Specialty Gardening: Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #11, 1 by Illoquin

Illoquin wrote:
I can't believe we have 363 messages on the old thread! http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/831562/

Fairy, Those cell packs for perennial seeds are very bad because they dry out....esp in the sun! I think they are best with bigger seedlings (annuals) that you can go around and water 1000 of them with a wand (like at the garden center). On perennials, the 25 seeds in a 4" round pot is the very best, IMHO. The round pots take up more room, but they don't dry out in the corners. Plus, there is enough room that they can grow for months without needing to be transplanted.. BTW, Don't put Columbine seedlings in the sun. Or if you do, look at them daily. I have seen their little leaves bleach out in full sun here.

Dryad, Your petunias look fantastic! And I never saw a greenhouse at your place! It is a solid one, right? Is it up all year? I need to email you or dmail you or whatever, but the short of it is that I'm going to Lea's on Friday afternoon and can take anything you need to get to her.

I am mad at myself for pinching the geraniums. I could have had BLOOMING pots of them to show you all. Instead I have some little geraniums in a pot. LOL! I should also have started my petunias a bit earlier. LOL! They are pretty durn small.

Starlight..are you getting the hang of your Powerpoint? LOL! Reading the manual step by step. I swear I laughed out loud at that one. I don't believe I have ever seen a computer manual you can follow step by step! ROTFL! I was waiting to hear what appliance went out this week with a repair bill. Then I could tell you that my insta-hot went out. It is the only thing besides the refrigerator I really really have to have, and I was without a decent cup of coffee for 5 whole mornings! GUESS WHAT? It was under warranty! The second time in my adult life I actually was able to have something repaired with no hassle under warranty, for free!

Susybell, Aw, that is a very sad picture! You can brush all that soilless mix, seed and all, between the rocks and hope for the best on that batch,. The Columbine seedlings are very distinctive, and you'll know them when you see them. Personally, if they germinate, I'd just leave them. They would be happy as clams there, and a little foot traffic won't hurt them. Blasphemy! I only say that because I have some babies in the path where the dog takes a shortcut.

THEN sow more. You got more seed? There is no benefit to getting a jump on Columbine, anyway, They don't bloom until the second year unless you start them inside under lights in October. Maybe not even then! It's not too late....just start them in June, after you get what you need to get in the ground.

Lala, I just planted it in sets of threes throughout my red bed. I would not say I made the most of them, but I had like 50 of them :). .The foliage is such an odd color. They are VERY cold hardy, and you can plant them out now. (You could also have planted them out a month ago.) They get about 14" tall and didn't like the heat here...they just fizzled out.

It has occurred to me that my garden has never looked worse the last week of April. I know its because routine maintenence and cleanup never happened in March because of the weather, but knowing why doesn't help the garden look any better.

The chores are multiplying, and I have so many seedlings to plant.

Tomorrow I have to take my mom to the doctor. You know all those drug ads on TV? Where they have a pill you can take to cure heatburn, but the side effects are nausea, dizziness, constipation, vomiting, and sleeplessness (or whatever) ? My mom kind of needs a prescription, but the side effects are short term memory loss. She's gone 92 years without ANY memory loss or dementia of any kind, and now she might have to be on a prescription that will cause memory loss....it just sounded sort of sad. You're dam*ned if you do, and dam*ed if you don't.

Suzy