It was exactly six days ago that we planted the beetroot seeds, among other things. Today when we were hanging up the laundry, I saw this little guy: Later on in the day, we went up to hang the second load up and I found five more! The real surprise though is that they have come up on this, the sixth day. Every year the little beetroots do not germinate until the second or third week. You can see my surprise then. An interesting factor is that normally I plant them in situ where they will grow in the lottie. This year I am starting them off in cells on the bedroom windowsill. I am a happy gardener today.
I too am experiencing something strange of a similar nature. Like tomatoes sprouting spontaneously from the compost heap, and today I noticed some chili seedlings too in the heap... This never happened before with me. So obviously something in the environment is shifting. But exactly what? I do not yet know. However on the surface, if the net result is that we get more plants, then I at least won't complain.
The clematis that I removed from the border next to the garage, "as they weren't doing anything," I've actually put in the pots in which the new ones came, with some fresh compost and put them on the shed windowsill. They may recover, in which case I'm sure I can find somewhere for them, if not they'll go in the bin.
S-H, i get the little sproutlings in compost and along the canal. It turned out that it was mice that would take smaller toms to eat along the water and on the compost. I usually just pull them out and toss them away, as I have limited growing room. I like to have control of what I grow and these wild sprouts cannot be accurately identified. They may be of a mixed parentage…which is not necessarily a bad thing, it is just that when I am experimenting, like to do the cross pollenating myself. I am also wondering if your compost gets hot enough. My piles sometimes do get hot enough to kill seeds and roots and some seasons not.
Good question... Perhaps the clue is somewhere in the change of climate, which we in my part of the world are experiencing. Things like out of season rain. Which could indeed have cooled down the temperature of the compost. Otherwise during my entire life, I have never experienced any spontaneous sprouting of any type from the compost heap.
Heat temps is a huge issue for my compost piles. A soil temp gage comes in handy. Compost temperatures must reach 130 degrees which are enough to kill most weed seeds, but some of the tougher ones, bindweed, dock, groundsel, speedwell, and lambs quarters, can survive unless temperatures hit 145 degrees for at least a month. Usually in my climate for compost piles sits thru an entire summer to be sure the weed seeds are no loner viable. The compost piles are mostly from the horses of course. They have tons of seeds in their droppings, not to mention the wind currents that blow in weed seeds everywhere all winter. Sometimes I find new Doug fir tree seedlings and many other seedlings growing in the gutters.
