This June will be my first full year at DG. Gosh, how I love this place and all of you kindred souls! After a glorious Summer/Fall of seed trading I set to work indoor sowing seeds this winter. Well, I've got over 400 seedlings, way too many for this gardener's space! Sure I'm gonna share with my Mom and sister and SIL, but still have more than all of us can use. So, the question is..... do 1st year seedlings trade well? I mean are they hardy enough to make a journey? Or is it common practice to start a "nursery" bed and trade them in the fall or following Spring? What's the accepted practice on DG for this?
Anyone interested in seeing what's on my seedling list check it out here....got pics of most everything!
http://davesgarden.com/j/sj/langbr/925/
Signed,
Confused Newbie in KS
Brenda
Got a Plant Trading Question....
Gosh Brenda, you have quite the collection of seedlings! Your journal is so organized - I just write the date of seeding on the plastic plant stake. If the seeding fails, I "lose" my record because the pot and stake get recycled.
Someone recently sent me Monarda seedlings in a plant trade, and she potted a good handful up with a bit of soil in a plastic square pot and they travelled beautifully. So I think it depends on the plant and on your preference.
Eileen
Thanks Eileen. I just looked at my Journal and realize I need to get more pics in. Kind of took the last month off from documenting.
I've traded seedlings lots of times. Aint nuttin wrong wid that. Just make sure you let your trader know they're getting seedlings so they aren't disappointed.
I'd be more than happy to be your guinea pig! LOL
If only I had something to trade.... then you wouldn't even have to worry about mailing them :) LOL But if you end up with any orphan plants looking for a good home, I now have a brand new empty yard that's begging for something besides grass!
Heather - I'll fix ya up!! Do you have grow lights or a unheated greenhouse? If so, I can probably set ya up this weekend. (I sure would like to get some relief from all the babies I'm tending!). Do you see something on my list that you'd like to have? Let me know.
Melissa - whatchya looking for that I have?
Thanks, poppysue...duh! guess that should have occured to me!
Brenda, please tell me what crazy daisy is? Don't recall ever seeing it listed in seed catalogs.
Very impressive list of seedlings. I just took mine out to the unheated greenhouse this morning. Might have to use the electric heater.
Maxine
Brenda, everything on your list is so tempting! But if they still need grow lights and a greenhouse, then they shouldn't come to live with me yet, as I have neither, or the time to baby anything right now. The best protection I can offer until they're hardy is just to have them inside near a sunny window, although DH would probably shoot me if I bring too many more plants home that need to be indoors... LOL
We're still moving into our new place, and trying to get it all done before the baby arrives in a couple weeks, and on top of that planning my son's birthday party soon after! I'm just so excited to finally have a yard of my own to plant things in, but I'm trying not to take on more than I can handle. So many ideas and so little time! Who knows, I may just have to be content with container gardening again for this summer.
But if you have any of the following left after trades, and can hold them until they're a little more hardy, some things that interest me on your list are the black-eyed susan vine, the daisies, columbine, lobelia, and the treasure flowers. If you can't, then I understand. You know, there's so much I don't have, they all look good to me! :) And if you're interested in houseplants, then I can probably come up with some cuttings along that line at some point. Just let me know!
Maxine - Here's a pic of the Crazy Daisy. I bought a 6-pak of the plants last fall and then got seeds from Parks.
http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10066&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=0558&FromTextSearch=painted%20daisy
Heather -- you've got mail.
Brenda, are you going to have any extra of that crazy daisy?
If so, you could put it in my box of lilies which you will soon be sending my way.
Did you keep track of how long it took for your columbine and delphs. to sprout?
Maxine
Maxine - I'll make a note to include some of the daisies in your COOP order. They are some of the mostly recently sown and thus smaller, but I got some hellebore seedings recently from a member and I got a good idea on how to send them safely.
The columbine took 11 days to germinate (all that is in my journal if your curious). I keep sown, germination and usually date they got 1st set of true leaves. Also, alot of the entries have date I thinned them and them potted up to larger pots.
I didn't have any delphs....was there something else you were curious about?
Brenda
The crazy dazy is neat.
I had a nice tray of Nicotania started this year, then the plant stand crashed and they were no more. :-(
If you have any extra of them Brenda, I"d love a couple.