Sowing Primula in the green

If you didn't see it on Friday's Gardener's World - Carol Klein was describing sowing Primula seeds in the green. I fancy having a go myself.

Normally when you sow seeds they need to be dark brown or black. But according to Carol Klein, Primula are one of a very few (if not the only) plants where you can sow the young soft green seeds that are available now. They are sown in the usual way on a tray of compost and covered by a thin layer of sharp sand (or equivalent), watered and then left outside. They will take about three weeks to germinate, and will grow into reasonable plants before the winter.

Alternatively you could have waited till the seeds were dark brown in a few weeks. However they would, by then, have gone dormant and you would need to sow them outside over the winter so that the long period of cold would break the dormancy. Done this way they wouldn't have germinated until next spring and wouldn't flower that year.

 

You can also do this with Ash seeds as well =]

 

That was quick Aesculus. That's interesting. I had hoped that Carol would say what else it would work with. But she just said that Primula was almost the only thing.

 

Why would anyone want to plant ash? They are the biggest weed growing round here and are a pain. They seed and grow in every nook and cranny

 

We did in college mostly because it's free and one of the few things you can sow in the green:hehe: it's very interesting though

 

You can also do it with Brugmansia seeds Peter,I have planted seeds off an unripe pod that has prematurely fallen off and as long as you plant the seed immediately you will get some of them to germinate,the success rate is not high but with hundreds of seeds in a pod you would get about 5-10%.

 

She was wrong about it being only Primula, Hepatica seeds are best sown as soon as they can be gently taken from the plant, ie. in the green. So too, can seeds of Anemone where they are hard seeds as opposed to fluffy ones, so Aa. blanda, nemorosa and rivularis are best sown like this. Also works with Winter aconites, Eranthis hyemalis.

 

Thanks Walnut - that sounds worth a try. Brugs and Dats are doing wonderfully, but once they have become large I don't notice them growing so much - shame.

Thanks Pal. I was thinking that this sounded like your area. I don't know Hepatica - I must keep an eye out.