What's going on in the Greenhouse

[alp]

Wow! I can see they are doing very well. Today I have to sort out my house. No more outside sieving. Will do that tomorrow.

I will get rid of those empty modules and see if I can save the tiny petunias seeds.
On my arm - written as aide de memoire.

1. Cosmos pipe or flute one
2. courgettes
3. petunia
4. zinnia

Have a rewarding day .. and hopefully according to plan @Upsy Daisy

 

[Upsy Daisy]

alp , will try to stay on track today.

 

[johnny canoe]

Another day trying to work in the cramped GH. Good thing I have my radio and coffee in there.

 

[alp]

@johnny canoe At least, it is crammed with leaves whilst mine is full of empty trays because of the dryness in my lean-to.

I tidied up a tiny bit of my kind of gh i.e my lean-to. I used to put the shelves right next to the wall. As a result, I couldn't open the windows or reach the sockets. Today, I moved the two shelves near to the middle of the wall. so now both the windows and sockets are accessible.

Opened a bagged box to find a real surprise - a box full of tiny green sticks. Turned out to be asparagus. Funny thing is that the seed packet was bought nearly 4 years ago. Keep postponing it because of the groundwork needed for asparagus bed. But I could bear throwing the packet away, and sowed the seeds just for a laugh, thinking that they would all die. Look!

Another surprise is that my hoya leaves actually have rooted, only just. The one with the root in a jiffy pellet has rooted properly whilst the others have a little white tail as a root but they do not grow into any soil. Very strange. Just show that there is something magical about jiffy pellet, but one must get rid of the mesh if one wants the plant to survive.

See the white stick? That's actually a root which is totally detached from the compost

.

The second photo shows the root has grown inside the jiffy pellet.

 

[alp]

Not that much going on in mine View attachment 19515

@zigs Love your cactus - going to have a lot of flowers. Hope to see them ..

 

[Larisa]

@johnny canoe
Does the heater in the greenhouse always work? Or at night? If I see correctly, there is about 20 degrees Celsius. The greenhouse keeps the heat well.
Maybe I'm wrong, but is there an Impatiens?

@alp
What are you going to do with the hoya leaves?

@zigs
I also love your cactus. He looks great. And I see a blossoming strawberry. What fertilizer is in the bottle?

 

[alp]

@Larisa Plant them. I have always been messing about with plants. I want to propagate them. I reckon if I cut the leaves off and sealed them in a tray of compost, they will grow. They have and only one has rooted into a jiffy pellet. 3 other leaves have a white tail (root), so I broke open some jiffy pellets and squeezed the content into the compost tray and sealed the whole tray up in a bag and placed it back into the lean to where it is usually warmer and brighter and hope for the best.

 

[Larisa]

@alp I have not grown Hoya for a long time. But I received as a gift a sheet of Hoya kerrii. It has a heart shape. It's sold for Valentine's Day. He grew up with me for 3 years, gave many roots, but the plant did not grow. Do you have big cuttings?

 

[alp]

@Larisa I fell into love with hoya when a man said that just one flower will fill the whole room with perfume. So I bought tons of seeds on ebay from sellers from China, Spain and here in the UK and showered them with tender loving care. I then found out that they all had thorns. I was horrified and asked others to ID the seedlings. Some said Cleomes. I later realised that they were cleomes. So I opened 3 complaint cases and one UK seller was especially abusive.. In the end, I got 3 refunds. One day, I went up to the supermarket and saw hoya in a ring for sale for £5. I was thrilled and bought one. The following day, I went to the shop again (3 minutes' walk) and they were all gone. A shop staff told me that one lady had bought them all. Actually, they could have been stolen. To make sure that mine won't die, I chopped off some leaves and used this unconventional way to propagate them. The best way to do this is by layering; however, the whole plant is tightly wound around a round frame and can't be unwound. So, I put the leaves in the tray and those left on the ring have grown terribly slowly. As there is a problem with the air in my house, I have to open the loft door and some windows even though it's very cold. So the temperature drops have not helped their growth. As far as I can see, they have not grown at all. I raised the pot a bit and keep some water underneath the pot. With the hoya carnosa, I actually put some perlite underneath with a bit of water so it is always moist, but not soaking the root. I have not killed them, but they have not died or grown!

 

[johnny canoe]

Hello Larisa,
Both my heaters have a thermostat, so I set the temperature and they keep it there. My GH is in the direct sun from 7am to 7pm this time of year. So even if it's only plus 5 outside, I will have the door and windows open and the heaters will be shut off. Now even on cloudy days like today with a temp of plus 2, I only need one heater going and it only kicks on for a minute every 10 minutes to keep the GH warm.

Yes I have a couple of flats of Impatiens going. Funny thing is last fall was the first time I collected my own Impatiens seeds and I have gotten a better germination rate than buying my seeds from South Carolina or here in Canada.

 

[alp]

@johnny canoe I always believe in my own seeds as they are guaranteed fresh and viable. I bought some seeds on fleabay which turned out to be wood chips. So, no clematis sieboldii for me. The bay didn't want to know or taken action. Seller refunded me, but I have no idea if he has continued to sell them as bay didn't want to taken action. No to mention the saga I mentioned earlier about hoya seeds.

 

[johnny canoe]

I hear you Alp. I quit buying from T&M about 15yrs ago. And this year I haven't bought one single seed from anywhere. I love it!

 

[zigs]

@zigs
I also love your cactus. He looks great. And I see a blossoming strawberry. What fertilizer is in the bottle?

Owcho the cactus loves a drop of Cabinet Sauvignon, he'll be flowering any day now

I'll have strawberries soon too, fancy taking some on a picnic?

 

[alp]

@johnny canoe Do you have T&M in Canada? Amazing! Shame that I need to buy seeds every year as I love the double pirouettes and there is no way I can collect seeds. Amazed at how clever you are, johnny! You collect all your seeds? Amazing.. I took a cutting but right at the end of March, the cutting succumbed to mould so no pirouette babies. If I move, I will try taking cuttings again.

 

[Larisa]

@alp Here, Hoya is sold in stores, but everyone prefers to buy from people who are specially bred. Because the buyer can choose a variety. Hoya liana, hoya bush, mottled leaves, white or red flowers ... Perhaps in the UK, too, someone is breeding Hoya.

Funny thing is last fall was the first time I collected my own Impatiens seeds and I have gotten a better germination rate than buying my seeds from South Carolina or here in Canada.

Own seeds are better, of course. They are guaranteed to be fresh.
Do you grow Impatiens from seed only or leave an old plant for cuttings, too?

I am also surprised at the good germination of my seeds. I used to grow begonia from seeds. It has very small seeds. Growing begonia from the seeds - dance with tambourines, as they say. This involves some effort. However, in the winter I found a young begonia in a pot with azalea. I just plant azalea in the garden in the summer, in a pot. This well stimulates the autumn flowering. Next to her grow terry begonias. Some of them spilled seeds. Now I'm waiting to see what kind of a begonia was. I want to see how the seed propagation will convey the varietal characteristics of begonia.

@zigs
On my balcony is also a cactus with buds and strawberry seedlings.
If you put 9 identical coins under a cactus with buds in a red purse, it will bring profit to the house. It really works !!!