Tom writes
Hi,

A friend recommended Night Scented Stock and as I was unable to find
any I bought a propagator and some seeds.

I planted them in a indoor unheated propagator with the vents closed on
Sunday evening (1st June) and last night (4th) noticed there are little
green shoots (definitely not weeds as they are in the two thin lines of
seeds I sowed).

I've opened the vents on the propagator. What would you recommend I do
next please? My aim is to get them growing outside in pots (I have a
terrace not a garden) as I want the nice smell in the evening.

Continue to keep the soil moist. When you feel they are big enough to
move, gently ease them apart and pot them into bigger pots - say about
3inch, grow them on further, and finally put them into 6inch pots. Wen
you transplant, put a bit of soil into the pot, hold the seedling
gently, trickle soil gently over its roots, and fill the pot so that the
soil is at the same level (or possibly slightly higher) on the plant as
it was before you started transplanting. Then firm the soil a bit, and
water the pot (it's inevitable that you damage the fine roots a bit, so
you want to make it easy for the roots to pick up water. But don't leave
the pot standing in water).

You can plant several seedlings to a pot. In this case, it's easier to
fill the pot loosely with soil, make a hole, dangle a seedling in it and
fill up with soil, and repeat till you've planted all the seedlings.

I sowed the seeds thinly, about 2cm apart.

Night scented stock is a relatively small plant. I tend to scatter the
seed, and transplant in clumps.

Also - will the remaining seeds be usable next year????

Yes. They'll lose viability eventually, but 2 years is certainly no
problem.

Thanks for any help - as you can see I'm a complete novice.

Try Nicotiana - the white forms, or Nicotiana silvestris. Powerful
scent, and much bigger plants than night scented stock. Different scent,
so nice to grow both.
--
Kay