My sister sent me gardening stuff for Christmas! Along with a cool bug hotel, I got this:
Ah, she knows us too well! It’s a nice little kit with six types of seeds, biodegradable pots, plugs of soil, stakes for labelling, and a very nice, big pamphlet that not only tells you ideal planting advice but has drink recipes!
I planted everything but the strawberries on Sunday, as I have a different variety still going from last year and I don’t have much luck with them in any case.
I saved the last pot and plug for seeds that Kalamain from Kal’s Gardening sent me. Acer seeds! Hubby has wanted an acer for-ev-er. My first attempt at germination failed, but Kal sent extras so I’m trying again. He also sent me alliums and calendula ‘candyman yellow’ so I am trying those, too. Hubby loves yellow or orange flowers the best, so if I can grow him a maple tree and some yellow flowers, Kal will have made him a happy garden-observer!
All of them are in the heated propagator right now. I’m keeping a good eye on them, and the cinnamon basil is already sprouting. I also have bad luck with basil, so I’m 100% positive it is just the heat making it even think about living with me.
heretherebespiders 
I wish you luck! Most of my seeds didn’t start this year…a first for me. But I do have watermelon. YUM!
Oh I wish I did! Were you the one who sent some to The Kitchens Garden?
Yes! Blacktail Mountain watermelon seeds!
Sounds like fun
I’d love to send you seeds, but I don’t think anything much that grows here has a hope of flourishing in your climate. I’m thinking about sticks of lemongrass to stir your margaritas with. Never mind…
I think some people grow it in conservatories here?
Maybe… here, my lemongrass bush is about 3 metres tall by 2 metres wide. That’d have to be some conservatory!
Um, yeah. They are just wee bitty things here, like chives!
Heheh! Mine’s more like Audrey II…
You can grow Lemongrass here. It’s not as good as the tropical grown stuff… But it will grow.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/herbs/lemongrass
All you have to do is keep it indoors till after the risk of frosts is over then put it outside.
It will have to be brought in overwinter though so you will need to keep it in a pot.
The flavour of the fresh stuff is so much better, it’d be worth the effort. But it needs to be a very big pot, and ideally it should sit on a hard surface or saucer because the stuff’s very invasive, otherwise you’ll find your plant has anchored itself in the ground.
It’s like bamboo then?
If it goes in a tub then it should be fairly easy to limit.
The only issue would be with roots going out the bottom of drainage holes. But then those roots won’t get that much of a problem… Would they? O.o
It’s like clumping bamboo in its habit, but rather than suckers it splits off ‘children’ from major stem junctions, which you can just stuff into a pot of soil and away they go. The main problem with the roots is that they go incredibly deep very quickly, and are always seeking out new sources of nutrition; I’ve had to divorce a tub of lemongrass from a big root it sent down between the pavers on my patio. The thing was as thick as my thumb, and it had only been there a couple of months! However, we are talking tropics here, and it may not be as vigorous in cool temperate climates.
Wow. I didn’t think it was that vigorous!
But yeah, I don’t think it would be like that here. If it’s a tropical plant then it probably digs deep to hit a water source. Not generally a problem we suffer over here. B-)
They use it for hedging in SE Asia…
She does know you well — here’s to it all going swimmingly!
Good luck with the germinating.
You need to talk to them – as in ‘Grow! Grow! Grow!’ 🙂 Hope they come up!
I kind of do 🙂 Have to wait until kitten-features is asleep before I can check on them, but when I do I talk nicely to them!
Aren’t you lucky!
I only ever get sent bills! 🙂
I discovered a single strawberry plant with one strawberry on it but alas no runner … yet.
I suspect it will get nailed when the frost arrives in a couple of months.
I didn’t even bother saving runners last year! I’ll end up with a million plants if I start that.
You are very welcome. Hope they come along!