners do will permanently eradicate them, especially after the nice wet start to the year that the UK has just had. There is one slug that apparently prefers to eat other slugs rather than plants and that's the Leopard Slug. I found several last weekend during my slug search; not knowing any better, they live no more.  Next time I'll spare these.

Friend: Leopard slug. Easily identified.

Looking for further slug facts, I came across a link to an article about Killer Slugs which made very disturbing reading. The so-called Spanish slug (actually, probably not from Spain at all) was identified by the Head of Entomology at the John Innes Centres in Norwich although they may have been in the UK since 1954.  He found hundreds of these very large slugs in his garden and did a bit of research. They're a voracious and invasive strain and have been known to eat each other if nothing better is available … for instance, native slugs, dead mice, animal faeces or a row of lovingly tended lettuces.  They live for up to a year and will lay about 400 eggs in that time which hatch in three to four weeks. Slug eggs and baby slugs are lurking under leaves and in the soil ready to slither into action when the weather warms up and it's predicted that this year will be another bumper year for these crop decimators.

So whether your garden or plot has Stealth Slugs, Killer Slugs, garden slugs, tree climbing slugs or slugs in a rainbow of colours, it's time to take action. My favoured method at the moment is search and destroy: swift decapitation with the edge of my copper trowel then throwing the bodies out for the birds. I hope in this small way I'm winning the war without unbalancing the eco-system.

For gardeners of less clinical disposition, I've given some thought as to how to best be prepared for the annual slither and munch fest.

Clear leaf debris.  Fallen leaves provide a protective winter mulch for the soil. Most leaves will not decompose fast enough to be of benefit to the soil so should be raked off anyway in the spring.  Ditto any decaying/old leaves or other matter; these should be cleared to allow light through to the emerging shoots. This year, I've cleared debris sooner to deprive overwintering pests of their warm, dark shelter.

Coffee grounds.  This was touted as a good slug deterrent a few years ago.  Living near a deli with excellent coffee, I had access to copious amounts of coffee grounds; I tried it but remain unconvinced. Allegedly slugs are deterred by caffeine but the same grounds will make seeds and tender seedlings very unhappy. (I tried coffee grounds on a test bed a couple of years ago and nothing grew there.)  A laboratory test of Starbucks grounds showed them to be slightly acidic (pH 6.2) and nutrient rich (nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and copper), probably a bit too much for seeds and seedlings to cope with.  In 2012 the RHS alerted gardeners to an EU ban on using coffee grounds as an organic pesticide - article here - although your behaviour won't be considered subversive if your grounds are applied as a mulch.  If you have an excess of grounds (which I have after stopping for coffee at Costa coffee on the M3 where they bag up the grounds for customers to take), they make an excellent addition to compost or can be added to blueberry shrubs, camellias or other plants preferring an acidic soil or ericaceous compost. Grounds added to the soil should be incorporated well; once the grounds have been broken down by soil organisms, the minerals they contain become available to plants so grounds make a good slow-release fertiliser.

Link - This article gives a lot more info on using coffee grounds outside. 8 different uses for coffee grounds in the garden

Egg shells. Killer slugs have been seen eating snail shells so I suspect mulching with egg shells won't help much. Last year, I mulched around my broad beans with a large dish of washed, crushed and baked eggshells. As baking eggshells hardens them up, I thought the added crunch might be an extra deterrent. I found slugs in the soil but my beans were okay, and the eggs shells were dug into the soil afterwards. This treatment made no difference to my hostas which disappeared overnight.  If nothing else, adding eggshells to the soil will slightly boost calcium. All plants need calcium, with apples, brassicas, legumes, potatoes and tomatoes especially so.  Don't add eggshells around plants such as blueberries as they prefer an acidic ericaceous soil - eggshells are alkaline.

Nematodes.  This works .... but only for a few weeks.  Nematodes destroy slugs from the inside and need to be watered onto the soil during  damp or wet weather.

Salt water / hand picking.  I introduced The Sluginator to my slug controls a few years back. It's a large plastic bottle containing salted water. (Hot water is quicker and so slightly more humane.) It needs a lid, otherwise slugs will climb out.  Regularly slug patrol your patch at dusk, dropping any adult slugs into the salt water which kills them.  I'm squeamish about touching slugs so keep my gardening gloves on.

Beer traps/grapefruit shells. Slugs can't resist a good jolly up and will wend their way towards the pub of doom, never to emerge again.  Sink a plastic container (eg cut down milk carton) into the soil, part fill with beer, empty when gruesome. Grapefruit halves placed dome upwards on the soil will attract slugs. If propped up slightly so the slugs can get under, you'll find several lurking within come morning.  Then you can decide what you're going to do with them.

Copper strips.  These are reputed to give a mild electric shock to slugs as they try to cross them, the theory being that they will turn away from this unpleasantness. Buy tape to put around the rim of pots,  beds and greenhouse shelves. The drawback is that slugs can arch over copper strips and the strips are not cheap to buy.  I've had some success making copper collars from the inside of tomato paste tubes - cut open, smoothed out, trimmed and placed on the soil around my sprout seedlings.  No slug damage ... maybe they just weren't interested, or maybe it was because I used my ...

... Copper tools.  I use a PKS copper trowel which is reputed to deter slugs. In the wet summer of 2012, although I had quite a few slugs, I didn't have the plague of slugs that others reported - and yet I saw slugs roaming in packs elsewhere in the garden.  Use a copper trowel to have a little dig around your beds: If a pile of pearl-like eggs is unearthed a few inches deep in the soil, get rid of them. This is slug spawn.

Petroleum Jelly.  I haven't tried this but have heard that a slick of jelly around the base and top of pots will act as a barrier to slugs and snails.

Mint/Sage/fennel/chives.  Allegedly planting these herbs or adding these to your mulch will deter slugs.  Worth a try.

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So there we have it.  Personally, I believe no single method will keep slugs at bay but using several at least gives your plants a fighting chance.  Dare I say though that, as with all creatures in the garden, slugs are an important part of the eco-system so balance is needed.  Good luck!

Slugwatch is a good website for identifying slugs and more information.