I was recently given this:
It's a kit for growing a giant sequoia from seed. Which I think is rather awesome even though I don't have any idea what I'll do with it after a couple of years. It will grow in containers at first but sooner or later it'll need planting outside, and the eventual size of the tree, it'll need planting in a rather large open space.
I might be advertising for a forever home for it eventually if it starts growing to a hard-to-transport size and I still don't have anywhere to put it. Is there anyone, preferably in the UK, who has a field or large garden that could use a really big tree? But I suppose I will cross that bridge when I come to it.
Here's what you get in the kit:
A container that the kit terms a 'mini-greenhouse', a bag of soil, some white pebbles, instructions, and six tiny seeds.
It's a matter of note that sequoias and redwoods, the biggest trees there are, grow from the smallest seeds of any trees.
Now to assemble the kit. First I fill the container with soil, and water it, according to the instructions, until it's thoroughly saturated. A good time to notice that the container, like all good plant pots, has holes in the bottom to let out excess water, would have been just before this step rather than just after. Oh well.
Now for the important part: I snip open the little packet of seeds and, as directed, tip them all into the middle of the container, just on top of the soil.
The kit notes that sowing several seeds gives a better change of one of them germinating. I just hope that I don't end up with more then one, as there certainly won't be room for two seedlings to grow in there and it would be rather sad to watch one smother its sibling.
Next I pour the pebbles (which are gravel and grit, really) over the top of the seeds.
Now, it goes in the fridge to chill.
Apparently, this will simulate winter for the seeds, and when they're taken out again they will think it's spring (actually it is spring but they don't really know that as they've been kept in the warm through the winter). This will cause them to germinate, hopefully. They have to stay in the fridge for twenty days, which since I planted them yesterday means they're due out on Easter Sunday. As it happens, I shall be away Easter weekend so they'll have to hang on an extra day.
I shall post an update on 6 April.