Let the Games Begin!

What do you make with half hydrated lime and salt? A margarita? LOL

Thanks for the tips. t.

Hey WZ!!!

I love to transplant the babies into their own quarters, but after a while, my back starts aching. I'm talking serious pain. I need to fix up a stool with a back and good light and have everything right there....set and ready to use, but I'm not sure if the stool would do it.

Doesn't your back hurt after doing a couple of trays?

Suzy

Hi Weezie,
Suzy I got one of these last year http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/728764/
I use a sunk 4 prong soil worker as a grab to get up and down.
I really like this little stool.
Sidney

I love this thread! WZ is one of the best sources of advice & inspiration here on DG!

For anybody just starting out with growing from seed, I've written a few articles that might also be useful... Here's the most recent seed starting one, and it has links to previous articles on setting up lights, preventing damping off, etc. http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/862/

Thanks Sidney -- it's very cool looking! The thing I need should be taller for taking a pot full of seeds like WZ shows above, and transplanting them one-by-one into little cell packs. It takes a good long while, but after hunching over for so long, I get an ache in my back. I'm not sure ANYTHING will help because of being hunched over. It's not like I can sit in a big ole comfy chair and do the transplanting; I am always hunched over.

For me, the trick is to stop partway through each flat and stretch a little... go water another flat, turn the plants around to get the light... you know there's always something that needs a little fooling with!

I'm averaging about 8-10 flats a day right now, and it probably takes me about 20-30 minutes to fill 12-4pks in a flat, depending on how small the seedlings are, etc. I've been doing this for so long that I've developed a method to save my back. I set up a long folding table in front of my TV set and transplant. In front of me, I have a pair of tweezers I use to prick out the plants, a container of plastic labels, a couple felt pens, a spray bottle of water and a small watering can.

I prepped the flats in the basement, filling each flat with cell packs, then spreading scoops of potting soil over the whole flat and filling the cells. I do this over a big tote to catch the extra soil that I sweep off the top of the flat. Next, I cover the flat with a clear plastic dome lid and set it aside. I try to prep at least 10 flats a day. When I am ready to transplant, I bring a stack of the prepped flats from the basement and water the cells of each flat before I start to transplant. I then water along the edges of the cell packs (so as not to drown the plants directly), then mist the inside of the dome lid, put it back on, and stack the finished flats to go back down to the basement where they will go back under the lights. I leave the dome lids on for the first day, prop the lids up the second, and remove them the third. This gives the newly transplanted seedlings an opportunity to recoup from the transplanting.

So, I sit in a padded lawn chair at a folding table for hours without many breaks. I can't really watch television, but I can listen and catch a peek or two now and then. Of course, I make sure all my flats are prepped by the time the Dog Whisperer comes on at 10 AM!

I love that show!

WZ, There are so many, many ways your plan would not work here I can't list them all, but number one is I'd have to be finihsed by 5:30 pm When the Mr. Clean Whisperer comes home. OMG! I would be in such big trouble if I brought a flat of potting mix upstairs along with a spray bottle....you have NO IDEA what an uproar that would cause! ROTFL!

To be honest, I make a huge mess, and this isn't prepping the flats, this is actual transplant. I can't believe you don't make a mess pulling out the babies and transferring soilless mix around them, topping them off so to speak. My method is about the same (except it takes me a week to do 10 flats!). It's probably a function of how many you do, and how many you've done over the years, but for me it is slow and tedious.

Did you see where I had some 2001 and 2002 germinate? I couldn't believe it! One was Nemesia, but I forgot the other one, although I wrote it on the tag so I'd know why it didn't germinate. LOL! Surprise!

Suzy

Ah, I can understand why you can't transplant in the livingroom! I don't live with a Mr. Clean. If I married one, it would have been a short marriage. I admire cleanliness from a distance! However, your house assuredly looks better than mine! The reason I can transplant in my livingroom is that we have painted plywood floors, and I just sweep up the debris when I'm done for the day. I make a big mess, too. I make even a bigger mess filling the flats, but I do that in the basement.

