The 5 gal container should be fine, and comfrey leaves get huge at the bottom, so it won't take alot of leaves. I just happen to do it in big batches, nothing says you can't use a 5 gal bucket and do it in smaller batches. Just experiment a couple of times till you get the proportions they way you want them.
I take leaves off through the whole season as it helps keep the plants smaller. My comfrey gets really big if I don't cut them back, then they fall over and create too much shade for the other plants in my herb garden.
Seed Swap Chat #53 (sowing the seeds!)
I'll use that big cooler I have a lot of plants that want that tea lol I read somewhere that you need to take leaves off of them often anyway and I do use them for mulch. I could have used more than three plants last year but I'm hoping they multiply fast at least another three plants. Your plants are taller than mine wish I had those bigger leaves!
Lebug- don't worry, I'll be sending you roots in April when I dig mine up!
Thanks Herbsprit I'll send you postage for them when they get here sure appreciate them! Don't worry about it if you get too many request for them it's not like I don't have any but would sure like to have more LOL
If there is anything I can send you in return just let me know :) Did you get any pineapple sage seeds from the swap I can grow some of those for you didn't see anything else on your want list that I have in plants or seeds.
What doe s the compfey compost tea do for the plants.?
Herb.. did they plant the corn in the center then let the beans climb upo it and the squash spread and cover the bottom of the mound?
I have some corn , beans and squash I think. fe w seed s anyways. How many seed ya need?
Star-
Comfrey leaves are a fantastic natural source of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
Researchers in British Columbia analyzed the NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) ratio of comfrey leaves by air-drying them and analyzing the powdered leaf tissues. They found that the leaves have an impressive proportion of 1.8-0.5-5.3. To compare, kelp meal has an NPK ratio of 1.0-0.5-2.5, and homemade compost ranges from 0.5-0.5-0.5 to 4-4-4 (depending on what ingredients you use). Comfrey is also rich in calcium and many other valuable plant nutrients it mines from deep in the subsoil.
Borrowed from: http://www.organicgardening.com/featureprint/1,7759,s1-3-81-726,00.html
I did some more research on a three sisters garden. I found some diagrams that show you plant the corn in the middle of the mound (3-4 stalks due to pollination), then let the beans, such as pole beans, grow up the corn. The bean plants fix nitrogen to the soil for the corn. Then the squash or pumpkin grow around the bottom keeping weeds out and keeping moisture in. You are supposed to use a vine type of squash/pumpkin. I think it would be cool to try it and show the kids how plants live and thrive by growing next to each other. It's funny some of the native american type of sites I read also show sunflowers and Jerusalem artichoke growing nearby. Luckily I got both of those from the swap. :)
Thank you for the comphey information. Will have to get the plant and try it or a bunch of leaves.
I know next door neighbor he plant his corn and he planted the bean plants a little bti after the corn came up and was about a foot high or so. Him and were laughing afterwards. Was not really funny, but was, as the deer came through walked down the entire row of his corn and ate all but one bean plant to the ground.
Instead of squash he plante d in between the corn stalks and he had three seeds per hole, he planted things like radishe s and onions and lettuce and beets.
Herbspirit - I've not researched the 3 sisters method too much however I should because I have 3 girls ^_^. However, I'm a little confused as I would plant my beans way before corn....unless it is a fall growth of beans maybe? Obviously the corn has to be bigger for the beans to grow up? Sorry, just rambling out loud now - like I said, I've not read about it yet. Maybe I"m thinking about peas now that I think about it. Peas go out WAY early..... do you plant all 3 at the same time?? Do share!
Ella.....I have begonia babies!!!! Doing the happy dance! Thank you for helping with my little nursery! ^_^ Speaking of which.....where do you get your tiny flats like that? They would work much better with my lisianthus as well.
cheles-
From what I've read you plant the beans after the corn. Then the squash last. I haven't done it before so I have no idea of the timing otherwise. I was hoping someone her would know!
