Winter Sowing 2010 What's Sprouting #2

Your nighttime temps make me shiver! For the last week ours have been in the 60's. Given your advice, my jugs should be good splayed open day and night.

Diamond, I WS'd the Marigolds on 3/5. They went out in 2 ft of snow, and have been through a snow storm, ice storm, rain, and hail! I don't know how I'd classify them-maybe fearless? LOL

For the past several weeks, due to the wind and quite high day temps for this time of year, I've been taking the tops off in the morning, and replacing around 5-6pm. I found that seems to keep them warm for the night.

As you well know, Meadowyck, all has been drying out very quickly here. I started the on and off process when I noticed that I had some little crispy seedlings about two weeks ago despite all the vent openings. I've also beenn water showering from above, and placing some in water trays when I'm outside during the day.

We have low 30's predicted for the next several nights so it will be interesting to see how they do.

I've really enjoyed seeing everybody's 'crop' photos tonight. I'm still amazed at how simple, logical, common sense equals (or supercedes technology!) Mother Nature still seems to know best.............the surprises every day are just grand!

Best way to water is from the bottom. I do that when weather is hot and things are really drying fast. Otherwise I just mist with the hose. I have bottom-watered once this year.

Karen

Thanks for the pictures, Karen! Are you all preparing your beds now? I have been working on my beds a little at time. I know I have some time before I can plant, so when it's planting time, I want to be able to just stick them in the ground and water. Are you all doing anything special with your beds? This year I am trying the no digging/tilling method. I plan to mulch with compost. I'm having 4 yards delivered in a couple of weeks. I have some serious work cut out for me. LoL I'm using newspaper and card board boxes as weed blocker.

Susan, are we going to get some pictures of your babies? Sounds like we have WSed some of the same plants. My double chaters and bb lilies haven't showed up yet. I have 3 containers that have a single seedling. LoL My lone Malva is standing strong, along with a black hh and a double red hh. Luckily, I liked the black hh so much that I sowed two jugs.

The weather here has not been conducive for working on flower beds... it's been cold and rainy.
Tomorrow should be a better day.

I generally do not do anything special... just pull weeds and grasses.... since the majority of the beds i work on, technically are not my property, i do my best not to sink any money into it... just sweat equity. SO, there is no mulch.. that would cost a small fortune.

Terese

I have so much to do in the yard before I can plant :-( It's still raining now, though.

Most involves getting rid of thousands of larkspur volunteers. I haven't had time. Been working a lot and tending to elderly mother. I'm so tired. Leaving soon to take her to yet another doctor appointment. Somehow that always seems to eat the whole day.

Karen

>>thousands of larkspur volunteers.

Hmmmmmm -- am i going to regret planting this??

I was just feeling disappointed my larkspur hadn't germinated yet-maybe I should rethink this. :)

I think this is the bed Karen was referring to with the Larkspur...

are these ALL volunteers, or is there something else in there??

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=7665748

Teresa, my weather has been icky the past couple of days. The prior 7 - 10 days have offered 60 - 70 degree weather...perfect for working in the yard! Now we have 50 degrees during the day with rain and wind then 38 degrees at night. Ugh!

Karen I hope your mother is better soon. Caring for and worrying about another person is enough to wear you out. We should meet at your house and get the beds ready for planting???? Sounds like a good idea for a road trip!!!

When you all get lots of volunteers, do you ever pot them up and sell them or give them away?

That rampant reseeding seems to be more an issue in rich soil. I have a bed that was a lasagna garden, with every kind of compost, mulch, potting soil, or top soil I could find at Lowes with ripped bags (50% off). It's really great soil now (3 years later) and is quite covered with Larkspur, but in other areas I've only found manageable numbers of Larkspur volunteers.

Larkspur don't transplant well, they may survive, but tend to be stunted if moved.

So Gemini, then what do you do with your lasagna beds? What do you plant in them? And when do you plant them? I started making one and have just been kind of adding to it. But now what?

I'm curious about how much soil you need for the lasagna bed? I thought I read 6 inches? Or was it much more? I want to plant in my beds right away. Instead of making my own compost, I'm just gooing to add already composted matierial. Most of the plants I add will probably be my WS seedling or plants I'm splitting/transplanting. I'm not sure how big the root system will be. Any advice?

I am very interested in this answer also Anita. Thanks for asking.

Jeanette

Oooops, i forgot about the morning glories... i was jsut outside, and dang it's cold... they are looking really sad. i have them inside now under a lamp. I may give them some thrive too, to see if they perk bakc up again... hope i didnt kill them.

