Hehe, yes, I am in the banana belt :) Everything warms up a little faster.
I was looking in on of my WS jugs, and I think I might have a Nastursium coming up! Theres a nice swelled seed partly above the soil, or maybe it just got heaved up by the freeze thaw....
The neighbors must have though I was crazy the way I kept peering in that jug.
Steven
I've sown/winter sown.........
Thanks for the kind comments on the plant room; it sure is my little cozy spot these days!
Steve, I didn't realize that you're neck of the woods was called the banana belt, hehe. Tell that sprout to lay low as we're supposed to get walloped tomorrow with a big snow storm. At least that's what I heard a while ago and maybe tonight would be a good time to get working on the rest of my WSing so they'll get buried.
Ginny, that sounds like a great idea....whoever has the first sprouts, starts the show! Wow, your home is an antique but there's something gotta be said for homes built back then.....they tend to have way more character than the ones built today. I'm not a fan of cookie cutter neighborhoods, plus they don't seem to have much land to play with.
Joanne, I had to giggle when you mentioned your hubby digging through the recycle box for you. Mine did the same for me last year and even had his mom save me some jugs. He really didn't think it was going to work. Now he automatically questions the WSing potential of every container as well as voluntarily drilling holes for me if I just leave the container on the counter. I'm so glad he humours me, lol.
Erynne
Ya, I heard about the storm, at first we were supposed to get 15-20cm, but now it's only 5-10cm.
I'm hoping for none at all :) I checked the jug again and told that seed to stay low.
Steven
SO, did everyone get their snow strom? We got about a foot....*sigh*
I was hoping for early meltage this year...
oh yea...still getting it...can't see the car for drifts. I have decided today is a jammies day :))
Yup, tons of the white stuff here and I couldn't be happier! Still not as much snow as I remember there being when I was a kid, but it will do. Schools were shut down here and my boys were just so thrilled about that,lol.
Sheesh, I couldn't even see where my WSing containers were this morning because they were so buried in the fluffy white stuff.
You must be getting more then us, it stopped earlier this morning.
Hehe, jammy days are fun :)
Erynne, we posted at the same time :)
Ditto on the WS containers, I can just see some poking through the snow :)
Steven - Hoping I can drag someone out tonight to go tobogganing...
We got the blowing and drifting, but only about 3 or 4 inches of new stuff. Forecast is for snow squalls and 10 - 15 cm of new snow for us beginning late this afternoon and continuing overnight. Sighhhhh, February has to end soon, doesn't it?
On my way back home from work in London in about 10 minutes. It is much better to beat the squalls home I think.
Later! --Ginny
Not bad here at all, but we're northwest of Ottawa and I heard the storm is tracking to the east. We have about 5cm and it seems to be slacking off already. Ottawa has a heavy snowfall warning and is forecast for 10-15cm and another 5cm tonight.
Sandy
Has anyone successfully winter sown Bells of Ireland (Mollucella Laevis)?
I am taking the WS plunge this weekend. It's gone from -24C yesterday to +4C today, and should be mild for a little while, so I'm thinking it might be a good time to get some puppies outside. Still working on my choices, though. Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo.
Joanne
For all of you who thought I was crazy putting out 67 winter sown containers, check out this post from Shirley1md. Last year, she sowed 162 containers (I counted the list). http://davesgarden.com/forums/p.php?pid=3202403 . See - I'm being perfectly reasonable :-)
--Ginny
Edited for lack of ability to spell.
This message was edited Feb 19, 2007 8:28 AM
Oh my goodness......this does make your WSing seem rather tame by comparison :o)
She must have a good-sized property to accomodate all those plants or else plenty of friends! How big is your property Ginny?
I'm up to 15 containers now; I best hurry up before spring gets here. I need an extra pair of hands!!! Supposed to +8 this coming Sunday.
Erynne
You have no idea just how much I am looking forward to temperatures on the plus side of zero :-)
I don't have my chart here at work with all of the actual measurements, but I think our property measures about 67' wide and 177' deep (about 1/3 acre) - or something like that. I need to look at the survey tonight when I get home to be sure.
--Ginny
I took advantage of our Family Day holiday today in Alberta to get together with my seeds and finally started winter sowing:
1. Butterfly Weed (Pink)
2. Butterfly Weed 'Ice Ballet' (Asclepias incarnata)
3. Hollyhock 'Black Watchman'
4. Hollyhock 'Peaches & Dreams'
5. Hollyhock 'Crème de Cassis'
6. Echinacea paradoxa (Yellow)
7. Helenium 'Wyndley'
8. Helenium autumnale 'Autumn Lollipop'
9. Bee Balm, Red (Monarda didyma)
10. Rudbeckia hirta 'Burpeei Double Gold'
11. Gaillardia grandiflora (Burgundy)
12. Rudbeckia triloba (Brown Eyed Susans)
13. Echinacea 'Sunrise'
14. Aster laevis (Smooth blue aster)
15. Centaurea macrocephala (Giant Knapweed)
16. Verbena hastata (Blue vervain)
17. Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum)
18. Penstemon barbatus coccineus
19. Pyrethrum 'James Kelway' (Painted Daisy)
20. Sea Holly, Giant 'Miss Wilmotts Ghost' (Eryngium giganteum)
21. Eryngium yuccifolium (Rattlesnake Master)
22. Clematis 'Petit Faucon'
23. Lysimachia atropurpurea 'Beaujolais'
24. Delphinium 'Chocolate Parfait'
25. Dianthus gratianopolitanus 'Spotty'
It's great to be playing in the dirt again!
