I see Unwins are advising people to sow sweet peas now. I'm in favour of
early sowing, but surely not till the current plants have stopped blooming.
Are there any other flowers that can be germinated in Autumn and will
survive the winter in a cold frame? Nice to see something growing when
it's so dismal outside

stuart noble wrote in
:

I see Unwins are advising people to sow sweet peas now. I'm in favour
of early sowing, but surely not till the current plants have stopped
blooming. Are there any other flowers that can be germinated in Autumn
and will survive the winter in a cold frame? Nice to see something
growing when it's so dismal outside


IME Unwins T&M and Suttons are madly expensive for anything. And they lie!

What I have bought this first year of something to look at in the garden
during winter.

http://tinyurl.com/d2qfb3v

Not sweet peas but nice to see something growing when it's so dismal
outside.

Baz

On 29/09/2012 14:12, Baz wrote:
stuart noble wrote in
:

I see Unwins are advising people to sow sweet peas now. I'm in favour
of early sowing, but surely not till the current plants have stopped
blooming. Are there any other flowers that can be germinated in Autumn
and will survive the winter in a cold frame? Nice to see something
growing when it's so dismal outside


IME Unwins T&M and Suttons are madly expensive for anything. And they lie!

What I have bought this first year of something to look at in the garden
during winter.

http://tinyurl.com/d2qfb3v

Not sweet peas but nice to see something growing when it's so dismal
outside.

Baz



Last winter was bad for violas and pansies round here. Most died and
others looked very feeble until the spring. I think coming out of a
hothouse into an English winter was maybe too much of a shock

On Sat, 29 Sep 2012 13:53:02 +0100, stuart noble
wrote:

I see Unwins are advising people to sow sweet peas now. I'm in favour of
early sowing, but surely not till the current plants have stopped blooming.
Are there any other flowers that can be germinated in Autumn and will
survive the winter in a cold frame? Nice to see something growing when
it's so dismal outside

Lots. I'm about to start sowing my Autumn hardy annuals. I'll sow half
of my sweet peas now and the other half in spring. Plus:

Ammi Majus (they dislike root disturbance so sow in modules and pot on
carefully). I might try other Ammis if I can buy seed.
Centaurea
Cerinthe Major
Godetia
Larkspur
Nigella
Scabiosa

A sowing now and another in spring should give me a longer flowering
season.

I'm also going to try sowing some perennials - Achillea,Aquilegia,
Foxgloves and Poppies. If I'm collecting seeds from these now, then
nature would presumably sow them now.

The alphabetical order is simply because I've got the seed envelopes
in front of me and they're organised that way


Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay where sometimes
it's raining and sometimes it's not.

On 29/09/2012 15:05, Jake wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2012 15:00:55 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2012-09-29 14:53:43 +0100, stuart noble said:



Last winter was bad for violas and pansies round here. Most died and
others looked very feeble until the spring. I think coming out of a
hothouse into an English winter was maybe too much of a shock

Do buy them from someone who grows them 'hard'. It pays dividends for
the gardener but those coming in off huge lorries and going out through
cash points may have been over-cosseted.

For the last two years, I've grown my own, only to see them succumb to
the weather. They weren't cosseted (grown in unheated greenhouse) and
were properly hardened off. This year I'm not bothering with winter
bedding at all. I've got some outdoor quality silk flowers for where
it matters (runs away to hide ...).

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay where sometimes
it's raining and sometimes it's not.


Yes that's how I feel. I'll be looking at empty containers this winter.
Thanks for the suggestions re Autumn sowing

On 29/09/2012 15:00, Sacha wrote:
On 2012-09-29 14:53:43 +0100, stuart noble
said:

On 29/09/2012 14:12, Baz wrote:
stuart noble wrote in
:

I see Unwins are advising people to sow sweet peas now. I'm in favour
of early sowing, but surely not till the current plants have stopped
blooming. Are there any other flowers that can be germinated in Autumn
and will survive the winter in a cold frame? Nice to see something
growing when it's so dismal outside


IME Unwins T&M and Suttons are madly expensive for anything. And they
lie!

What I have bought this first year of something to look at in the garden
during winter.

http://tinyurl.com/d2qfb3v

Not sweet peas but nice to see something growing when it's so dismal
outside.

