2014 Seed Starting, Part 3

Hey Kathy, Good luck with your tour!!! I guess we won't hear from you until afterwards, you probably have too much to do outside, no time for sitting at the computer. But I hope you take lots of pics, and let us know how it all went.

You sent me a like of iris last year, and a few are beginning to bloom. There was one group marked numbers1- 5. You said you might be able to ID them when they bloom-- pic is #2, the first to open up, and a real beauty. Pallida will be opening soon, too.

This Lupine was from seed in 2010, bloomed the year after, then took a couple of years off. I'm very happy to see it again- it matches the Azalea that was nearly buried under a climbing hydrangea, which is blooming better this year. Next year should be really good.

Delphinium Bellamosum blooming in the Blue Garden- not my seedling, came from Graceful gardens this spring. I wonder if it will make as big a plant as the one I bought last year? I just love the color on this one!

Squash and Cukes sprouted in 3-5 days under lights in the city, now out here to be planted. Lots to do!!! Weeds went nuts over the last 10 days while we weren't here- yikes!

Mipii (Robin ) thought I would show some Stinging Nettle Hosting one of it's regulars , Red Admiral Butterfly

(or is it really Catnip pretending ) he , he ..

Pfg , I like the Flowers , Nice , Only gets better every season , doesn't it .

Yikes, Kathy! I guess you don't need a box from me, lol...

Wasn't this your garden club weekend? How did that go?

Big surprise this morning- one Lupine The Chatelaine started this winter has buds. I'm thrilled because the parent plant, which was from seed a few years ago, looked like it bloomed itself out last year. It's a gorgeous pink so I was sad not to have it-- and now I do :-). Pic is from 2012..

Another nice surprise is that two of the new pink Platycodon Perlmutterschale seedlings had double blooms. Judging by what happened last year, the plants that bloomed as seedlings didn't re-bloom until very late in the summer, and the seeds didn't mature. So the new plants are in the garden with the one from last year, which came back very strong. So this year I should get good seeds. (Pics 2,3)

Petunias and Lobelia looking good in the hanging baskets (4)

Angelica Archengelica finally made a patch, It's a biennial, took about 4 years to get enough of both one and two year plants. (5)

Lovely pictures, Pam. I might have to buy another camera...I hid mine so well, I have not found it for months. I miss sharing photos, even though I have to wait to go to town to post them as they go nowhere on my slow dial-up.

This message was edited Jun 12, 2014 8:16 PM

Yes, please do. I remember you have a lovely garden, and it would be a treat to see it again.

Wow simply gorgeous! Your helper should feel lucky to have such pretty work environment :)

I have finally finished my non-gardening chores, and have my veggie garden where it's not as much work to maintain anymore.. time to start some more seeds! My inventory is at 400 different varieties, I finally got them all logged on an excel spreadsheet and have whittled my next batch down to 80 perennials. I'm gonna be a real busy girl again. LOL can't wait!

Wow, Becky- are you competing with WWK, lol? You must have a lot of room! My place is not so small, but I'm running out of room in the beds I have currently, and I really, really don't want to start more. I'd rather concentrate on maintaining and refining what I already have.

It will be another year at least before many of the plants in these beds bloom... or vanish, which is always the other possibility, lol. But at least some things will be big enough to divide and fill in the empty spots. I'd like to end up with fairly low maintenance in most areas, and keep just a couple of special spots to play with.

So next year I plan to cut the list of perennials to seed way back, and do a better job with the annuals. Somehow they've gotten short shrift the last couple of years- started late, not nurtured well, planted haphazardly or not at all. Then I end up at the garden centers, buying the boring same-olds they all have just to fill in the blanks.

The one thing I'd like to try is seeding a few perennials outside this summer. I'm not quite set up for that, I'll have to think about how to go about it. But not yet, I'm still catching up with spring chores, lol.

Logging your plants on a spreadsheet sounds harder than pulling weeds to me. I am bad at keeping records. I just don't want to do it for some reason.

I did a good job this year with the Petunias, Torenias, annual Salvias and White Lobelias. But then I never got to do the blue Lobelias, and when I went to buy them I was shocked-- they were Proven Winners, in 4" pots, for $5.15 each- and they were single stems!!! Not clustered in cell packs so you could rip each cell in half and end up with 12 little plugs dotted around the edges of a couple of big planters for around $3.

It was my Nicotianas and Cosmos that were spindly, misshapen or half broken from careless handling, and the poor Zinnias looked so weak I tossed them. Too bad, they were nice colors, including my favorite, Envy. Oh well...