Susan
Some nice stuff you have going there Susan. Keep us updated on their progress in the spring.
--Ginny
I've sown:
Geraniums
Lobelia
Gazinia
Petunia, Celebrity
Petunia, Explorer
Petunia, Tidal Wave
Petunia, Wave
Petunia, Easy Wave
Dahlia
Dichondra, Emerald Falls
Gerbera Daisy
Gypsophila - (Babys Breath)
Pansy
Coleus
I've transplanted into pots or hanging baskets:
Coleus
Petunia's
Geraniums
Dichondra
Dahlia
Gazinia
Gerbera Daisy
Thats about it for now. It's too early in the year for some of the other ones I need to start.
Darrell
Looking good Darrell :-) Did you do any winter sowing?
--Ginny
Isn't that what I did? Hah! It's snowing here and I planted all that this winter. Maybe winter sowing isn't what I thought it was. Darrell
So.......are you just pullin' my leg Darrell (I never am quite sure when you're serious and when you're not), or would you really like a description of WSing?
--Ginny, who has often jumped in with explanation before she realizes it's a joke :-(
When I got home from work today, I looked at the temp and it was +5! WO HOO!!! My containers are almost all thawed/melted. I tossed a bit of snow in some cause they looked a bit dry.
The snow in the blue ziplock bags still needs to melt, I seem to remember something from last year about coloured plastic making the sun weaker, inside the bag that is. I guess I'll just need to set them so they get extra sun.
Steven
Aha! So that might've been my problem last year! Coloured plastic!
Thanks for bringing this up Steve. I WS'd some rudbeckia last year.....some in a milk jug and some in a water cooler bottle. The ones in the milk jug did just fine and the ones in the water cooler bottle had one measely sprout....both were sowed from the same batch of seeds.
There is a blue tint on those water cooler bottles and after looking it up just now via google, I found a site that says it's there to keep out the UV light. I was going to reuse that same container again this year but I think I should just forget it.
Plus I got in crap for cutting up that bottle from DH because it's worth a $10 refund.......sheesh, I didn't know they were worth anything, lol.
No joke Ginny. I thought that if you planted seeds in the winter, it was "winter sowing".
Hey Darrell,
We've all been there at some point!
So...now are you thinking about really winter sowing???!! LOL
I am preparing my first ever wintersowing containers as we speak. 4 milk jugs and 1 flat of cells. Need hubby to drink more milk, faster.
Joanne
I got it now and no, I haven't done any winter sowing.
Winter sowed today:
In milk jugs:
Festuca glauca 'Select'
Gaillardia 'Goblin'
Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'
Shasta Daisy 'Alaska'
In flat cells:
California Poppy 'Strawberry Fields'
Clarkia 'Confetti Mixed'
Phacelia 'Tropical Surf'
Scabiosa 'Oxford Blue'
Nice selection Joanne. I can hardly wait to see how everyone's WS efforts turn out this year!
Darrell, you should give winter sowing a try. It's such an unbelievably easy and successful way to start seeds. I for one am very glad I found out about it last year.
--Ginny
I'll pass on this one.
Oh, no what should I do? Maybe just set them where they'll get sun all day, instead of just part day? Or what if I opened the tops of the bags to let light in that way?
As I was just typing I had an idea, I'm going to cut off most of the blue bags and only save the bottom part with the soil and then I'll place that part into clear ziplock bags. Does that sound like it should work good?
Steve
Did another batch of winter sowing today:
26. Rose 'Henry Kelsey'
27. Mentzelia decapetala (Giant Evening Star)
28. Golden Marguerite 'Sauce Hollandaise' (Anthemis tinctoria)
29. Smoke Bush 'Royal Purple' (Cotinus coggygria)
30. Rudbeckia maxima
31. Phlox paniculata (Lavender)
32. Poppy miyabeanum 'Pacino' (Yellow alpine poppy)
33. Columbine, Dwarf - Cameo Mix (Aquilegia flabellata)
34. Jacobs Ladder, Few Flowered Yellow (Polemonium pauciflorum)
35. Cephelaria gigantea (Giant Scabious)
36. Amsonia tabernaemontana (Blue Star)
37. Penstemon strictus 'Rocky Mountain Blue'
38. Penstemon barbatus 'Cambridge Mix'
39. Dianthus plumarius 'Thief of Hearts'
40. Dianthus barbatus 'Sooty'
41. Phlomis tuberosa
42. Lupins - mixed'
43. Leopards Bane (Doronicum cordatum)
44. Rudbeckia hirta 'Sputnik'
45. Echinacea 'Doppleganger'
46. Trollius (Orange Globeflower)
47. Salvia (Purple/Blue)
48. Poppy, Oriental 'Pizzicato Mix'
49. Poppy lateritium 'Flore Pleno'
50. Dianthus amurensis 'Siberian Blue'
51. Dianthus chinensis 'Baby Doll Mix'
52. Dianthus deltoides 'Arctic Fire'
Come on spring!!
