Your neck of the woods part 6 1/22/14

We can continue here!
Came from: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1344125/#new

Thank you Sir, that is very helpful. < =D

And I agree Jill, .. I can just see you hopping around on the only good limb you have left and -- WHOOPS!! No no no, we can't have that.

Ric, I love that picture! My DD is leaving for South Africa on Jan 31 and will be going to game parks and will get to see giraffes for real. I am so jealous.

Maybe she'll get to have tea with one too! =) We'll want to see pictures!!

Whoa, Santa Rosa has a brand new website! What do you all think?

Catbird, I'm awfully jealous of your daughter!

Sorry to hear about everyone's woes lately. We gardeners are a hearty group and we tend to make the best of whatever we're dealt!! Hope everyone mends quickly.

FYI....there's a nice Lily Co-op going on (Bleek's)...usually huge bulbs.

http://allthingsplants.com/thread/view/22502/Order-your-Lilies-from-this-Lily-Co-op-here/#new_post

Has anyone started their Caladium Bulbs yet?

I know they need a long time to germinate. When would be a good time
to plant them to start them off??

What seeds have you started already? Not talking about WS'ing.
I know SallyG starts her Datura seeds around this time.

Anything else? G.

Roses: Thanks for the heads up about Bleek's co-op.

Not me, Gita. I don't start anything indoors during Winter. The only sowing I have ever done is Winter Sowing... too much of a pain in the neck (to me), to start stuff indoors. I'm a lazy gardener, remember? ;)

Looking forward to growing Caladiums this year.. will just have to wait for it to be warm enough to start them outdoors, which is great, 'cause I'll also need the time to prepare their homes out there. :)

Not yet- I'm not sure where I will start the Caladiums. Probably rig up some hasty heat setup with large foil pans and Xmas lights. And hope the cats don't think its a "cozy' litter box!

I have a general question about WHEN to plant seeds for Winter Sowing.

I have read some Posts her and people are talking about WS'in now.
Not having done it much before--I W-sowed several seeds in late fall.
i know one of them--I think Karen's tall Ageratum--were already up before
REAL winter hit.
I now have several containers of various seeds that have been outside since late fall
and are now living through this ungodly cold weather. They are all in sheltered locations
and tucked against either the house or the east side of my shed. A couple of the bottles
are tucked smack against my neighbor's 6' fence and under my Lilac bush.

When the first low temps came--I went out and put old straw over most of the containers
as well as some leaves. Will they survive? What are my chances?

If you will ask me what plants I WS--I cannot answer that right now. Don't remember...

Thanks, Gita

Sally--we cross-posted...

One of the warmer places in my house is the laundry room, as there is a vent in the ceiling
which blows directly on the shelves under the small window.
I dry all my tennis shoes there as well as other non-dryable (in the dryer) items.
They are dry in one day.
It would not be, necessarily, bottom heat, but overall heat.

I think I will wait until end of Feb. Whachya think? G.

I have all my hardiest perennial seeds out now, Gita. In another month I'll start putting out my hardy annuals and tender perennials. Right after that will go my annuals.

The delphinium, gaillardia and some cleome seeds are the ones out there on my deck covered with ice and snow.

I don't do the Caladiums till much closer to spring. Just don't have space for them .

Gita, according to wintersowndotorg, for our area at least, the time to start winter sowing (leaving sown seeds out in the open to brave the elements) should be done after the official winter solstice, provided predicted/projected temps are to remain cool enough to NOT allow the seeds to germinate. (I paraphrased here -- I don't know the exact wording on the website, but that's pretty much the gist of it).

I typically never started my WS'ing until a couple o' few weeks after Christmas.

Well---I don't know what has--or has not--germinated in the containers I put out.
It will be a surprise......

One thing i am happy about is that--I rooted a piece of my French Lilac bush last year
in a qt. sized water bottle. I know it is rooted--and it sits, well sheltered, under the bush
against the fence.
I also seeded some Butterfly Weed seeds. What else?????? ......We will see...

I am NOT in any kind of mood to start seeds. There is some age-induced
inertia going on. Just getting tired of all this seeds and cuttings stuff...
Been doing it too long--need something new to spark my interest...

Maybe it is this weather....the cold is a killer for "Think Spring".... G.

I think it must be the cold -- when lovely Spring hits, you'll be doing cartwheels!

NOT at my age!!!
They would have to take me away in an Ambulance.....G.

Last year we did start a few caladiums in the GH, but within a couple weeks of setting them out you couldn't see much difference. Using the space to push annuals is more rewarding.

Found my calling for the day. Housecleaning! I'm home alone, so no one to interfere or sway me off coarse.LOL One of the necessary chores I dislike by still feels worthwhile.

This message was edited Jan 25, 2014 12:15 PM

I'm thinking of giving them just a couple week's head start... maybe just crowd the bulbs into a flat, on top of an inch or so of moist mix, and they'd come out of dormancy before I planted them outside...

Ric, do you de-eye your caladiums? I've never done that, but the idea of more compact & bushier plants is appealing... Bill is offering it as an add-on service this year; great idea but I figure "real" gardeners can DIY

I don't think we've ever de-eyed ours, and they seem to have never been lacking in fullness. These pots were the last planted last year with odds and ends left over in the driveway. I do remember one of Holly's mom's large pots being a little thin to start and I believe all we did was exchange it for one that got more sun to warm the soil better. As you can see in the second photo below, the front of their house is very shaded

Pardon me, but, what is "de-eyeing" please? I've never heard of that before.

Speedie--

De-eying is removing some of the "bumps" (eyes) that will grow out to be stems
from the top area of the bulb.