Cheles... I buy the 288 plug flat trays and then cut them up into the sizes I want. I found that size I sent you is good and you cna put two of those trays in a baggy at the same time. Then there is always a little extra part of the tay left over which is good for when you onyl have like 10 seeds of something.
Congrats on your babies. Now the real frustration come sin as you wait and wait and wait for them to decide to grow even a fraction of a cm. You might ask LeBug how she feedign and waterign her's. They don't like wet wet at all and they can croak in an instant if they dry out too much. I always misted mine good .
Yep they good for Lisianthus too. I start everythign in a 288 except for sumfloewrs and Mg's or things that gonan grow real fast real big.
Today I get to start transplantign peppers.
Ooh, you've got peppers big enough to transplant? Nice! I'm still waiting for mine to come up... they take so loooong when you're waiting on them!
I hear you on the begonias... and the lisianthus too. My gosh it's hard to believe they will make it to flowering size within the decade, let alone the summer!
I like these little trays too but I don't have any rex begonia babies yet :( Maybe these seeds just aren't viable :(
They sure don't take the room that the seed trays do! But I need something to germinate in them to feel comfortable with them they are so different than what I usually use :) I'm just not used to the seed mix not being wet it's hard to teach this dog new tricks lol
lea.. Try takign yoru begonias and put them in a semi dark room for awhile and see if that helps, if they dont' pop soon where ya have them.
Ella they may not be getting enough light where they are they are in my kitchen because you said they didn't want much light to germinate my house is dark even in the day, sitting on top of my lights. I look at these other seeds on the heat mat on the kitchern table and wonder if they have enough light to germinate lol
I thinned my lisianthus today, but just throwing away the extras wasn't in me. I plopped all the extra ones into a 3x3" pot, figuring if they live I can give them their own pot when they're big enough to warrant it. I noticed that the teeniest ones didn't have much of a root, but up at about a whopping 1/4" across they started to get a long tap root type thing. What I'm wondering is, are they hard to transplant? Guess I'll find out, but wondering when they get a little bigger if they're going to resent being moved again in getting their own pots?
I think when I transplant my Lisanthus usually it's two or three times, this time I transplanted 30 of them in six packs and getting ready to put 30 in 3" pots lol I know when I put them in the last pots for outside I ruff the roots up so they should be alright Klstuart :) I managed to pull a few roots off of mine when I was transplanting them the first time to six packs and can't tell which ones I did that way last week, they will be alright just be as gentle as you can :) I don't think it was a long tap root the roots were just long mine were :)
I called one lady that used to take my extra seedlings but she is allergic to plants so her husband won't let her take them anymore then I called my nursery guy but he doesn't have a set up at his house and is getting ready to sell his nursery so he doesn't have a place to keep them I hate throwing the seedlings away too!!! They are a living being lol
Look what I found about Lisantus it's pretty interesting!:
http://gcrec.ifas.ufl.edu/Harbaughpubs/PottedLisianthus2.htm
Read this part in particular now I know why some of mine were shooting up or bolting I guess is what they are talking about:
6.) High temperatures are dangerous. We have shown that high temperatures during the seedling (plug) stage cause rosetting in lisianthus resulting in nonflowering, vegetative plants. Since we are suggestion transplanting plugs at the 8 to 10-leaf stage, preferable before bolting, high temperatures after potting may still induce rosetting. Plugs that have greater than 12 leaves and have not bolted usually are rosetted and should not be transplanted to pots.
For lisianthus, a rule-of-thumb definition for “high temperature” is an average temperature [(the day time high + night time low)/2] of 70º - 75ºF for sensitive cultivars, 75º - 82ºF for most cultivars, and above 88ºF for heat tolerant cultivars. Optimal temperatures favoring root and shoot growth of most cultivars are 65ºF night and 75ºF day.
