Sprouts and Seedlings 2008! Any pics to share?!

Just off the press - some mini blinds contain lead!

Oh no can they make anything without lead in it?????

I cut my mini blinds, while eating cookies and licked my fingers. I think I even put a minin blind in my mouth : P. Lead poisoning for sure. I think I will just go to bed and cover my head and cry : (

Thanks for the awful news report carrielamont, I know you want us to be safe, thank you.

I don't think they ALL have lead in them, Linda, just "old ones made in China", I've never even owned a mini blind, so I can't really be considered an expert witness. I just read it on another thread in another forum.... I will go and get the whole truth and nothing but the truth. xx, Carrie

Ohhhhhh thanks carrielamont, I think I've got new China ones, from wally world. I just got back from laying down, I felt like I had poison myself cuz I know I put a mini blind in my mouth so I would stop eating the cookies : /.

Now I feel sorta better now, I'll have some more cookies and be much better ^_^.

Thanks so much for checking on this stuff. Have a great weekend : )

Cookies WILL help. Sorry to scare you!! xxx, Carrie DARN I already forgot how to make that little smiley face! :-)

This message was edited Apr 11, 2008 8:24 PM

6_6 but hold down the shift key

^_^

Thanks, Linda, and are we feeling better today? xx, C ^_^

lol , yes carrielamont, we are feeling much better today ,lol thank you ^_^

except it snowed on my winter sowing today : (. I have a plastic cover on it like a tent. I hope the cold spell doesn't burn my plants to zip. This will be the true test of lessons learned. Can those plants that are up stand the cold and how much of the cold can they stand. If my WS plants die I will probably eat all my mini blinds, get it over with quick : /

I am actually laughing out loud at you Linda! First, your seedlings need the moisture in the snow, or are you watering them? In which case you're babying them too much! They will be fine, or I will eat your mini blinds for you. xx, Carrie

Linda: Do you have any real tender sprouts, like zinnias? They might not fare so well if it's very cold. Hardy perennials and hardy annuals should be fine. How cold is it going to be?

We are also having a cold spell, temps near 30 for the next 3 nights.

Don't induce lead poisoning, just sow more to make yourself feel better.

Karen

Laugh away carrielamont laugh away, lol .

Heres the deal on my WS plants. I don't water, just the rain and condensation waters them. They seem like they needed to dry out just a bit,
I took all the plastic lids , tops off etc. so they could get some sunshine (when we had it). Plus they were over the tops of the coffee can containers. I can not put the lid back on or they will all be bent : (.

So in order for them not to get frozen , I made a tent for them, like a green house , well sorta of, except it's black plastic, so now they won't get any sun : (. I'm kinda scared to look under it cuz they be nipped.

They are calling for a widespread frost, lows in the 20's : (.

I'm going down and face the music, I need to recover the plants , the ones that are not over the top of their containers , put their lids back on. maybe I can save them .

Baby my plants!!!!, ahhh you should see the little guys , lol.

Off I go in the cold and check my spoiled plants : P

Made it back from the arctic. I want winter back, it was so much warmer then. The plants are ok, they look rather happy and wondering what the big deal is : /. I did put the plastic covers on some of the containers and everything is under the plastic tent. I couldn't take the cold no more. Do you know what a rubber band feels like snapping frozen fingers : ( there will be batttle scars). Gloves, no good, I used them for under my knees on the wet cold ground.

I picked some daffodils on my way to the house movin fast, goin for the hot coffee. Poor daffs didn't know what hit them. I hope they make the cold snap tomorrow.

Karen , no Zinnias sown, most are all hardy plants so I think they will be ok. News is saying to cover with cloth and not plastic, I got mine covered with plastic : (.

Your right sowing does make us feel better doesn't it ^_^

Coffee mugs up to Winter Sowing, Cheers. Its working!!!!!!!

Karen, i think I winter sowed zinnias my first year (2006-7) and they turned out fine. But I might not have sowed them until April, he, he.

Really tender things like zinnias, marigolds, etc., don't take frost very well. I have had them croak as a result. Hardy perennials and hardy annuals have always been OK, though.

I'm sure it is a matter of how cold and for how long. Some things might be OK at 30 degrees for a couple of hours. But they might not be at 25, or for a prolonged time, like a whole day. The tricky part is deciding where the dividing line might lie. And if the weather man can get it right in the first place, that helps the effort.

Karen

Yeah, I never pay too much attention to predictions because, around here, they're so often wrong! I guess you're right though, and again, I kept NO records last year so I really have no idea what I sowed when! It was fun, though! xx, Carrie

Acckk! Last time I checked the weather report we were frost free for the next week or so. Now it's 28 tonight. Of course, as Carrie said, they're probably wrong. Question is, will it be 35 or 25? I don't have anything tender out there, so they're on their own. I've opened the individual bags, but the lids are on the Rubbermaid tubs.

