The Umbrella plant cuttings i have taken over the years have done very well. I am now having to look for new homes for some of the older ones. Click here to read more on the progress over the past year or so. |
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After last seasons(2015) success with a small garlic crop i decided to go ahead again in 2016 but this time start early by germinating the bulbs in the propagator. I started by planting bulbs from garlic purchased in the local supermarket in small pots and leaving them in the propagator at 20 degrees. After 2-3 weeks 11 of the 12 bulbs had germinated. The 12th bulb took another 10 days to germinate but has since caught up with the others. When each plant had germinated and its shoots had reached the top of the propagator it was transferred to my home designed, home made propagator which is currently being used as a hot bed to encourage the roots to establish on the garlic bulbs. So far all 12 bulbs are making good progress and development is very similar for all of them. I plan to move them to the greenhouse for the winter and will probably start another batch of bulbs in the next few weeks. The bulbs will be planted out into the garden in March or April when the risk of frost has passed. I decided to make an early start on the seeds for 2016. As i had a great deal of success with the propagators and LED lighting last year i decided to do the same again this year but also upgrade the LED lighting to higher power bulbs. The begonia seeds require light to germinate and in Scotland at this time of year the sun does not get very high in the sky so the more light i can provide the better the chances of success. The seeds were planted on 28th November and after three weeks progress on the left hand tray has been excellent. Seeds first started to germinate after just over a week. The tray on the right has been less successful with only 15 seeds having germinated. There is one rogue French Marigold seed in the begonia tray on the left. The left hand tray is 'Tom Foolery',the tray on the right is 'Destiny'. By planting now i expect that when the light starts to improve noticeably in late February, early march next year the seedlings will develop very rapidly and i should have a good healthy early crop of begonias. |
AuthorAllan Faulds is an Electronic Design Engineer who develops Hardware and Software on a professional basis. He has a strong interest in applying his design and development skills to his areas of interest such as bicycle lighting and plant growing and greenhouse and garden control technology. Archives
January 2024
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