I've just put the ZInns in the sun room. It's only about 40° in there... but no wind.

Yes, Terese, that is one bed of volunteers, and I have 2 others that look the same. That photo was taken in early January before all the snow. Now, they're worse, more volunteers, and they're are taller with longer roots. Each time I yank some, more come up to replace them. They don't seem to be a problem for most folks, but every year I find new reseeding plants that are more work than they're worth- melampodium, verbena bonariensis are also on the list. I will allow only a few mellies to remain and yank them early in fall to prevent too much reseeding. I also deadhead ruds for the same reason- they reseed a lot for me. I used to leave seedheads on things like ruds and echs for the birds, but it's just too much work.

It's not that I don't deadhead, I do. In fact last summer my beds were so heavily planted and had so many unwanted volunteers that I became a slave to weeding and deadheading. I vowed then to thin out my beds.My goal for this year became less plants in the same amount of space, and avoiding heavy reseeders. I didn't realize then that larkspur would become such a problem, but I guess I'm adding that to my banned list.

Thanks for your concern for my mom, Diamond, but she's just old and every body part is wearing out. She is severely arthritic, rheumatoid, spinal stenosis, etc. She's not really sick, but every day she has something else that she sees as an emergency. Yesterday, it was a rash on her belly button. I am not kidding. I had to make another trip over there to check her !@#$%^ belly button. Today we both had routine eye exams, I am half blind from dilated pupils, so heaven knows what I'm writing here. On Monday I have to take her to a breast surgeon about a questionable mammogram. (Yes, I took her to the mammogram on Wednesday of last week). It never ends, it's just her continuing saga... and I am the only one who does anything for her.

Sorry, I went waaaay off topic, back to the thread

You don't need any dirt for lasagna gardens, only organic matter. Compost, finished or partly finished, is a nice addition. You can pretty much ad lib, make it up as you go. For more information you can google "lasagna gardening" or "sheet composting" or "interbay mulch"
http://ourgardengang.tripod.com/lasagna_gardening.htm

Karen

I think i will be more diligent in dead heading this year too.

Karen, sounds like your mom needs attention. Does she not like to garden? Even just some plants in her window or on her door step or something like that? Does she need hobbies? Is there anything she is interested in? Please don't give up on her. I know it is tough but darn it, we are all going to be there some day.

Sorry I kept your off topic going, but I feel sorry for her. And you. It's just a shame you can't enjoy her more while she is here.

Isn't Roundup a systemic? Have you tried it? Or do you not want to use something like that? On your "volunteers".

My Mom can't walk except a very short distance, with a walker. She can't even stand very well. She has constant, severe pain from her 2 types of arthritis and severe spinal stenosis. Sharp shooting pains from her back, down her legs. She says plants or fresh flowers in water get moldy and make her allergies worse... I've tried, it's pretty hopeless. She lives in independent living at a retirement center, but couldn't get by without me. She goes to some activities there, but less and less all the time. She just has too much pain. She's alwaystired. Walking to the bathroom tires her.I know I don't want to live that long.

But we're so off topic, please, we'd better drop it.

Karen

Jnette, I plant anything and everything in lasagna beds. If you're wanting to plant immediately, at least 6" of composted material is a good start and works well for seedlings and bedding plants. Bulbs and large perennials may require more. A nice layer of mulching material on top is a good idea to conserve moisture- I have found that top layer can dry out quickly in warm weather. After a few months the plants roots have grown into the native soil, and the earthworms have had some time to do their work, then drying out isn't much of an issue. I've found bearded Iris LOVE lasagna beds!

I made some new raised beds for tomatoes for this year. My husband built wood frames, then I covered the lawn with cardboard. I added several inches of soil (a truckload of crappy clay "topsoil") because I wanted the soil level to be raised above where it began. Then I heaped on organic matter- mostly grass clippings and fall leaves, but also some yard waste, coffee grounds, straw, half done compost, whatever I could find. It ended up to be about 10"-12" of OM. I covered with cotton sheets and put it to bed around late October. It's still covered, but I expect nice soil for my tomatoes this year.

Karen

well, my little MG's are looking "OK"
one was wilted over, and within an hour after giving it a drink of "Thrive" - it perked back up again. it was the only lil seedling where the leaves did not get 'burnt' from the cold. All 5 seedling are back 'standing up' -- so i hope they all make it.