I sure like the Rubbermaid tubs some of you are using, can just snap that lid back on without disturbing the plants, plus if its way down in temps , like the hard freeze we got last year for a week , you can just easly tote the whole thing back into the house.

The hard freeze took out the fruit trees buds, no fruit in 07 : (. so I would think these little seedlings that are up would not have a chance unless protected. Tossing a big plastic over 172 containers and keeping down from all the cold winds we been havin is a challenge.

That big cold frame type wooden box with a lid is what I'm going to make for my next years WS

Its not the little seedlings that I'm so much worried about, I think they will be ok, its the ones that are really ready to put in the gardens

Like this one that is over the top of the container and this was taken last week so its even bigger now, well I hope its bigger , it did get cold last night. Got to go down and uncover my plants , sun is out : )

I had about 15 trays of seedlings out in the cold so I moved them back into the spare bathroom. I shut the door so it would be cooler in there for them. We heat with wood part time so it's chilly in the back part of the house, about 65-70*.

I have a couple of seedlings I need ID'd, maybe you guys can help.

I hope this one is Corncockle 'Milas'

Prediction is for 28 here tonight, too. I have just a few tender sprouts which I will either cover or stash in my unheated garage for the night. The perennial sprouts will be fine though, I think. I opened the lids on my sprouted things a week or so ago. I'll just throw a sheet on them overnight to hold the tops on rather than tape each one, then remove the sheet tomorrow.

Karen

What is the seedling on the right? The one on the left is Lupine.

The tag says Knautia 'Mars Midget'

This is supposed to be Mock Orange Shrub. Is it?

This is a shade garden mix I have had for about 3 years.

What is the plant in the lower right?

Same Shade Garden Mix just a larger pic of the plant in the upper left now.

Never grown knautia, but what I found on Google images doesn't look like you photo. Could yours be hollyhock?

Karen

I suspected something more like that.

Knautia is supposed to be in the Scabiosa group and that sure doesn't look like Scabiosa.

I'm the Queen of NOIDs - sometimes I didn't even know even after they bloomed!
xx, Carrie

Well the cold got my WS Nasturtium, but only the ones that were above their container. The ones that I sowed later are still doing fine in the coffee cans with plastic lids still on.

The above picture does not look like that any more, they are a blackish green color :(

Linda,

Please accept my deepest condolences on the loss of your darling little Nasturtiums. I'm terrific at nasturtium foliage (which I love), although I never seem to make more than a few flowers. I think my soil is too rich.

Feeling your pain, Carrie

Sorry, Linda. Must have been pretty cold there. Nasties usually will take a little light frost OK, but, like anything else, has it's limits.

dylancgc: Did you sow any hollyhocks?

Karen

Thanks everyone. I love that foliage to. I got some growing under grow lights, my backup plan, lol. So with the WS on the yonger plants and the inside plants I should (hope) I get an Nasturtium. : )

kqcrna yes i did sow a few. I don't know what was in the shade garden mix. The package is long gone.

My guess is that's hollyhock (the one in the knautia cell), but it's a sun plant, not shade.

Karen

I believe that you are correct on the corn cockle. Looks just like mine (thanks rebecca).

The Knautia? wasn't in the shade mix, it was in one of my WS jugs that was labeled Knautia.

The plant in the shade mix that is on the lower right, it now has white spots on it, any ideas now?

Thanks for the id s

OK, gotta try the smiley face. I've been wanting to know how to do that. ^_^

Did it work?

Yay!

Here are some pics from my WS containers. I think all the seeds washed into the edges of the containers, except for my one milk jug. I think I like the milk jug and half-gallon milk cartons better than all the water bottles and margarine cups. The margarine cups just seem to stay too wet regardless of how many drainage holes I put in them, and the water bottles are just too small.

My babies are still so tiny!

I started these Lupine inside the same day, from the same seed packet & same soil, and here is how they compare:

Seeds grown inside under lights do germinate faster, and early growth is faster. But your wintersown ones will catch up fast after planting out, sometimes surpassing the indoor ones.

I agree, milk jugs are the best. I do use a few styro cups ( 12 or 16 oz.) in an underbed storage box for things I just want to grow a plant or two of. Generally, they don't do nearly as well as those in my gallon milk jugs. Every year I say I won't do cups again, but I do a few. You'd think I'd learn by now.

Nothing beats gallon milk jugs. Those I grow in jugs always do best for me, without a question.

Karen