I grew a few plants some years ago from a packet of assorted hardy perennial seeds.  One particular specimen was about 12″ tall and had the most vivid red flowers. I’d always wondered if it might be a verbena, but having just ‘googled’ it, I don’t think it is.

Why the sudden interest? Well, as my plan this year is to do more flowers, I had done some forward planning and collected seeds from this mystery plant last Autumn. It produces them in huge numbers, tiny black seeds.

A few days ago I scattered them quite freely on to some compost, covered them lightly and placed them on the central heating boiler for ‘bottom heat’. Seeds seem do well with this method, so I’ve concluded they prefer heat to light in the early stages of germination.

The mystery seeds are germinating like fun, and in their hundreds if a quick glance without my glasses is anything to go by. I don’t know if they come true, but if they do and I get a lovely big clump of them, I’ll take a picture.

Yesterday I planted my onions and shallots, and today sowed 60 Broad Beans, hoping to get the 54 required for one full bed.

I also moved a few things around in the consevatory to make room for all these seedlings I’m going to have. When I moved the Flymo, for the second year running (presumably because the door still isn’t fixed) I discovered some tiny creature had been storing it’s winter seeds under my mower. How do they do that?

I once lost a kitten under the kitchen units, but at least there was a small hole in that case. The Flymo, as far as I can tell, is in contact with the ground all the way round.