How I prick out seedlings and why I use peat free compost

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  • Опубліковано 16 лис 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 56

  • @susanwoods174
    @susanwoods174 Рік тому +3

    That was. Lovely relaxin pricking out vid and the sound of the rain☔ was very comforting 😊

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому

      you're welcome - I love the sound of the rain on the tunnel x

  • @ElderandOakFarm
    @ElderandOakFarm Рік тому +1

    Good morning! I need another video with you and your mother! 🙏

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому

      It’ll be a little while till I see her again - can you wait six weeks?

  • @angelhelen84
    @angelhelen84 Рік тому +2

    I have found Durstons peat-free compost amazing. Seeds have grown well, plants have grown well. Highly recommend and the price is reasonable.

  • @wendywerner3242
    @wendywerner3242 Рік тому +2

    Great thoughts on use of peet in gardening!!!

  • @catherineengle4196
    @catherineengle4196 Рік тому +2

    This was so helpful for me. Thank you so much Georgie

  • @shanlynwebb
    @shanlynwebb Рік тому +3

    Your seedlings look spritely and happy. I am amazed your fingers aren’t actually green. I will definitely be using only peat free compost forever.

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому +1

      lol - my fingers are generally so muddy you can't see what colour they are underneath x

  • @MarigoldsintheGarden
    @MarigoldsintheGarden 10 місяців тому +2

    Hi from Australia, Georgie.🌴🌻Would you please be able to tell me what temperature
    is required for the 'ammis', Daucus, and similar seeds, to germinate, and how long the seeds need to experience these colder temperatures? Should I start them during our autumn? I live in the subtropics but have mild to cool winter day temps, with cold nights averaging 3-9C Also, do you sow many seeds that need cold stratification, directly into the soil beds during autumn, so they can germinate when the correct temperatures are reached? Thank you so much Georgie. I would greatly appreciate your help. You are a wealth of information🥀🌺🌷

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  10 місяців тому +1

      hardy annuals can germinate in quite cool weather I find - high single figures celsius or still quite low double figures will still see them germinate. I don't do much special cold stratification though you can with Larkspur etc. Your cool conditions sound not unlike ours generally. x

  • @fionasaunders7646
    @fionasaunders7646 Рік тому +1

    Please look into visiting the places where peat bogs are being restored as well as Cumbria , the Landward sites in Scotland are doing a remarkable job !
    Greetings from Zimbabwe 🙂🙃

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому

      Hi there Fiona - yes I must go and see a project one day. x

  • @King_of_carrot_flowers
    @King_of_carrot_flowers Рік тому +2

    I use Sylvagrow a lot, as it's peat-free and vegan-friendly, and has proven to work well for tricky-to-germinate rare seeds. For the latter, I generally mix it with a lot of horticultural grit and topsoil

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому

      yes it's an excellent base - though three times as expensive this week than it was last - eek! x

  • @1Thedairy
    @1Thedairy Рік тому +1

    Blimey it sounds like a monsoon out there!!! As you say watering from the bottom is definitely a better way to keep the moisture in the soil. I’ve learnt the hard way! I might just spray the top lightly. However my tomato seedlings look just like yours, rather leggy but I’ve been told if I replant them in deeper compost there will develop stronger roots. I love your channel as you are great fun, your advice is really good and you answer most of my questions.

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому +1

      I'm just going out to pot on those straggly tomatoes right now - they are straggly because I kept a lid on them while there was cold weather and they were reaching for the light - one day I'll have a fancy pants hot propagator with high lid x one day...

  • @maureen3621
    @maureen3621 Рік тому +1

    What did people use before composts became commercial? My grandad and my mother grew seeds and plants directly into the ground and had great success.

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому +1

      Completely agree - or people used to sieve mole hills mixed with home made compost. We should have a closed system here. The challenge is to make enough £££ by growing less in a way which means we only use what we've grown here. Slowly slowly...

  • @Fortheloveof.gardening
    @Fortheloveof.gardening Рік тому +2

    Have you started your tomatoes in the poly ? I am curious to try some tomato seeds in unheated greenhouse to when they would come up. Very enjoyable content.