On the concave (upper) side of the bulb there are lots of 'eyes"--take a look sometimes.
It is to encourage fewer but stronger stems and larger leaves as a result of this.

Allowing all of them to grow out results in many stems that are thinner, shorter, and not
as spectacular.
I bet at your Garden Center--same as at HD--when caladiums come in, you will see only
2 or 3 really strong stems with huge leaves. That is what people like to buy...

Hope this helps---G.

Thank you Gita, that explains it wonderfully! :) So, what sorts of implements might one use to "de-eye" the bulbs? Do you need a knife, or can ya just use a fingernail or thumbnail to dig into the bulb? Would you even want to 'dig the eye out', or just cut it off flush at the surface level?
Thanks! :)

This message was edited Jan 26, 2014 8:22 AM

Sounds like dg needs an article about this...

I've always de-eyed mine -- thought you had to. So I can't offer a comparison. It takes no time to do. But my complaint about caladiums is that they take forever to get going, so they hold up space in the garden for a month or two before they look good enough to make a statement.

My DH and I downloaded and played "Words with Friends" on our new-ish iPhones for the first time today (we both have used work-issued Blackberries for years, so the iPhone world is very new and different). We are clearly in trouble now! My DD is hooked on "CandyCrush" -- years ago I used to be hooked on Tetris (which is basically the same game, as I understand it), so I'm a little worried as to what will happen if I open CandyCrush!

I fiddled with games on Faceboook and decided not to look like I play too many games. I've heard of Candy Crush, used to be big in Tetris, have spent hours and hours with MahJongg and Zuma..Zuma gave me carpal tunnel symptoms so I knew I had to stop. Now I play " colored lines" at Games for the brain. on computer; no games on my android, petrified of accruing extra data charges beyond my basic package.
My sis plays words with friends.
PS brain games don't work, research now says. The Hopkins doctor I heard interviewed, who said that, did say he and his family take DHA. supplement.

I usually plant some early bloomers around the Caladiums, so that I don't mind the huge leaves taking over and hiding the spent early plants.

Sally, you're right, an article on Caladiums, and de-eyeing them, sounds like a good idea. I know I'll read (and save!) it! =)

You play MahJongg too!? I LOVE that game!!! I've got a really old (cd rom) game downloaded on my computer and play it all the time, it's positively addictive! I've also got a version on my kindle, I think it's "WordJongg" or something like that. I don't play that one too often.

I agree--DG definitely needs an article like that! :-)

I did a google search and found this interesting website explaining the process, including photos.
http://www.classiccaladiumsllc.com/de-eye_caladiums.htm

I think I can do that. =) I will try it on ONE of my new bulbs this Spring, and compare it to the rest of them. Meanwhile, I'll look forward to that article (**hint!**). < =D

ROFL You or me, Sally? Actuallly, I think it had better be you, given my very poor record in getting articles finished & submitted the past few months. I'm pretty sure I have some photos of planting caladium bulbs and probably some sprout photos also, although a quick search failed to bring them up in my files (I need a better system than by date)... bet Bill would let you use one of his instructional photos on de-eyeing.

I think when you see plants with 2 or 3 strong sets of tall leaves, those have not been de-eyed... those big leaf sets come from the biggest eyes. If you take them out, then the little eyes around their edges get a chance to develop, for a bushier plant. At least I think that's the way Bill explains it.

That makes perfect sense, thank you. =)

The two games I play, occasionally, on my "C" are Spider Solitaire and also Mahjong.

There are many more available--but if I don't know how to play it--I don't want to do it
and read directions. I HATE reading directions to anything.....
I am sure I am missing out on a lot of features on my Computer because of it.

And--i KNOW I need to learn to understand "Word" better....I don't even know how to set
a margin!

Happy--
Caladiums don't "wake up" and start growing until they have about 80* heat.
Start them early in the house in the warmest spot you have. Bottom heat is most important.
When you have to plant them out--they will already be growing.

If you plant your bulbs outside straight from dormancy--they will have to wait until the soil
warms up a lot before even germinating. That is why you have to wait so long.....

As we all tend to grow Caladiums in the shade--that soil my never warm up enough.
G.

I'll pencil it in for March- thanks

Gita: I know I'm supposed to start the caladiums early; I just don't! Right when I'm supposed to be starting them, the ground outdoors is warming up and I get crazy busy. Happens every year! But maybe this year will be different...

Thank you Gita, you gave me a BRILLIANT idea!! < =D I think it was the phrase "start growing until they have about 80* heat." that triggered it; The greenhouse at work warms up BIG TIME before anything else on the property does. When I get mine, I'll take my pots to work and pot them up there, and leave them there, until it's safe to put them outside!! Why didn't I think of that before!?!? I can set them in the sunniest spot of the greenhouse and rope them off so no-one will think to try to buy them, and let 'em do their thing. Whee!!! Gita, you are a genius!!! < =D

Happy, you want another excuse to come visit me mid-spring at work? You can bring your (some of your?) bulbs when you come drop off mine, and bring some pots, and we can pot up ours together after you drop your daughter off... then you can come back to visit later to pick yours up!! I will take care of them for you in your absence... how does that sound!? < =D I'll provide the soil -- a good Dr. Earth organic soil for containers. I'd be super excited to do that for/with you, if it works for you. ♥

One very interesting result of this long-lasting snow cover has been that I've been able to track the local cats' movements in my yard.

Now I know for sure that I can't have a bird feeder. :( It'd be a buffet for the neighborhood feral cat population.

LOL SSG I can track cat paw prints across my yard as well! :-)