In April, I threw down some seeds for evening-scented stocks (Matthiola) and
since then I've been cultivating what I thought were these stocks. However,
I'm now beginning to strongly suspect that these plants are, in fact, weeds!

I decided to let them flower to see what they are, but I'm getting tired of
waiting. So, I've taken the liberty of uploading a couple of rather
out-of-focus photos of them (my camera batteries ran out so I couldn't take
any more, sorry).

I'd be grateful if someone would be kind enough to look at the photos and
give me an ID to let me know if these plants are weeds.

The URL is: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/melanie.mccluskey/plants/

Many thanks.

Looks to me like a nice crop of Fat hen........
When sowing annuals it is an idea to sow them in straight lines, You can sow
several short lines to give a clump, but it does make it easier to identify
the weeds.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

In article , Melanie
writes
In April, I threw down some seeds for evening-scented stocks (Matthiola) and
since then I've been cultivating what I thought were these stocks. However,
I'm now beginning to strongly suspect that these plants are, in fact, weeds!

I decided to let them flower to see what they are, but I'm getting tired of
waiting. So, I've taken the liberty of uploading a couple of rather
out-of-focus photos of them (my camera batteries ran out so I couldn't take
any more, sorry).

I'd be grateful if someone would be kind enough to look at the photos and
give me an ID to let me know if these plants are weeds.

Chenopodium, by the look of it. British native. They don't get much more
interesting than that the flowers are tiny and sort of knobbly, the same
green grey colour.

Matthiola - night-scented stock - have long thin leaves which are
covered with very short sort of lumps which give an overall slight
roughness - you can see this even in the young seedling stage.
Otherwise, their colour is about the same as your Chenopodium, so I can
see why you were hopeful.


--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

Thanks for the replies. After doing a Google search on the names you gave
me, yes, they definitely look like chenopodium or fat hens! Oh, well, at
least I can pull them out now and have a bit more space to squeeze in some
real plants!

Regards

In April, I threw down some seeds for evening-scented stocks (Matthiola)
and
since then I've been cultivating what I thought were these stocks.
However,
I'm now beginning to strongly suspect that these plants are, in fact,
weeds!


I've completely failed to grow these for two years running now.

The seedlings are naturally thin and weedy and slugs seem to scoff them in
one mouthful. They don't seem to like being slept on by the neighbours'
cats either