Starting Seeds Indours Throughout the Colder Months

I've potted dutch iris, poppies, pansies, petunias sweet peas and blue verbena

Start by saving tubes, they are good for taller plants like sweet peas.

Get a sun lamp for indoors and attach it above your seedlings not to low or you will burn the tips.

Keep lifting the light as your seeds grow.

I attached mine on a hook and chain, and made it adjustable so I could click it up a notch on the chain.

Once i needed to lift the lamp.

Potting up.

I use a toilet tube and a rooting pot holder together.

The root pot biodegrades in the soil.

I use a soft soil for seeds.

I mix it myself, siving to make it fine.

Adding pearlight for drainage mix well.

Add a seed to each tube.

Once my seeds are big enough the roots will pop through the bottom of the root pots.

I place them in a 10cm pot.

Place the tube in the middle and fill around with soil to the top of your seedling tube.

My mix of soil contains peal light for drainage.

I always use fresh soil.

Below is my sun light I bought this from Amazon.

Its magic my seeds love it.

I did say it was a cupboard, lol

Mops in background etc. Sorry.

So, here's my light giving off all the spectrums of the sun. Seedlings love this.

I swear I can watch the flowers grow. Must laugh. 😁

I have a timer and place this on 6 to 8 hours daily.

Misting with water not getting to wet or not to dry, just moist.

Depending on dryness I will use a 100ml syringe and feed each one making sure not to overwater.

Seaweed fertilizer is a good feeder if you'd like to kick start them with a feed.

When they look like they are growing fine and are big enough,

put a fan on daily for 2 hours or more to make it seem like the wind is blowing lightly.

It will make the stems harder, more study, giving an outdoor effect as these will go outdoors and need to survive especially on the coast.

I did cheat and bought a garden center bonnoffe petunias.

If only to compare to my own.

Under the lamp they went for TLC.

They make mine look very small.

There's my Ant man.

He tells me all I need to know about my green things.

If I have any problems he can solve it.

We all need an Ant man.

The smallest is verbena. Very small and fiddly when separating these,

But worthwhile potting them up.

Just part them softly and pot in a tube.

They will carry on growing.

Petunias are also looking good, mixed color.

Pansies are growing well, mix color so it will be a surprise.

Below my wall was bare.

And the pots were ready.

I used strawberry plant holders drilled them to the wall.

Filling with soil mix

Putting one pot into each hole.

Looking not very healthy, but they will pick up.

The shop bought are at the top.

Verbena at the bottom petunias in the middle.

Once my pots have grown I need to weather them.

Meaning, I place them outside through the day then take back indoors for at least 2 weeks to make them strong and sturdy.

I call it weathering.

Some will survive others wont

All these have survived:)

These are the dutch iris.

Very beautiful an delicate when staring to grow.

They toughened up very well and will return next year

My purple petunias

The bonnoffe shop bought. Beautiful colours.

So start your seeds indoors if outdoors is cold.

My neighbors always say I cheat, Must laugh.

The weather would destroy these in the early months, it's the only way I could grow these beautiful flowers on the coast.

It works well and on the coast I can grow more then the weather will allow.

The poppies I just placed in a pot of soil an let them grow once I'd weathered them for the outdoors.

They will come back every year.

Now theses are full an look amazing

I dead head them daily getting the most of my flowers.

Meaning I snip the top head when they look a bit withered.

And another will grow.

The poppies blooming even more Theses were swiss poppies.

My neighbors always think I've bought my flowers from a garden shop.

And just potted them into my garden.

My sun lamp a little indoor space has given me a lot more choice in what I can grow in my garden.

Plus with the dull days I like to watch the flowers grow indoors,

knowing my garden will be full an blooming with color in spring and summer

It's not cheating, its just having a variety of flowers

Thanks for reading.