All looking so healthy, Gill. Nice growing. Good start for going into Winter.

Summer has gone by so quickly. Will need to bring mine indoors in the next two weeks.

Rick

I can't wait to grow my own seedlings. I haven't even tried it and already want a tent to grow seedling year round!

4pm? I had no idea that it got dark that early in the UK!

Looking great!

My post has gone awol...?! Yes Jerry, on Dec21st i.e. the shortest day, sunset time is 3.55pm, so by 4.30pm it can be pitch black, and sooner on a dreary day! I don't look forward to those long evenings.

Gill

Oh my! I just checkled that date here, and Google tells me it will be 5:26 pm.

I knew time decreased going north, but I had no idea it would be so much!

I definitely learn something every day.

The UK is is MISERABLE in winter, cold, dark, grey! Sunrise is only about 9am(?) (Melbourne isn't much better)

But, oh, those UK summer days! Daylight until 11pm(?) Great for doing anything in the evenings. Love, love, love them!!!!!

Your seedlings look lovely. So envious. :-)

Dianne, the U.K. 'can' be miserable in winter, but it isn't always, lol. Yes, I have been known to still be gardening in the fading light at 10.45 pm on sunny days! View from back garden in height of summer with hot air balloon that crash landed, and front garden in winter :-) Mlb is a nice city, visited in 2009.

I decided to repot the seedlings individually while they're still in growth mode....just to get back on track to Adeniums :-) One runt has a root prob, back row, right hand pot, in with a lager sibling. So my 10 may soon become 9.

Gill

It stays light in the summer that late? I'm seriously lacking in worldly knowledge!

The latest I have ever seen it get dark here is perhaps 9:10!

Sorry, I made a mistake there Jerry, it should say 9.45pm, oops! You can certainly see what you're doing outside at 10pm on clear nights, maybe even a little later, but 10.45pm would be pushing it somewhat. Sorry about that!

It's still amazing, and I thought long and hard on the subject today! It has to be the curvature of the Earth.

I already knew most of the following, but had not considered the third paragraph. (I'm at 29.29 latitude)

In June, the North Pole is at its closest to the Sun, and it’s pointing inwards, towards the Sun at an angle. When that happens, the whole northern hemisphere reaches the sunlight earlier and leaves it later as the Earth spins in space. When you’re looking at it from the surface of the Earth, the Sun rises earlier, and sets later.

That’s why every part of the northern hemisphere gets longer days and shorter nights, all summer long. The angle of the Earth’s axis means that sunrise is earlier as you go farther north, and sunset’s later. The longest day of the year is called the summer solstice. It’s usually around June 21.

It’s pretty extreme too. By the time you’re north of 45, you’ll get sunrises that are as early as 5:30 am, and sunsets around 9:30 pm or so. Once you get north of 60, the daylight’s nearly round the clock.

When you go farther north than that, things start to get really strange. By the time you reach the Arctic Circle, the days are around the clock, but it’s usually just for the summer solstice. If you go farther north, you’ll get more and more days that are round the clock sunlight in summer. At the North Pole, you’ll get six solid months of daylight!

http://www.actforlibraries.org/how-latitude-affects-the-time-of-sunset-and-sunrise/

They're thickening up nicely, Gill!

Two of mine grew quickly, and the others, sown 1 month later, have been slow.

Yours look really healthy!

I'm kind of hoping the smallest one will continue with its current small stature. With having to keep them indoors I'm limited size wise to what I can cope with, especially during the winter months. The tiniest one didn't make it, I found it actually had a rotten tip to the taproot. I removed it to prevent it spreading, or so I thought, but it failed so I'm down to these 9.

It's the autumnal equinox tomorrow, equal day and night and the official first day of Autumn.

Gill

What a view Gill, what a view.... That must more than make up for not having the space to overwinter tons of seedlings :-)

Beautiful view! I really enjoy ours as well! Gill yout mentioned lights(lamp) for your seedlings/plants? Just regular lighting?

Yes, but it's only a regular anglepoise lamp with a low energy high output bulb which I used as soon as they germinated till they seemed like they wanted to live, ha-ha! It just greened them up quickly and gave them a bit of a boost come evenings. We have had some really hot sunny days so they seem to be doing fine now so I don't use the lamp.

I've actually got a very large 5 bed roomed house with plenty of rooms but I just don't want to house tons of seedlings in it. I want to concentrate my efforts on the 'chosen few' so to speak! Plus my children all visit with their families since losing their much loved dad last year, so I fear they would object to having to share with my floral experiments! My g/h is ailing and I'm not sure if I can get it replaced....what will I do with my 5 palm trees that I've grown from seeds, plus the ten others palms, and my 25 assorted Jade plants, stapelias etc etc that need winter quarters? Hopefully, it will last this winter, but then....Answers on a postcard please :-/ !! My house would be like the Little Shop of Horrors.

Gill

Pleased to say all 9 Thai Soco seedlings are doing good another month on from the previous pic.

Temps are taking a nose dive, barely into double digits C for daytime, but the sky has been blue, cloudless skies at this time of year unfortunately have a downside = down to 3C at night.

The little skinny guy on the front far right lost all its leaves, don't know why that happened, it never had many to start with. I thought 9 would become 8, but success...it is now sporting two shiny new ones, so I'm hopeful it's not going to fail. They're very small, and only just visible in the pic, but they ARE there, so there's life in the little guy yet!

Good luck to those in the cooler climates who are now facing the task of getting their plants through the coming cold season, let's hope our charges do well.

Gill

They are looking really great! You have some really fat ones too!

I'm sorry to hear about the temps. Is it your opinion that this year may end up cooler, or is this trend common for this time of year?

They're looking very well Gill, especially the fat one second from the right in the front row!

Like you say: don't give up on the runt, you never know what the ugly duckling might turn into :-)

Seedlings....Yes, with variations within the three types also. I'm looking forward to them hopefully putting on some good growth next season now I have my fertiliser issue sorted out :-)

Yes the ugly duckling, good name! I like that tall robust one on the front row, and his immediate neighbour, the short fat one!

Temps....Nothing usual for this time of the year Jerry. The winds are from the east so that's our cold direction, as is the north. South brings warm temps from the continent and west heralds warm but moist air from it's journey over the Atlantic....things can obviously get mixed up though as we all know how unpredictable weather can be. TV just said down to freezing point in the rural areas tonight, due to that clear sky I mentioned. As anywhere, the urban areas have a better time of it. Long term forecast is for a long and brutal winter, but they are known to get it wrong.....big time!

Nothing is as fickle as the UK climate....except for Adeniums that is!

Gill