Cobaea Scandens

Today, as it was such a beautiful day, I went into the greenhouse and sowed some Cobaea Scandens seeds.  I had these seeds soaking in the kitchen in lukewarm water for 2 hours before planting.  They are quite large seeds and need to be sown individually, vertically and on edge, and then just covered with compost.  I covered them with clingfilm before putting them in my heated propagator.  They are quite slow to germinate, from 21-30 days.

Cleome

I love these for picking in the summer.  It is a shame that they have thorns though!  I have the seeds in the fridge at the moment – they need to be there for a week before sowing.   The seeds then need to be sown into individual pots on the surface of the compost.  Do not cover them with more compost as they need light.  Place the pots in a heated propagator during the day and then at night take them out and place them somewhere cool – I put mine in the kitchen overnight.  The seeds need the extremes of temperature to germinate.  Only water them from the bottom of the pot.  I know that this sounds a bit of a faff but it is worth it!