Latest botanical adventures: growing from seed

hello hello!

I've embarked on a new planty journey- growing from seeds. My lovely flatmate, Laura (link to her bloooog), gave me a herby boxy thing for Christmas, and so I have planted those up and they all seem to be getting along nicely- though the Parsley seeds are yet to poke their heads above ground, they're so far behind the Oregano and Chives, that I'm doubting if I planted them at all...

Chives and Oregano just saying hello, Parsley still covered in cling film

Most excitingly, I bought some Mimosa Pudica seeds from ebay. Also known as the shy plant, a touch-me-not and sleepy plant, here's a fantastic gif that may clue you in as to why it's known by these names:

Honestly this makes me shriek with excitement

(i love the etymology of plant names: in Latin, 'pudica' means shy or bashful)

The seeds are doing well, I received about 50 and have sown them in a mixture of circumstances and conditions. Some with a sandy (more succulent/cacti friendly) soil, some with normal soil (nabbed from the herb box collection), some in terracotta pots, some in plastic. So far- the best results have been my from the smallest experiment, which is annoying. I sowed around 10 seeds in a tiny pot with normal soil, but before this I had sped up the germination process my soaking the seeds in warm/hot water for about half an hour. I then covered the little pot with cling film and placed them in a dark, but warm, spot just to the right of my flat's large storage heater- well they loved that! Within a couple of days the seedling were poking through. During the day, I placed them (still clingfilmed) onto the windowsill to encourage them to get taller, but put them back near the heater at night. They are a week old today, well I planted them a week ago, and looking just darling:

 I've uncovered them now, as they were beginning to touch the wet clingfilm and I was wary that they might get rotten or mouldy. I have already noticed their 'sleepy' nature, though they aren't reacting to seismonaistic movement yet, such as blowing, touching or shaking, they are definitely reacting to light and dark: at night the little sprouts close up as if they've gone to sleep for the evening.  

I think I mentioned before, but for Christmas, I also received Lithop seeds (all the way from China), I have it on good authority that the time for sewing those is coming up, so I'll let you know how that goes, when the times comes. Here's a link to my last post about my adult lithops: My Little Green House.

There you are, you're all caught up with my seedy escapades. Have a good weekend!