SWPD) Becky lol I never thought much about it , but most of the time , it is more like the cat bosses us around ,! ^_^

Pfg , nice pics , my little pot Marigolds failed so did the purslane .
My "weed" type plants or natives all did well .
My zinnia from seed today 1&2
and some pitiful looking Echinacea sprouts as far as size

last a Marigold just to cheer this post up some

Hi!!!! thought I'ld stop in and see how things are... Am soo tired, another day pulling weeds. (11 1/2 hrs today).. In the back as watering in the front garden today. So much easier and not 10 million JJs to weed around... Atleast in the back most of the ground is bare, so I just had to slice the weeds just under the dirt....but not finished yet. Have more open ground and then the Iris patch.. and that's just the planting area that I've been working on... about half of the backyard... the rest of it is an OMG moment... But I got a reprieve from garden club. I got a call and asked if I wanted to move it up a few weeks... I politely said yes and was very relieved!!!! Soooooo, maybe, just maybe I might finish most of the weeding... LOL, who am I kidding.. But most will be gone. I hope to start planting this weekend, gotta get to those annuals, which will actually be easy!! I'm not planning on ammanding the soil like I do for perenns.. And Pam, anytime you send a box, it's always a thrill for me... I just got a wonderful box from Evelyn and was thrilled!!!! All potted up and will give them a few days and then outback in the new area...

Pam...just had to let you know...I had a mishap with one of the peonies...darn!!!!! Something on 4 legs came in and took a bite...darn, found a bud on the ground this morning. If it just would have asked first, I could have told it it wouldn't like it... Must be a young'in cuz there have been nibbles on a few things in the other garden too....things they don't normally like to bother.. I think this is the first time I've ever had them take the tops off some of my verbascum...usually they turn up their noses at the Verbascum... And I thought they were going to leave the Columbine alone this year and nope.... But they did leave some blooms for me..they just tatsed the tops on a few plants..

Ok, I'm tired...I'm thinking it's early to bed tonight... Later gaters... Kathy

After 11.5 hours I can't imagine how it could be an "early"night! I literally am not able even to be up that long, most of the time! No wonder you have x,000 seedlings and I have x0.

I realized something today about seedstarting that I was all excited to tell you guys, but it didn't stay in my mind long enough to make it to the keyboard. Boo.

Good night all.
Turtle

Chuckle... I have those moments all the time!

I've had peony buds disappear where I used to live, chomped by those rodents with hooves... I rescued a 3rd year Festiva Maxima when it was half the size of the original plant and brought it to CT, where it is now robust and thriving. Can't tell any more which one was the puny one.

Kathy, have you tried Thalictrum? They never touched that, not even tiny seedlings. That's a plant that's easiest to start outside. I surface sowed the seeds in a planter in the fall, just pressed lightly into the soil, and had babies in the spring. Watered all summer, planted out in the fall, bloomed next year. Easy, love that! I can send you some seeds this fall if you want.

I would love some seed, any idea which variety you have? I did pick up some starter plants (2 1/2" pots) of T. aquiligifolium, delvai and Roche Brunianum, but they won't bloom til next year and a patch would be wonderful... Still wish I had the seed for the yellow that I had years ago (T. flavum if I remember).

Garden is almost finished being watered now...so I think I'll spend the day potting up some seedlings...want to finish up the Nicotians sylvestris so I can get them in the ground...yesterday... lol. Gosh, I'm soo late this year, here it is mid June already... Yikes... Many of the seedlings are Zinnias and I can just pop those into the ground easily as plugs..am thinking they should be fine. so this afternoon I believe I should try and figure out a scheme for placement... I know I should already have done that but everytime I tried (usually bedtime, I fell asleep)... Gotta figure out where the perenns will go in and then put the annuals around them this year... I figure less soil seen by sunlight will mean less weeds to pull later. Like I say annual planting in an open area is fairly easy..... I've done 100+ in a day easily if they are all placed first. then it's just going along dig a hole and plop...tuck soil around and water when finished. Guess it's time to make a list of seedlings and new plants...from trades, divisions and (ooops) , lol, new plants I just bought.... I need to stay away from the nurseries til I get some things planted...but you all know how that is...us PLANTAHOLICS.. just can't resist those few goodies you've been wanting.. or have a hard time starting... OK, gotta head out now, will be warming today into the 80*s... Might be that my 40* morning temps are gone for a while...don't really like it that cool but it usually means the rest of the day is cool too and great for all day chores. Need to get some of the babies out of the GH and get some sun on them so they can begin their journey...BLOOMS!!! Yeah!

Everyone have a great day.... Kathjy

Lol, stay away from the nurseries?! Fat chance! Plantoholics one and all!

I think mine is Thalictrum Delavayi, and I also have a new one from last year, T Black Stockings, which Iwill be blooming soon. You're welcome to them!