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому

      I started them I think 12th Feb in the greenhouse on an ever so slightly warm bed. Now they are in the tunnel because the dahlias had the hot beds in the greenhouse. But the greenhouse grass was smashed by the wind (after 12 years not being smashed in the same place!) so everyone now is in the tunnel and will have to keep warm on cold nights x

  • @vanessaeden8174
    @vanessaeden8174 Рік тому +1

    Clover multi purpose compost is manufactured by a family in Ireland that uses peat from a sustainable peat bog. However, I will try Silvergro and you might just convince me to go peat free.

  • @tammywinter9268
    @tammywinter9268 Рік тому +1

    Did I hear you say you took up gardening at 40? You have come alone way…and your mom is such a wonderful gardener.

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому

      well, I was paid to weed by my mother as a child, then grew up, moved away, lived in Paris and London with no garden, and finally moved back to the country in my late 30s. So I didn't seriously reach for a border fork until then. x

    • @tammywinter9268
      @tammywinter9268 Рік тому +1

      @@theflowerfarmer Ah, I see….I’ve been gardening since my early 20s, I am 63…. And learning so much…I have just last year started seeds and find it very satisfying…All praise goes to the Creator for giving us this wonderful earth to care for. I enjoy your channel.

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому

      @@tammywinter9268 Thankyou Tammy x

  • @jlp4111
    @jlp4111 Рік тому +3

    New to your channel. Do you also use soil blocking to start seeds? Such a space saver for me and eliminates pricking out and potting up if started at the ‘correct’ time. 😊

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому +2

      I've never used soil blocking, though people who love it swear by it. Here in the UK I feel as though our springs are a little slow and stop start for a system which needs seeds to germinate and move fast before being planted out. I sow this lot mid Feb and don't plant out till mid April which seems a long time to keep those soil blocks from collapsing when being watered. I may be wrong... Maybe I should do a trial for this channel x

  • @61katharine
    @61katharine Рік тому +1

    We definitely need zones here in Canada. It's not so much for last and first frost dates as survival of plants. We cannot plant anything in my province that is higher than 4B. It won't survive the winter.

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому

      I do get that - but the zoning system seems a pretty blunt instrument where more subtle local microclimates operate x

  • @rosemeritomio3575
    @rosemeritomio3575 Рік тому +2

    Por aqui também está chovendo 🌧🌦

  • @melissagannon5711
    @melissagannon5711 Рік тому +2

    The US zones only refer to winter hardiness. They have nothing whatsoever to do with growing annual veg and flowers. I'm in zone 8b in the PNW,but my growing season is shorter than say a zone 7 in the southern states.

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому

      I'm not a big fan of the zoning system as it's such a blunt hammer and local weather systems can be different just the other side of a hill x

  • @ragnhildwadahl6171
    @ragnhildwadahl6171 Рік тому +4

    I am certified organic, and use compost allowed in certified organic practises (peat free!) , but the trouble is that organic/eco soilmix is infested with pyralids, the producers cant find enough organic animal manure, and use conventional chicken manure and cow manure etc, I have had my seedlings ruined by pyralid damage the last 2 years, and not the only one- it is affecting so many, it is horrible to see these seedlings curling until they die. Conventional compost use artificial fertilizer so they are not affected by pyralids. I have tried a few vendors, and are following pyralid info Pages etc. some organic compost vendors are now using an artificial fertilizer allowed in organic growing instead of manure, but none of the pro composts are using it so far.

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому

      I totally agree - there is a lot of pyralid poisoning about in compost. I am certainly feeling the pressure to make more of my own compost, and when I buy in I only buy where I've never had problems before. I used to take a lot of municipal green waste compost from our local area, which should have been 'organic,' but the minute I saw what I thought must be pyralid poisoning I stopped. We've been buying from Dalefoot for mulching the beds and Sylvagrow (not cheap!) for some years now and not had any problems. But I think we will be making much more of our own compost in a few years. Apart from anything else, the cost of bags of bought compost is becoming prohibitive - which I guess is a good thing because it'll make us make our own, but it's hard for people who don't have space for a composting system.