At the very least, get yourself a transplanting table, a comfortable chair, and a radio. If Mr. Clean objects, just point to the door and give him a Psssst! Be a gardening pack leader! A girls got to have a place to get dirty.

LOL Weezin'

Hello All,
.
I've been lurking and building. I just posted this message in the "Greenhouse" forum under Crickets Greenhouse but I thought this might be a better forum:

Hi Cricket,

I've taken the big leap. The hoops are up for the hoop house ( just waiting for the wind to die down to put up plastic). I have built a light rack with fluorescents on a timer. My 1200 starts are just getting their second set of leaves. Not leggy at all but the roots are already growing through the bottoms of the jiffy peat pellets I am using. I won't be using any of these pellets anymore, it was just something quick and easy to get me started.

Plant list:

Coleus - boy these things start slow.
Impatiens
pansy
Phlox
Petunia
Morning Glory - mostly for my front yard

Veggies:

Tomato - 4 types
Peppers - 5 types
Crooked neck - love these
Broccoli

Most of the veggies will go to freinds and my garden but the flowers I intend to sell.

My question is how to sell these. When I go to lowes I see plants selling at prices too low for me to compete with. I think I would have to try something they are not doing. I was thinking on the lines of 10" pots with a variety of 3 different plants.

Where do I go to get the pots? And what type of growing medium should I use? Do you think people would spend $10 on a 10" pot?

I have a rotary drive and live on a busy road so getting the people would be easy.

Thanks,

JB

Hi, JB. Sounds like you're off to a good start. I live in a small community where competition for bedding plant customers is limited. The local hardware stores bring in some bedding plants in the spring, but don't want to spend the money to keep them healthy and hire qualified people to take care of them. Therefore, I try to gear my business for healthy, hardened off bedding plants that haven't been forced to bloom before their time. I don't even open for business until the danger of frost has passed... Memorial Day for us. I lose the early birds and those who want immediate gratification, but many of them return after they have killed the hot house bedding plants sold at the local hardware. Those who truly like to have healthy plants usually are in the habit of coming here for their bedding plants, herbs and veggies.

Once June has come and gone, my customers are in the market for perennial plants, and that is my main focus... locally grown perennials that succeed in our climate. I concentrate on the genus' that do well here and experiment with new species each year. Business is slower after June, but the value of perennials is greater. Whatever perennials are left over must be tucked away, mulched, and wintered over.

I also sell baskets of flowers. I usually sell at least 50 to 75 baskets every spring, and I keep the flowers simple and the prices low. I purchase my baskets by the case from a wholesaler in Anchorage, and on occasion, will reuse baskets if they are in good condition, but I always change the hangers since our windy weather puts a lot of stress on them. By purchasing the baskets wholesale, I can get them for under a dollar a piece. It should be much cheaper down your way. I buy 10 inch baskets with the hangers and saucers included, 50 to a case. I use #7 Sunshine Mix in my baskets, as it is a nice soft mix with polymers in it.

I sell my baskets for about $15-$17 each. This means I don't use expensive plants in them, but they are colorful. I generally put three petunias toward the center, six small bunches of lobelia, and perhaps something in the center, such as a Signet marigold or Paludosum daisy. I also use nemesia, mimulus, viola, nasturtium and linaria in baskets. Around here, you can't get a flower basket anywhere else for under $20-$30, so I can sell these. They are also hardened off before I sell them.

So many people love flowers, but they want plants to adjust to fit their needs, not the other way around. By growing healthy plants, hardening them off, and taking the time to talk to the customers to determine the environment the plants will be moved to, I can create a relationship with them that brings them back next year. Make no mistake... this takes time and patience, but it is quite satisfying to help people care for plants and it developes clientelle.

Weezing,

I'm so impressed that you took this on, and jealous as well. I think that I would really enjoy being in the nursery business part time. There is a small kind of rundown nursery within two minutes of us that I often fantisize about owning and completely revamping. Of course, I don't have the kind of money that would be necessary to purchase an established business, redo it, and still make up for the lost income of my current job!

Maybe things will change in the future.

