Saturday 17 January 2015

Lazy, impatient gardener

Have I ever mentioned that the name 'The Tenacious Gardener' was not my first choice of name for my blog? Nor my second, nor even my third, in fact it was low on the list of the choices I made. My first choice was the Lazy gardener because that describes me to a tee, the second was the impatient gardener because again perfect description and my other choices included 'The make do gardener', 'The sow it and see gardener', 'The pot luck gardener' and many other similar choices that ended up either being taken or decided against.
'The Tenacious Gardener' really doesn't describe me with as much accuracy as all or any of the above, in fact pretty much every meaning of the word Tenacious is a stretch to describe me - persistant, tireless, unswerving, unshakeable, purposeful, patient - yup, those certainly do not describe me.
So I'm wondering whether it's possible to change a blog name and it's something I'm going to look into.

And it's with reference to my lazy attitude toward gardening that I show you this




These are the seed trays and propagators that I grow seed in year after year and as you can tell I have never bothered washing them between sowings - slap the back of my hand!
I give them a brush out but that's it and I then I moan and moan about the quality of seeds when they fail to germinate, or if they do germinate they get leggy and/or damp off.
Alan Titchmarsh recently did a snippet somewhere on the importance of clean seed trays and propagators - all of which I already knew of course but I really am a lazy gardener.  However I decided this year that I'm going to do the right thing so I've scrubbed those seed trays and propagators and took the time to sow seed properly (something I also usually do as quickly as possible with no real thought).
 
I had a carrier bag full of seed packets to sow this year but I went through the lot and chose only the ones I know I really want to grow. This year the main priority is the main garden so I'm not growing any veg and am instead using the polytunnel to grow lots of cut flowers. Here's what I was left with


There's more there than there looks but they include various poppies, Lupin, Hollyhock, Dahlia (never grown that from seed before), Sweetpea, Echinacea, Aster, Callendula and lots lots more. I also have given Phormium Tenax another go and some Pieris a first try - if these are not a success I'll buy the plants rather than try again.

Over a few days I filled trays with compost and sowed all those seeds and instead of putting them out in the PT where I'll forget about them I kept them indoors so the window sills are currently propagating benches. I also have one heated propagator which is housing those seeds that require heat to germinate, now all I can do is be patient and that's a struggle for me, I tend to give seed 2 weeks to sprout and then I throw them out. Not happening this year though, I've taken time to sow these properly so I'm expecting a decent crop form the seeds.


5 comments:

  1. We don't wash trays an flits either, life is too short! You could easily change the title on your blog but changing the web address is more problematic.

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  2. I sow my seeds in big plastic drink cups so I don't have to transplant anything. The cups give them plenty of room for root development. Good luck with your seeds! I hope everything grows. :o)

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  3. You certainly don't sound like a lazy gardener; Trays cleaned, seeds started already, carefully narrowing your choice of seeds to only those you most want -- you'll have to rename your blog: "The Industrious Gardener"! -Beth

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  4. Ha, lazy and impatient describe me as well! And I, too, have been known to reuse a pot or two (or many) with no scrubbing in between... That might be why I love winter sowing perennials so much - cut a milk jug in half, poke some holes, put in dirt and seed, and throw them outside to wait for spring! And most of my annual seeds just get thrown right in the garden with some water and a prayer :) Only some veggies and a couple flowers get nice trays and babying, lucky things!

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  5. Where I come from we let Mother Nature do the gardening. She doesn't mow the lawn, but there's plenty to eat if you know where to look.

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