Growing Notes
Sweet Pea Sowing
How I grow them, what I pay attention to and what I tend to ignore. The small decisions that make the difference, and the ones that don’t seem to matter nearly as much. Read more.
From the Worktable: Not Everything Reads the Instructions
The rudbeckia have come up without fuss. They usually do. Reliable little things.
The cynoglossum… less so. I surface sowed them without thinking too much about it.
Turns out they’re meant to need darkness to germinate. Mine clearly didn’t get the memo. Up they came anyway, bold as anything.
Unlike the phlox, sitting in the dark and not so much as a green dot.
You do try and follow it at the start, of course you do. Packet in hand, doing as you’re told. Then something ignores all of that and gets on with it regardless, and you’re left wondering what exactly you were worrying about.
From the Worktable: Waiting on Larkspur
Some of the varieties are up, not all of them. Which is normal larkspur attitude.
A few come through, the rest take their time, no rush. You stand there looking at the tray thinking, is there something wrong or do you have better things to be getting on with?
It’s five degrees and they don’t seem particularly bothered either way. Why is that completely acceptable when you’re sowing, less so when you’re outside lifting a slab, then a couple of bricks, then a couple more, wondering why you started in the first place.
A fern, with no tenancy agreement, has somehow housed itself.
I’ve sown another round anyway. Just in case.