In the meantime, I have my own little garden to work on. Last year was my first time starting plants from seeds. I figured out that this year I will be starting over 600 plants. I have 8 shelves with lights which fits 4 flats of 18 plants each. I always have too many plants so I end up having some on the floor and rotating. Just yesterday, I was debating if I should get more shelves and lights. Of course, if I had more shelves, then I would have to fill them.

I hope that this is a good growing season for you.

I read Tony Avent's "So you want to run a nursery" and decided it
was probably more work and required more skills than I possess to
run a nursery. More power to ya Weezin'

Maybe it is a good thing I never read a book about running a nursery or spent time working in one. Like pennefeather, I started by growing too many plants for myself, but at first, I donated them to the local garden club for yearly plant sales. As time went by, I grew even more plants than they could sell, so I started selling them myself. It has grown from there, but is still a small nursery business and will probably remain so.

I grow 96 flats of plants on the racks, then turn on a halide light to accomodate another 20 or 30 flats. By April, we begin the exodus out to the little 10'x16' greenhouse which will hold well over 100 flats on three shelf levels. This greenhouse has an oil heater. Once the temps are not dipping below about 35 F, I start moving flats to a larger, unheated greenhouse, then by mid-May, out on the tables to harden off. I cover the tables with row cover at night or when the wind kicks up.

As time permits, I begin raking the mulch from the perennials in pots I have wintered over around the yard. In the spring, before the trees begin to leaf out, they can get adequate sun, but as the trees fill out, all the perennials need to come out of the woods and onto the tables. There are hundreds and hundreds of these little 3.5" pots, 6-8" pots, and even some 4-cell packs filled with perennials, but I am never quite sure which will survive and which will not, so I still start perennials from seed in the basement.

After years of trial and error, I have a technique that works for me, but it is all labor intensive. I have no 4 wheeler or tractor, so I carry each flat by hand or in a wagon or wheelbarrow. I mix my own soil with a sifter over a wheelbarrow, sift my own compost, and tend my own plants. I can't afford to hire anyone, but my husband helps when he can. Meanwhile, all the plants need to be watered, transplanting continues over the summer, stem cuttings have to be rooted, gardens weeded, etc. At 61, I'm beginning to slow down, but I will continue doing this as long as possible, perhaps gearing down rather than up as time goes by.

I suspect your customers are going to be very disappointed to see you
gearing down. Maybe find an apprentice when you feel you only want to
continue a few more years?

Tam

..........being an apprentice for WZ, talk about a Dream job! If you let Dgers in, we'd be lining up at the airport!

WZ, I told Mr. Clean that you got to transplant in front of the TV and asked him if I could do some transplanting upstairs in front of the TV, too. Uh, there was no hesitation or room for negotiation in his, "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!". LOL! It was pretty funny.

Question for ya: Can Nemesia take a wee bit of below freezing weather if there is no frost involved? What about Torenia? Or any of those cool-season annuals you sent to us? (Besides Poppies, I already know about that one). I might be running out of room under lights. LOL!

Thanks,
Suzy

Suzy

Johnny is the a farmers market near you?always by me seedlings at a farmers market

We have folks selling plants and cut flowers at farmers markets and flea markets.
Though prices are better at the farmers market.

Tam

Hi all,

Sorry for the late response.

Weezy,
Thank you for your very informative reply. I like the way you get right to the point especially about hardening off before selling. Point well taken.

Art and Tam,
We do have a farmers market hear and I will check if they accept flowers. I think I would like to sell more baskets than anything for now only because I'm not starting that many items. I think a more expensive type basket might be what I'm looking for like some type of wicker or at least something quite showy..

This is all just a learning experience for me for now. I don't really expect to make much on it the first, second, or even third year. I do hope to pay for the materials I use though.

Thanks again,

JB

P.S. Don't tell anyone, but, sometimes I just sit next to the grow lights and watch,,,,,,,,,,sssshhhhh!

Just dont start nameing them when they sprout lol

Don't you sing to them?!? I think it helps a lot!

