As if I need more ferns!

Today I decided to sow some ferns spores while my wife was out - not that's there's anything underhand about the job, but I do it in her kitchen and it's a bit messy!

First I wash, sterilise and dry the pots, then fill them with peat, tamp it down and using a circular piece of sponge to avoid flooding, pour boiling water over each pot in turn to sterilise the peat. Then onto a tray and 3 minutes in the microwave to make sure, then covered up and left to cool.

Next step is to thinly sow the spores, being careful not to breath too heavily or wave my arms about or the spores will fill the kitchen and contaminate the next batch! Then a label with name and code, then put into a transparent Yeo Valley yoghurt tub with a greased lid, then eventually stacked in several layers on my office windowsills.

If all goes well, then in a year, maybe more, a green film appears on the peat which eventually grows into small ferns - it's a rather technical process! They stay in their little enclosed world until large enough to be pricked out, then they're grown on in a shady frame until big enough to pot on - and eventually find a place in the garden! I now have big ferns growing outside which have been grown this way!

Unfortunately its very time-consuming and I must find a way to do this more efficiently as I have hundreds of packets of spores to catch up with! But the danger of being less careful is that the peat or compost can be quickly covered with moss, which overwhelms the young ferns. Good fun though, and keeps me off the streets, if we had any!