Pam, compete w Kathy?? Ha! I could should would never be able to compete w Kathy! I decided 80 might be a tad much, so I will do 40 types of perennials. Some for me, some to share at DG roundups. I have a lot of half empty (half full?) beds, and a lot of space to cram things willy nilly if I need to. I hope one day my beds look as low maintenance and carefree as yours do. That being said, I know LOOKING low maintenance and BEING low maintenance are often not the same but you get the gist..

Evelyn, I had to do it! I couldn't keep track of my seeds anymore and missed the sowing window for a lot of them this year because of it. I figure if I can log them and sort them into categories (veggies, annuals, perennials, tropicals, shrubs, trees, wildflowers, etc), then I can keep better track of what can be sown at certain times of year. I'm sure I'll still have issues but maybe not as bad? LOL here's to hoping anyway :)

Kathy, what could the critter have been? Do you have deer? Ugh after all that work I'd just cry! I heard once but not sure if it actually works, that if you hang a bar of Irish spring soap around plants that deer eat, they'll leave them alone. Like I said, never tried it, but I do know they don't like human scent, so maybe that strong smelling soap would actually work?

Turtle, LOL I call that a brainfart! If I don't get to something right away or write it down, poof! Gone! I joke that one day after I die, my kids will be cleaning out my personal effects and stumble upon my hundreds of lists and realize old ma was crazy! Wait they already know I'm crazy! Ha!

In the Hamptons, at the east end of Long Island, NY, where. I used to live, the deer were unstoppable. They ate all kinds of things they supposedly don't like- iris buds, rose buds, peony buds, Alchemilla. Rhodies, even boxwood. The only thing other than a high fence that slowed them down some was spraying Bobbet or Deer Fence or something similar, and not just once. You had to do it all the time. And you had to pick and choose what to protect- if you did your whole yard they'd get used to it and eat stuff anyway. A bar of soap? Hah! That might work if the odd deer came wandering through on the way to open land, maybe just browsing, but when they're hungry- and when they're crowded they're very hungry- fuggedaboudit! Garden wipeout!

Low maintenance is my goal, not my reality, lol! But thanks!

Well last fall was good yarrow , feverfew .


#3 The last lupine bloom

4-5 Hollyhock , purple coneflower

all from seeds

Becky...Deer?!!! LOL, don't get me started!!!! Yes, I have herds of males and a herd of females.... (Just saw the females the other day, but it looks as tho it's smaller this year, must have been about 6-8). I'm still waiting to hear if the town close to me ever thinned the herds that roam the area..(I'm about 3 miles away as the crow flies).

Finally got a big area in the back that I'll begin planting any day now... Am watering as I type... Gotta get those annuals in pronto. Garden Club gave me a repreive til 6/28. The Iris willl be done but most of the other things should be in bloom by then.... Gosh still getting screwy weather. I had temps dip down into the upper 30*s just a few days ago...

Iris almost done blooming, and many of the perenns are not even ready to bloom yet, tho many have begun...but are all different heights... (must have been our cool weather is all I can guess.) ie, I've got Daisies right next to each other in the border. One plant might be 24" with buds and others are various hts.at 6-12" and nowhere near blooming yet...

Ok, have to cut it short again, gotta turn the water off on one sprinkler and on to the next zone....gosh I hope someday I can get it to be more automatic....Maybe when I figure out how and have the $$$ to do it... LOL... Later all....Kathy

We have lots of deer every year. Irish Spring is a myth! That is why I moved two garden beds into the fenced garden area last fall through this spring. And lots of weeding in the new bed. I will have to sort out the colors of the daylilies after they bloom as the labels did get lost over the years for both beds.

It was a challenge to cram in 2 beds into one smaller one, though right now it looks pretty good, though it is quite crowded. I think I will eventually....gradually, move plants around, possibly taking up more room as I go, though there is not much more until I am right in the middle of 3 fruit trees, and then a path that goes by the Square Foot Gardens.

I am thinking about building a coldframe or two...I have reduced the size of my nursery area and put down new weed cloth.

And where the "Hot Bed" used to be, I planted several types of juniper, 2 types of santolina, and several varieties of euphorbia, some variegated boxwood, 2 golden barberry. One juniper was eaten down to the nubs...but is hanging in there. I moved it around, and now it has not been eaten any further. I have left the daffodils and allium in there. Some daylilies, callas and lilies, that were dormant, I did not see to move them at the time. They are in bloom now.

I just got tired of all that spraying and then having them eat the plants anyway is why I moved them all. Even if the daylilies bloomed, they never got very big since they got eaten later in the season. I did not move the goldenrod, though they got eaten earlier in the season, and the Mexican Tarragon...Tagetes lucida, I think, is still growing undisturbed. I probably should dig up the gladiolus and move them to the new bed. I wonder what will happen. What do you think?

I can't say I blame you... I know how relentless they can be. What they did at Mom's is just sad. DD is battling with the same problem. They live in a lovely hilly, wooded area surrounding a large lake. Deer habitat for sure. She's trying to plant only what they won't eat, haha. That seems to change with the weather.