Suzy, I don't really know if nemesia will take temps just above freezing. I know they will do fine in the upper 30's or 40ish. Heck that can happen in the late spring or late summer here! As for tornenia, I'm not so sure. I've had occasional heating failures in my little greenhouse in the spring, or sudden frost out on the tables, and it is amazing what comes through unscathed or just a bit shocked, especially if I have row cover over the tables.

JB, another popular seller for me bowls of greens. I buy the round plastic bowls wholesale, then plant lettuce, oriental greens or herbs to them. They are just right for setting on the porch by the kitchen door, etc. Here's the lettuce:

Here's some oriental greens

Here's mesclun mix, seeds sown directly in the pot for baby greens

Here's one of my herb bowls next to my front porch steps

Wow,

Bowls of greens, catchy, very catchy, do you have a patent on the name? I'm amazed at how shallow the bowls are. I had thought about doing herbs and actually talked with an owner of one of the few nice restaurants in town and he was interested. He said he is now purchasing from Sysco. I may set aside an area of the hoop house just for him for now. He is the Chef and owner. I think I will let him come over every morning and get what he needs for the day just to see what it will take to support his opperation ( and of course to hook him). After that, we will have to talk money.

Again,

Thanks for sharing,

JB

Many things will grow a season in shallow soil. If you plan to winter over, you might consider deeper pots. I've even grown Swiss Chard in these shallow bowls. The point, in my opinion, is to present all these wonderful plants to people who might not, otherwise, enjoy them.

You could also call them "salad bowls!"

:-)

I picked up some containers like that, maybe 12 inches across, at the dollar store last year. Worked out very well for herbs, propagating creeping thyme, even overwintered some thyme and other stuff in them (up against the house).

Those are so pretty!!!! I love the different colors and textures of lettuces; so pretty!

Suzy

The bowls I use are about 16-18" across. They cost me about $3 a piece, but they are re-useable. I encourage buyers to plant baby lettuce in them the following season. Critter, I've never tried wintering anything in the bowls, but not many herbs winter over here in any state.

I really am new to flowers.



But I've been doin' these for a while. :-)

The ground doesn't freeze during the winter and if it doesn't rain a lot we can leave these in the ground all winter and just go dig as needed.

I just got these out today. This one is a tad too large for baking so I will use it to top a shepards pie tonight.

Sorry for the off topic post. I just couldn't resist.

JB

How do you like your asparagus.

I love asparagus, but my hubby won't allow it in the house! He can be a real food bigot! Some people grow it here, but it often winter kills, perhaps due to the freeze, then spring rains. Now, we do grow potatoes! I grow mine in halved wine barrels, adding more soil as the foliage grows. Due to our short season, we don't get high yields, but the potatoes are crisp and good.

Johnny B, I like my asparagus JUST like that!!! Nice and thin and fresh.

Suzy

Weezy,

The potatoes you see here were grown last year in the ground. I too try to grow in barrels every year but end up with mixed results. I use tall plastic trash cans and as they grow I add more soil. When finished they're supposed to fill the entire barrel with potatoes, but I have only been able to produce taters about half way down. I suspect there is a limit to how deep they will produce.

Last year I purchased seed potatoes from a local supplier and found they produced much better than just using store bought potatoes that eye out. I was also really impressed with the yield. I wasn't able to weed the garden last year (minor surgery) and you couldn't see the potatoes for the weeds. As you can see they still grew!

Suzy,

That asparagus was left to go to seed but I stepped on it today and had to pick it. When they get that big they become tough. I'll still eat it after it steams for about 20 min. And yes it will still taste yummy.

JB

Growing anything in a container can be beneficial here because our summer temps seldom reach 70F and the soil stays cool. Containers also ensure good drainage, a problem in a coastal town where rain is prevalent.

I have a flat of nemesia "Carnival Mix" that was started in early March.This is the first time growing this variety and I am concerned as they do not look like the nemesia that is being offered in the greenhouses and nurseries around here.Mine has tons of vegetative growth,the leaves are wider and more succulent,although fragile.I am not doing a very good job of describing them,I know,but does Carnival mix look different?Or have I over fertilized?