Baz



Last winter was bad for violas and pansies round here. Most died and
others looked very feeble until the spring. I think coming out of a
hothouse into an English winter was maybe too much of a shock

Do buy them from someone who grows them 'hard'. It pays dividends for
the gardener but those coming in off huge lorries and going out through
cash points may have been over-cosseted.

I grew some from B&Q and others from a pukka nursery and none of them
thrived. I suppose if people will only buy things in flower, this is
bound to happen

Sacha wrote in
:

On 2012-09-29 14:53:43 +0100, stuart noble
said:

On 29/09/2012 14:12, Baz wrote:
stuart noble wrote in
:

I see Unwins are advising people to sow sweet peas now. I'm in
favour of early sowing, but surely not till the current plants have
stopped blooming. Are there any other flowers that can be
germinated in Autumn and will survive the winter in a cold frame?
Nice to see something growing when it's so dismal outside


IME Unwins T&M and Suttons are madly expensive for anything. And
they lie!

What I have bought this first year of something to look at in the
garden during winter.

http://tinyurl.com/d2qfb3v

Not sweet peas but nice to see something growing when it's so dismal
outside.

Baz



Last winter was bad for violas and pansies round here. Most died and
others looked very feeble until the spring. I think coming out of a
hothouse into an English winter was maybe too much of a shock

Do buy them from someone who grows them 'hard'. It pays dividends for
the gardener but those coming in off huge lorries and going out
through cash points may have been over-cosseted.

Can't we harden them off ourselves? Have I got the wrong end of the stick?
Again.

Baz

On 29/09/2012 19:06, Baz wrote:
Sacha wrote in
:

On 2012-09-29 14:53:43 +0100, stuart noble
said:

On 29/09/2012 14:12, Baz wrote:
stuart noble wrote in
:

I see Unwins are advising people to sow sweet peas now. I'm in
favour of early sowing, but surely not till the current plants have
stopped blooming. Are there any other flowers that can be
germinated in Autumn and will survive the winter in a cold frame?
Nice to see something growing when it's so dismal outside


IME Unwins T&M and Suttons are madly expensive for anything. And
they lie!

What I have bought this first year of something to look at in the
garden during winter.

http://tinyurl.com/d2qfb3v

Not sweet peas but nice to see something growing when it's so dismal
outside.

Baz



Last winter was bad for violas and pansies round here. Most died and
others looked very feeble until the spring. I think coming out of a
hothouse into an English winter was maybe too much of a shock

Do buy them from someone who grows them 'hard'. It pays dividends for
the gardener but those coming in off huge lorries and going out
through cash points may have been over-cosseted.

Can't we harden them off ourselves? Have I got the wrong end of the stick?
Again.

Baz

I think the damage is already done by the time they appear on the
shelves. A lot of mine became top heavy and keeled over as though they
were being strangled at ground level. Even as plug plants they looked a
little potbound and the roots are too delicate to separate. I tried
cutting through the root ball with scissors but, what with the weather
and some sort of winter hardy greenfly, difficult to know what did for
them in the end.

On Saturday, 29 September 2012 14:55:02 UTC+1, Jake wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2012 13:53:02 +0100, stuart noble

wrote:



I see Unwins are advising people to sow sweet peas now. I'm in favour of

early sowing, but surely not till the current plants have stopped blooming.

Are there any other flowers that can be germinated in Autumn and will

survive the winter in a cold frame? Nice to see something growing when

it's so dismal outside



Lots. I'm about to start sowing my Autumn hardy annuals. I'll sow half

of my sweet peas now and the other half in spring. Plus:



Ammi Majus (they dislike root disturbance so sow in modules and pot on

carefully). I might try other Ammis if I can buy seed.

Centaurea

Cerinthe Major

Godetia

Larkspur

Nigella

Scabiosa



A sowing now and another in spring should give me a longer flowering

season.



I'm also going to try sowing some perennials - Achillea,Aquilegia,

Foxgloves and Poppies. If I'm collecting seeds from these now, then

nature would presumably sow them now.



The alphabetical order is simply because I've got the seed envelopes

in front of me and they're organised that way





Cheers, Jake

=======================================

Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay where sometimes

it's raining and sometimes it's not.

Glad you got me off my backside because I was able to buy a selection of your suggestions from the 50p tray in the garden centre. (Why they just jumble flowers and veg up in one box is a mystery to me. I happen to have an hour to spare to browse but most people just shrugged and walked on.)
Also a pack of 5 sturdy Stewart seed trays for a quid each