Susan
Nice, Susan!
Hey Susan - only 15 more and you'll have caught up to me :-)
--Ginny
Thanks Sandy! And Ginny, I have to say that I am a huge fan of winter sowing and I will definitely be doing more as the weeks go by. It is my third year and I was a nut the first year with over 300 containers, only slightly crazy last year with close to 200 and this year time restrictions should keep me under 100.... :-)
Susan
I picked up 30 more milk jugs this weekend, so I will be sowing my brains out for the next couple of evenings. My DH is helping out, though rolling his eyeballs a bit. His main question, which I admit, has some legitimacy, is where the heck am I going to put all these plants if they all germinate? LOL.
Seriously, though, what does everyone do with their plants? Do you give some away? At what stage? Do you pot up hunks of seed and pass on to other people to transplant?
Ok, I know it's getting a bit ahead of things, but I figure I'm going to be too busy with what I've got sown to ask these questions in the spring!!!
Joanne
LOL Here's what I do Joanne. After I plant all that I want in the ground, I then determine how many more of them I want in pots and planters and transplant those. Then I put a few aside for those emergency replacements when one of the new little darlings dies or gets eaten by a rabbit. Whatever is left I give away to whoever might want them - as is where is (okay - sometimes I'll put a pot together for those special people).
I do have to admit, though, that any I don't manage to find homes for I always seem to find a spot for - even if I need to go out and buy more pots :-)
--Ginny
Wow, Susan! 300 WS containers. You must be the defending Canadian WS champ? I think you'd be the most qualified to answer Joanne's question about what the heck to do with them all when they germinate. LOL
I'll add some more to Ginny's list:
Some die of neglect in the busy season.
Most are put in a holding bed, then next season are big enough to donate to plant sales and swaps.
Did I mention some die of neglect? Oh yeah, I did.
Sandy
:) You could always toss a few over the fence, I would come and catch them. Guerilla gardening anyone! We have a boulevard between the roads that some clever bunny seeded with poppies. Now they are everywhere and the best part is she gets to drive by them everyday to work.
You guys are doing a great job and I can hardly wait to see the results of all this fun! Be sure to post pictures.
Bea
Good ideas all. I'm liking the holding bed idea; I have a bit of room where my honkin' tomatoe plant was last year that I can use and I also need to move this huge Rudbeckia 'Goldquelle' which is much larger than I expected. Tomatoes will grow in a garbage container this year and hopefully Rudbeckia can grow in someone else's garden...want room for plants I like! Stay tuned for posting of further sowing; I'm off out to the garage to get some more milk jugs sowed.
Joanne N.
Sandy - No I'm not the champ. I first learned of this method over at the GW site and there are many more extreme winter sowers over there.
Joanne - I have 7 acres to fill so I am not short of space. I'm not sure I could ever afford to purchase the quantity of plants that I have grown this way. Having moved from the city to an acreage the most surprising and hard thing for me about gardening was the scale. In town I could buy and plant 4, 5 or 6 plants and they would make an impact in my meager flower beds. Out here at my little house on the prairie I was stunned to discover exactly how many plants I needed to fill a space or much less make an impact on the landscape!
Also exciting to me is that I have grown many not-so-common varieties that I would never see at my local nursery (and that I didn't even know existed until that gardening bug bit...). I did however have to do a lot of work last year to prepare new beds to get all those babies into the ground. I also have friends and family who are thrilled to receive free plants now and then.
A holding bed is a great idea if you have the space. I don't exactly have a 'bed' but more of an 'area' where I essentially bury my unplanted containers to overwinter. Each year a few things didn't get planted out because I thought they were a bit too small or I just ran out of time. For perennials I mainly use 2L pop bottles because I can fill them with a good depth of soil so that I don't have to transplant or worry if I don't get to planting out right away.
Susan
Susan: 7 Acres, eh? You'd have room for everyone's extra plants! LOL.
More milk jugs last night/tonight:
Lupines 'Russel Hybrid'
Fox Glove 'Candy Mountain'
Bellis 'Rose Carpet'
Coreopsis 'Early Sunrise'
Oriental Poppy 'Fruit Punch'
Malva 'Zebrina'
Malva 'Brave Heart'
Monarda 'Superb Mixed'
Sea Holly
Yarrow 'Summer Pastels Mixed'
Blue Flax
Bachelor's Buttons 'Black Ball'
Joanne