Wow y'all, major deer issues huh? Lol! Before we moved here, my husband used to hunt here. Specifically leases land just for deer hunting and it's only 5 minutes down the road. I have never seen a deer grazing my yard. I was always teasing when he'd leave to hunt, calling him Bambi killer, but if they start eating my plants, I may start sending him out more often.

No deer here ,, just me , I nibble and chew on about everything out there .. lol

two trays and a Pot of Purslane . #4 A grassy looking something from wintersow next to two small Baptisia plant seedlings
A photo of a rue leaved looking seedling ,,

Someone on these threads said I was good at the "Non Growing Gig" I am at it again ,, all right with me though , I get the Plants ^_^ lol

All the tomatoes have been put in their containers or SFG's. Some are staked, some are in cages. I do not have enough sturdy cages or even strong stakes, like rebar or something like it.

My hopes are dashed for lettuce with the tomatoes. All the lettuce has bolted, or is too tough now to be tasty. One plant of raddichio (chicory) is nice and has been cut for salads many times.

The calendulas are beginning to bloom. The ones marked 'Apricot Daisy' are not that. So there are several different orange and bright yellows...I think one of them is 'Apricot Daisy'. I got the seed at Lowes and it is a Burpee seed. I liked that color for the former "Peach of a Garden", which no longer exists. At least they are in the now "Hot Bed", as it is the combo of bright and soft warm and hot colors. Right now it is a jumble, but I hope to eventually get it sorted out.

I have stuffed too many plants in this smaller space from 2 gardens moved to be protected from the deer by a tall fence. I will have to sort it out, little by little.

Already the other beds are too full, except for the White Flower Garden, of which I am reserving space for some selected perennials. I did get the white hibiscus 'Blue River' and it is just starting to show.

It is almost time to start some seeds for the biennials. I will be starting some Canterbury bells, as I do not have any right now. Maybe some perennial campanulas as well, as they are not long-lived for me. Is anyone else starting seeds in late summer? Mine came out so well from a summer sowing last year. The foxglove are a good size now and have all been planted in their places. They should bulk up nicely in fall to have a spectacular display next spring....we'll see. I just got all the shastas planted in the White Flower Garden. I have to pull out the wild daisies, which made a nice temporary show this spring. I have a small bed set aside for them, and do cut them back after flowering, but the seedlings are far and wide.

Does anyone ever think what happens to our gardens, once we leave them? Either we move or we pass on....then what becomes of the gardens we work in for so long and hard.

I've been thinking about starting some Lupines this summer. I'd like them to bloom next spring, if possible. Also, I have some gorgeous Verbascums and I'd like more. I had a very tough time getting the seed to germinate inside, only got one plant, but WWK sent me some seedlings that returned.

I was thinking to pre-treat the seeds the way I did last winter, soak 24 hours, then freeze 24 hours, then sow outdoors. Or I could do Deno (that worked for Lupines, not for Verbascum), then sow.

Is it better to sow in situ? I haven't had great luck that way. I got some Thalictrums a couple of years ago by sowing in a large pot at the end of the summer, and by spring there were seedlings. I let them grow on in the pot and moved them in the fall. This year they'll bloom for the first time.

Juhur7 I don't nibble and chew but I have a few feral cats that do ^_^.

Here are a few pictures of my seed sowing experiments. I've learned never to use mixes of seeds again. My flower beds aren't much larger than a postage stamp and I have no control over what germinates where.

If someone offered me a million dollars I still wouldn't be able to germinate seeds indoors. I've murdered thousands. I even fail using the Deno method.

I sowed them in one of the SFGardens...like a seedbed. Much better than any seedbed I could construct. Then I put plastic flats over them so they would not dry out. This one was very close with the "weave" of plastic, so it was mostly shady. I would take the flats off at the end of the day so they would get nice air circulation, then put them back on in late morning so during the heat of the day, they would be protected.

Right now all are full but one, and even that one is almost full....with tomatoes!! Next year, fewer tomatoes, or more pots...????

This message was edited Jun 27, 2014 1:43 PM

Great idea, I could use one of my raised veggie beds. And I could put a piece of floating row cover loosely over the seeds for protection. Since I'm not always present, it has to be something that can be left on for days at a time.

Anyone in favor of re-starting this thread ?
Here's that lupine Still blooming , gives an idea of how cool the weather has been here this season so far .

I hope this thread restarts. I still have so many seeds that I want to plant.

After killing so many thousand seeds, I hope I've learned enough to have better luck. The past several weeks I've been focused on getting cuttings to root. I've successfully rooted six brugmansias and several other plants.

Okay, new thread started:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1367627/

See you all there!

Pam