Lisianthus can grow at much higher day temperatures, but caution must be exercised so that the average of the day and night temperatures does not exceed 75ºF, unless heat-tolerant cultivars are used. Temperatures below 60ºF will significantly slow root and shoot development (i.e., increase production time), but will not hinder subsequent flower development.
I had no idea that they could be too warm as seedlings!
So Lea, if they don't like the heat, what about light? Would just a south window be enough, or do you think they will need the florescents? How can you have one without the other?
Lebug.. How long has it been since you planted them? The begonias that is? How hot is it on top of yoru lights. The top of my lights don't get hot?
I had just lugged heater out of gh now got to lug it back out and hook it back up. uggggg Gonna be low 20's for days here again tonight. I tire d of winter already.
Have Primula's trying to bloom in gh
They need the florescents Jnette, I just think mine got too hot I had a seed tray under my table top lights and had it closed off in the back because of the furnace running at night didn't want the draft going under the lights it's so cold when it does and my house is really cold at night anyway thought I was keeping my seedlings warm and I put a lid on top of it too. When I was transplanting my second tray of seedlings I noticed some were getting taller and knew it wasn't time yet I think they were bolting because of the heat. Keep yours under that light, I've never had this to happen before just thought it was worth mentioning and have learned a lesson :)
Plants on your window sill will still reach for the light I wouldn't dare put them on the window sill, they still need the heat it just got too hot under the table top lights becase I had them shut off to any air under them I was stupid!
Ella it doesn't seem to get to hot on top of my lights unless it got too hot the last couple of nights that I've closed the lights off funny how it hurt my plants instead of helping them! I'm beginning to think these rex begoinas are sterile. I haven't had to mist them that much it has stayed the fine mist in the baggie most of the time. I've tried to be a good mommy this time :) I still may have done something wrong though probably just wanting them so bad LOL
Congrads on your blooms coming Ella you'll have to show us a picture when they are blooming :)
I was sick of winter in the fall lol Now I'm really sick of it, it has turned cold again here too!
I have a few silver sage babies up from yesterday, I put them to soak for a couple of days planted them the 21st. then yesterday they started popping up :) Yeah!
So, I guess from what you are saying, is that I do not want to put them in my cold bedroom. Not on the windowsill. But on a table in front of the window. They actually want the heat of the house. My house runs fromj 70 to 75.
I didn't take too many seeds from the swap this year ( just wait 'til next year though!) I did start the rudebeckia Cherry Brandy seeds this weekend. I really wanted these. Wish me luck! ^_^
Seandor, good luck on your Cherry Brandy I'm trying some this year too along with a few of us :) Nice to see you again lol
Jnette, your soil will be at least 10 degrees less than your house I think that's right just keep that in mind :)
Cleaning another stand and trying to get seedlings down stairs along with the heat mat gotta go :)
Lea, you mean the soil in the potted plant sin the house will be 10 degrees less than the house temp? Well, I didn't know that. Wonder why that is. Guess I will have to plan on using the heat mat then.
Thanks Lea.
I have new babies :) I had almost given up on the Brugmansia sanguinea (thought I might have had them too wet & they rotted) but they finally came up today! Anagallis monellii 'Gentian Blue' has sprouted also :)
Was checking my winter sown containers & Malva sylvestris & Purple sprouting broccoli have sprouted :) Didn't get to check all of them today. Will check on the others tomorrow.
ants
Hi all, got back from Florida on Monday. Just missed the 7 inches of snow by 6 hours!
Son forgot to water my babies while I was gone, but happily all survived the 6 days. I watered the plants and fed the birds first thing.
I have a couple of new babies too. I found one Japanese maple seed sprouting about 2 wks ago, and it has the cutest red leaves now. I've just found another with roots. I'm so happy!
ants, congrats on the new babies. Can't believe you have WS babies ... well you are 7b.
Not a seed started yet....but soon
And I thought I was having trouble getting my butt in gear but I don't have the excuses you do Wind :) You have a lot going on good to see you ;)
Congrats to ants and toofew :) No new ones for me yet.