  • @patrickdempsey9886
    @patrickdempsey9886 Рік тому +4

    I hate to take the other side of the argument on bogs but here in Ireland there is a big fight on this matter as on the other side is a fight about peat free composts been environmental friendly especially on coir coco composts need large amounts of water needed to produce coir compost and the amount of salts need to be extracted coir is not easy to degrade
    peat use in the compost industry compared to the burning is only .005% extremely small peat after all is compressed vegetative product over time and using peat compost is arguably more environmental friendly as it's not over as harmful to the environment as peat peat free
    to produce chicken and horse manure that is steam or heat treated as well as blood and bone meal need a lot of energy to prevent sickness pass to animals from the raw manure been spread on land
    it so hard to get a place to produce compost digesters because the fear of water contamination smells the price of homes going down around an area so often producing these materials is taken to third world areas using the little water they have the argument is also the average Gardner when the compost is finished in the pot it is put in the garden you plant captures carbon and stores it in the soil anyway Bunny Gunnis the great garden designer argues this point on peat free
    Been imported and exported on a large scale
    The amounts of energy needed to produce these composts
    The biggest offenders of producing peat is Germany and other environmental friendly countries exporting to holand 80%
    Holand the world leaders in gardening is moving plant to third world countries cheaper labour regulations not as strict if you bulbs and tubers packets product of holand not produced in holand
    And peat is still the best retainer of water in seeds and plants
    Believe me the argument go deep I like to help the environment as I don't use sprays

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому

      It's good to discuss this stuff so thank you for joining in. Ideally we'd all make our own compost, but not everyone can, or can make enough, so then we have to choose the least environmentally damaging option which for me is peat free. I would like to have a closed system here where compost is concerned but then I'd have to make sixteen+ tons a year - one day maybe I'll get there x

  • @karenrussell-xp7uy
    @karenrussell-xp7uy Рік тому +1

    Is it sustainable to use peat free compost even though it's not locally sourced it's brought into the UK from half way around the world?

    • @nushiee388
      @nushiee388 Рік тому +2

      I think the Sylva grow compost is sourced in the UK, however it Is very expensive at around £18 for a 50l bag! B&Q etc only seem to stock peat free now but the quality is very poor, lots of plastic, glass and sticks 🙄

    • @karenrussell-xp7uy
      @karenrussell-xp7uy Рік тому +1

      @@nushiee388 gosh that is expensive!

    • @sabrinam2836
      @sabrinam2836 Рік тому +1

      Why is soil from halfway around the world the only option? Pretty sure the option isn't local peat based soil vs. peat free soil from Asia. We can protect peat bogs while also sourcing soil that's more regional.

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому

      When coir travels round the world it travels very slowly and dehydrated weighs very little and takes very little space. It is a waste product from other processes. I don't love it because it shreds my hands (I'm not a great glove wearer though I should be.)

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому

      Sylvagrow is eye wateringly expensive suddenly x

  • @joannbaumann4028
    @joannbaumann4028 Рік тому +2

    OK no peat. I think we get it from the Philippines here in the USA. Hard to get Dara/ ammi seeds this year in the USA and pricey. So everyone remember to save seeds.

  • @arnicepernice8656
    @arnicepernice8656 Рік тому +1

    In no way is this meant to be antagonistic….. have you tried to produce your own potting compost.
    You husband may have tried making worm composts and worm casts which IMO is the best ever compost.
    I don’t have a supplier currently … but when I used it you can keep reusing it , as in ,seedlings potting on, pots etc as the nutrients are longer lasting. You have land enough to do this!??you do need a place to turn it and have the worm beds but I think it could work and fit in with the ethics of your plot.

    • @theflowerfarmer
      @theflowerfarmer  Рік тому +2

      we should produce much more of our own compost. I'm such an all or nothing character that in my head I think that if I need sixteen tons of compost a year then I'll buy it all rather than make some. With the design of the project in our field will come three big compost bays and we will make at least come of our compost going forward. Meanwhile we have huge heaps of horticultural debris around which makes very good tenement homes for hedgehogs, grass snakes, toads, beetles and a lot of other people.

    • @arnicepernice8656
      @arnicepernice8656 Рік тому

      @@theflowerfarmer ❤️

    • @jentextiles
      @jentextiles Рік тому

      I’ve had a lot of little insect infestations on my indoor plants and had to buy some sticky yellow strips from Amazon to catch them. I overheard on radio that the peat free compost is the culprit. I wonder if your clever solution of watering from below would reduce their success? Jen