I sent my dad some of my poppy seeds last year and he had the same problem - they still haven’t sprouted, but as some of the others mentioned, whilst Welsh poppies have a reputation for growing anywhere (equally happy in shade or sun) they particularly seem to like stony, poor, well-drained soil. I don’t have good, deep soil in my garden but they grow like mad - I’ve even got them growing out of gaps in the brick walls. I’ve found it’s best to scatter the seeds and leave them rather than ‘plant’ them under soil.
It seems the less special treatment they get, the better!
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Yes thats what we found in work for the new wild flower areas. Originally we thought it was a typo but the topsoil had to be poor quality. Ie would fail the requirements for farming or gardens.
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Can’t wait to get sowing mine and see how they do in the chalky soil of the south downs!
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Why do poppies grow in Cornfields and where wars have brought layers of mud and earth and gravel from lower layers to the surface, where shells and bombs exploded? They like disturbed soils!!! Yoi must disturb the layers of soil to allow seeds to germinate and flourish while they have the advantage over stronger perennials etc. Yes, also, most wildflowers like meadow/ rough ground conditions. They can’t compete with cultivars and the sort of garen plants that thrive in deep layers of well-manured soil. Some may need frost to germinate or exposure to light - air- grittiness - sandy soil - nutrient deprived soils etc
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Diolch o’r waelod 'nghalon, Catrin ag Aran, helpers all, and everybody (especially @tatjana 
) who made the parti and the weekend such a happy blur of faces, names, voices, music ,laughter and, of course, Cymraeg 
Just wish I was able stay on for the bwtcamp as well!
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Don’t know where to put this
Memet has sent you the code for buying one ticket and getting another free for tomorrow night’s performance
https://www.pontio.co.uk/Online/default.asp
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It would be “ušesni črv” but for such things we don’t really have any special expression. We simply say that we have particular thing (music, word etc) in your ear.
Rhaid i chi yn canu fo yn gilydd 
Could be a lot of fun!
Diolch i chi gyd hefyd. I’m happy to hear you like the gift presented.
Well, I did what I could. Thank you too.
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If I am late adding to this thread, it’s because it has taken me a while to come down to earth and start to process the torrent of emotions the weekend has brought out.
This weekend I came home to Gogledd Cymru. And for the first time in my life I didn’t walk around having to feel apologetic for not being able to speak Welsh. That’s huge. It’s life changing. And I’ve hardly even begun to get my head round what it means to me.
I had my first conversation yn y Cymraeg ‘in the wild’ on the Friday afternoon. I arrived and headed almost straight away for Stryd y Plas - having heard so much about it from Beca a’i Phobl. I went into Siop Manon and I saw Manon and I took a deep breath and I started a conversation with her!. And she understood me and she answered me in Welsh - and on we went!
Then Friday night. Dancing to the wonderful live music. (Missing the chance to speak to Manon Steffan Ross - boo!) Saturday morning - turning into a company of drowned rats following Aran’s treasure hunt in the pouring rain. (Funnily enough, you can’t write answers on paper that’s doing it’s best to turn back into woodpulp.) Saturday afternoon - exploring the history of Welsh Ballads with Cynefin…
Then Saturday evening - what can I say? Everyone glammed up. Being serenaded by a harpist as we arrived. The theatre at the Gallery turned into a fairy tale palace. The little present of seeds of Welsh poppies grown in @siaronjames’s garden. The poem:
Y sylwi swil, fesul sill,
Nad anodd yw adenill
Yr heniaith, yw’r gyfrinach,
Ewch am byth, a chamau bach.
“Keep on going, with little steps…” Sums up so many emotional, humbling moments, with Welsh speakers telling US how much they valued our trying to learn Welsh.
And @tatjana - you may not have been in Caernarfon, but you were most certainly with us in that room on Sunday night. Thank you!
Sunday - exploring Caernarfon Castle with the bootcampers, while nearly being blown off the castle walls in the wind. Monday morning - a precious hour before I had to leave, when I managed to find and follow the path of the old railway from the station where my grandfather was once station master.
Oh, it was so hard to leave. I wish I could have stayed to be part of the informal boot camp. One day, I am going to make that happen.
In the meantime, of course, the best thing of all was meeting folks wneb a wneb. The incredible team who make this all possible, of course. But also all the other learners. The guys from the Slack hangouts, whom I felt as if I already knew: @siaronjames, @Novem, @Lea, @KateM, @JohnYoung, @PhilgJones… And then all the people I met for the first time (who I am going to have to tag in a PS because of the forum rules 
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To all the new friends I made this weekend: @gruntius, @Hendrik @gog, @netmouse, @joanie, @lornarhodes, @peterallen, @mintonman, @greeneyes, @Rohini… If I’ve missed anyone off it’s probably because I haven’t worked out what your ‘handle’ is on the forum. You are all - as Aran would say - completely heartless (no, we are never going to let him forget that!)
Until the next time, here’s to ymarfer siarad Cymraeg ar lein. And when all else fails, don’t forget to ymsiocoledi.
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Thank you @Catriona. The more I read all these posts, the more I wish I could be there, meeting all of you. But, well, I’m glad I could give to all of you little something of that “Come on! Let’s learn and speak together!” spirit and to say my pen-blwydd hapus to SSiW which changed my life forever to good and to all of you of course.
Or from the @Iestyn’s “Shw mae-thon” back in Spring where (if i still remember correctly) I’ve breefly met you while you pured into the hangout and I went off short time after that.
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That is a brilliant summary of the weekend to be fair!
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I couldn’t be at the Parti 10, but I’ve loved reading all about it, and looking at the photos! Diolch bawb for sharing!
@tatjana Your video is absolutely fantastic! What an amazing thing to do, and to send to the party. I’m so glad you posted it for those of us who weren’t there! DA IAWN TI!
Penblwydd hapus, SSiW! 
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Thank you.
First I’ve created the audio file and actually didn’t have any hopes to do the video at all in so short time as I thought the party is at the end of the previous month. Hearing that there’s still one month to the party I and all in the small early premiere team gathered around me thought I should give it a go. So here we are. Whatever would happen, I planned to post video online for you all to enjoy it but I’m super extreamly glad the video was presented at the party as the final surprise and the birthday present.
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Actually, I completely forgot to tell everyone that it was the ever helpful Cai (@Novem) who stepped up at the last minute and kindly offered to take a trip around Caernarfon to write questions for us. We had, by then, run out of energy and time.
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Oh, da iawn, @novem! They were great questions, and it was a brilliant way to explore Caernarfon. We won’t hold you responsible for the wet stuff that did its best to spoil all your hard work
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Thanks to everyone who organised, helped and supported with all the weekend activities, especially the wonderful party on Saturday. The entertainment was superb. Diolch to Catrin and Aran. And special mention to Tatiana for the surprise ending of the evening. Just gwych.
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Thanks so much to everyone who organised the party and to all the lovely people I met. It was such a great weekend . Everything from the entertainment , the food , the speeches , the people , and general vibe of the weekend , all set in the worlds most Welsh speaking town is something I won’t forget.
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A few parti pics, and no apology for gormod o Meinir… should you want they can be downloaded etc I think.
Diolch yn fawr iawn to everyone who made such an amazing weekend possible (and that includes the people who invented coedine and zantac…)
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Wow! Diolch! I’m on the pictures too!
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