Got two more plant stands cleaned gosh that's a job lol One more to go it's nice to have five plant stands but not cleaning them the one I had upstairs last year wasn't that bad but the rest have so much crud on them from sitting last year lol
I have Milkweed! One scarlet and a bunch of your Orange Tuberous kind... yippee! They're inside under the lights. I WS'd some too, but won't know about them for a while. Not much happening out there, we've had a cold winter (for us)! Also have a bunch of others, Petunias, Gerberas, Salpiglossis, Vinca, Peppers (ok they're still bent over, but I can see 'em so I'm counting them! :-) Getting to the point where so much is up that I'm really scrutinizing the ones that aren't, wondering if they're going to make it. Patience, I know, they might just be something that takes a little longer...
Great! I'm getting ready to soak some daturas been going thru seeds just wonder what to grow that won't get too tall for my lights before I get to take them out :)
I'm chomping at the bit to start my milkweeds but worried they might grow too fast don't think I've ever started them this early going to have to look seems like I looked on some old disks and couldn't find them. I have some outside too but they always come up so late!
I'll trade you zones for a month or two you guys. LOL, I would love to start stuff now. I will do that in another week or 2.
ZONE*** FIRST FROST DATE****LAST FROST DATE
1*** July 15*** June 15
2*** August 15*** May 15
3*** September 15*** May 15
4*** September 15*** May 15
5*** October 15*** April 15
6*** October 15*** April 15
7*** October 15*** April 15
8*** November 15*** March 15
9*** December 15*** February 15
10** December 15*** January 31
11** No Frost**** No Frost*** I want to live in this one!
Jnette, your last frost date is the same as Klstuart's and mine :)
How do you figure that? Mine is the end of May.
How do you figure that? Mine is the end of May.
Using the calculator on here I could get by with Remay or sheets from Mid May to the end of May. That is our last frost date. Chance of. frost, May 24th 10%.
This year could be different tho 'cause it is almost like April now. Going to be in the 50s this weekend. But, do you take a chance? I have 2 mini greenhouses and a portable greenhouse I could use tho.
Jnette, this is just a chart, I know sometimes our last frost date is in May but I go by this one there's not that much difference in the dates and my plants growing if I don't start them too soon. If you are talking about putting your plants out in your mini greenhouses now I wouldn't I know we will get snow and ice before March is over with not sure about your weather. Some springs bring cold weather and some hot surely this year we are due for a warm spring that's what I'm hoping with this global warming we never know what we are having anymore!
Seems like I put my plants out in my mini greenhouses around the first of April if I have cold weather coming in like freezing I just bring my plants in like tomatoes and peppers anything that can't take the cold cold, it's usually just for one night. The weather at that time of year is so iffy and I'm always dieing to get my plants out from under the lights at that time anyway lol A lot of annuals I would think even the Lisanthus can take cold in the mini greenhouses if you cover them up and I put news papers on each shelf so the wind doesn't get to them and tie a sheet or cover over the greenhouse cover making sure the bottom can't let any wind in at night. Just think of all of the annuals that are still going in the fall when it gets cold if they have some size on them they can make it or I figure they can anyway :)
Really the only thing that I have lost in my mini greenhouses when it turns cold after I put them out in April is tomato plants they really don't like cold weather! But I do take precautions over night with the covers and trying to keep the wind out of them.
To anyone that has grown canna from seed how fast do they grow and when should I start mine here? I don't want them growing over the lights lol I've got all of these canna seeds to the taller red ones and can just see 15 three foot cannas fighting for light if I start them now LOL
15!! LOL, you DO have a problem. Are you sure you want me to send you some more seeds?
Jnette LOL The tall ones are for the girl at the water co. I may snach a couple of them lol I want the shorter ones :) I don't think I'll be starting mine until a little later I grew a couple of seeds out once for someone but don't remember how fast they grew or when I did it and can't find it in my notes :)