Monsoon is here!! Time to grow!!

Summers have ended and Monsoon has arrived. It's that time of the year when humidity is high and temperature is warm(but not hot). These conditions make it fairly easy to grow anything. Be it any plants from seed. Or any cutting from plants.

I have started sowing some of the seeds that I had saved last year. I prepared the growing medium myself.
It includes Coco peat, compost, Perlite, Vermiculite and garden soil. For containers I am using paper cups and old plastic tubs with holes punched in at the base.

Soaking the medium

My experience is that if the medium is well soaked, then I will get sprouts very early. This time I got Gazania, Petunia and Stock sprouts in about 3 days!

Gazania sprouts

Petunia seedlings

I'm gonna take care of these little seedlings for now. Hoping they grow on to produce beautiful flowers.
Will do an update when they are big enough to transplant.

Collecting Seeds - Gazania

Gazania is native of South Africa. They require full sun, are drought tolerant, do not require fertilization and very hardy. They produce large bright colored flowers from October till April(in Delhi NCR region). They are perfect for home gardens due to their low maintenance and brilliant flowers. You can plant them in containers or the ground as flower beds or boundaries.

Gazania comes in brilliant colors

If you have a Gazania plants this year and you want to have them next year, then just save some seeds and you can have many more plants at no cost(only a little effort).

Seed collection is easy. Snip off the flower heads when the petals start to shrivel. Let the flower heads to dry up by putting them in a paper envelope and placing it in a warm and well ventilated area. I generally place similar variety of flower heads in one envelope and label it. Within a few days the fluffy seed heads will start to burst out of the flower head. Save the seeds in a labelled paper envelope an place it in a cool dry place.

Flower head can be snipped off and placed in a paper envelope at this stage

If you let the flower head to completely dry up on the plant then the fluffy seeds will be blown away with the wind. Therefore it's important to snip them off and place them in a paper envelope before that.

Gazania Seeds ready to fly

Store the saved seeds in an envelope or glass jar placed in a cool dark place.