Karen your tomato bed sure sounds good. Good that you were done last fall. So when do you plan on putting in your plants? Did you start them from seed? Or do you buy your tomatoes as plants?

Scared to look at the WS seedlings today. It SNOWED last night. Guess this will be the proof of sturdiness. Did cover my tomato cups with a blanket cuz they seem to be coming up so darn early. I'm going to leave them all alone until the sun's back out on Sunday.....no uncovering til then. Fingers crossed.

Karen

Can you move that beautiful bed here? I need a new lily bed in the next several weeks-and yours looks better than any emergency one I can create.

Jnette, I don't plant out tomatoes until Mid May- too much risk of frost before that. I wintersowed tomato seeds, the first batch got blown sway. I just re-sowed a few days ago. Hopefully, these will grow but if not I'll have to buy plants this year. I've grown them from seed the past couple of years.

I pretty much got nothing done outside, ended up at my Mother's place again all day. Just went out and took the sheet off of my tomato beds, will turn and mix those top leaves soon.

Frost here tonight, so since I had those sheets in my hands, I threw them on my jugs.

Karen

I have re-potted my tomatoes last week, Karen. I didn't WS mine, I planted the seeds in my kitchen the end of March. I don't buy mine from the stores because they don't have the ones I want to grow. I never thought of Winder sowing tomatoes.

If I had they still would not be up. My last frost date is the end of May. I will plant them mid may. I will up-pot into gallon containers one more time. In probably a couple of weeks.

Your beds look wonderful. I am so envious. I normally plant in strawbales, but am about done with that as the farmers are baling in big bales now because they load better on these big flatbed trucks. Not the sway that they have with the smaller bales.

I planted strawberries in a jar 2 days ago and it froze last night. The soil in the jar was frozen hard at noon today. But there was new growth on the plants in just those 2 days..

Jnette, how do you plant in straw bales?

Was I supposed to cover my sprouts? I have a couple of babies that are not looking too good. I didn't take the lids off because of the cold weather. Where can I find "Thrive"?

this is where i get my SUPER Thrive ... but the retailer is 10 min from my house.
I checked, there is not one in INDY, only IL and WI.

http://www.altgarden.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=13

google superthrive to see if you can find another on line retailer.

http://www.amazon.com/SuperThrive-4-oz-SUPERthrive-4oz/dp/B0009DV3HM

amazon has it cheaper... I paid $11 something for the 4 oz bottle

HD used to carry it and then quit at our local store in Wash. state. Don't know if they all quit or not. Maybe Lowes carry it. I know the nurseries carry it. It is called Superthrive. tcs shortens it.

There is a whole forum on strawbale gardening. You would have to read it. We plant tomatoes mainly and a lot of other veggies in them. You decompose the bales and then plant in them. The centers are decomposed. You use a lot of fertilizers etc. because there are no nutrients in the straw.

Also, the hydroponic stores care it. Superthrive. Years ago I use to use a product called Startup. It was a Vitamin B for shock when you transplant. I think they were bought out and then repackage it as Superthrive. That's all it is.

Just like I used to use an oxygen, can't think of the name but you put two squirts in a gallon of water each time you watered your plants. My house plants were beautiful. Come to find out all it was is Hydrogen Peroxide. Big price at the time and not so much now in a brown bottle. LOL

Can't think of the name.

in my spray bottle... i use compost tea, peroxide, superthrive ... and today i just started to add epsom salts.

but -- i think for Anita's limpy seedlings... the VitB would work best.

my lil MG's did perk back up after almost freezing outside.

I think I bought that Superthrive before. I didn't notice a difference with my plants. Everyone has spoken highly of it. I like the idea of the compost tea and hydrogen peroxide and the epsom salt. One of my co-workers were asking about the strawbales. I was just curious about it but I will direct him, as you said to look it up.

Anita -- here is the thread i was reading where i started making my "plant tonic"

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/956114/

I dont know all the 'hows and whys' ... but i figured it cant hurt.

Planted out 3 types of Poppies today.

it was so nice i wanted to keep planting... but knowing its WAY too early.

Did you direct sow the poppies? Why is it too early? I thought they needed a while in the cold. Stratification.

J... no the poppies were WS'ed -- but too early for other seedlings.

I have a bunch of Bachelor Buttons that are getting pretty big, but i think it's too early to plant them out.
those and a few others... most are still tiny.

I uncoverd some of my seedlings to allow them to get a little air. They look pretty good even though they were not coverd last night. I'm going to check out your tonic! Do you use it on your house plants?

yes... sometimes I do.