Seandor, You poor thing!!! Believe it or not, you are stil at the easy part. The planting out is the hard part! Thank your lucky stars for your planned work day!!
Tab, Same thing happened to me on the Salvias. Yvonne's Salvia is a different kind, a different species, than the other Salvias you've sown and takes longer. At least 14 days, maybe closer to 20.
Lala_J, The stuff on the Four O'Clocks looked more like brown Jello to me. If we're talking about the same thing, that's the seed coat dissolving before germination. Isn't it neat? I first saw it a few years back when I was weeding around some that were self-sowing and was totally repulsed. LOL!
Dryad, I have done lasagne beds both ways, summer and winter, and in winter nothing happens. There really is no decomposition going on until it warms up. The best I could hope for was that all the layers got wet and stayed wet. When and if you sink a shovel in there, the worms are everywhere! I attributed this to three things: They are warmer under the cardboard in early spring, but cooler in summer so they are closer to the surface and they are safer from birds and other predators because they are under the cardboard. Either of those towo things makes it orgy-time. Or I guess it could be they just like the taste of cardboard and it brought more into the area, and then it was orgy-time. In anycase, it will be worm-i-cide every time you go to plant something because you can't help but slice into a few.
On the Echinacea, I started some special ones Wind sent to me in the swap. E. pallida, I think. They are small, growing slowly, and taking up too much space uner lights. The rest of the Echies and outside and ungerminated.
Gotta run and get some leaves up off my Heucheras, ferns and other woodland plants before the rain.
Suzy
Join Us! Seed Swap Seed Starting & Conversation #6
I think the worms like the heat from the leaves too and like to eat on them :) I put coffee grounds on top of my leaf beds to attract them but I think they would be there anyway then I have the nice robins fluffing the leaves up for me lol Then the crabgrass starts to grow again because the robings uncover it even with cardboard down or newspaper by the spring the robins can get under that.
I take it back about my shelves I thought I had two plantstands with four shelves but only one I had intended on making a couple more shelves last year but didn't do it.
I took some pictures of my seedlings, but I messed up and put them in the same Albums as all my other pictures.
If you can stand it, go here and pass through the first 20 pictures to see my seedlings.
http://community.webshots.com/user/Sweezy40/albums/most-recent?vhost=community
Suzy
Ha! what makes you think we didn't want to see your other plants too that was quite a show I really enjoyed it but you need to come and sit beside me so you can tell me what little seedling are what I couldn't recognize them lol Your geraniums really looked nice and I think I saw some hibiscus seedlings and the cannas looked good too I'm just too chicken to start mine yet but I guess I could go ahead and start the nicking game and soaking I only have one seed that I really want to try of the canna and it's for the neighbor LOL There was one with big light green leaves what was that?
Hey! No fair! I spent 1/2 hour writing those captions in DOS or HTML or something very slow.
The captions are on the bottom -- but they won't appear in the slideshow. Go to the thumbnails and make the photo big by clicking on it . The name is at the bottom, but you might have to scroll down, it is way at the bottom.
Suzy
Enjoyed looking at all of your seedlings, Illoquin! You have quite a range of thriving little green babies for your garden!
Now I'm wondering if it's time to sow my 'Bishop's Children' Dahlia seeds to place under lights? Anyone know?
Wind--yes, for the lasagna bed you layer on top of the grass with card board or newspapers and organic matter. Check out the Composting Forum for lots of discussion about different ways to approach building one. Be careful that the straw that you use is weed seed free. I learned the hard way on that and hereafter I pay a little more and buy it from the landscaping company.
Tab, I am going to use 4 weeks on the Dahlias. They get very tall under the lights, and if yours are in the basement, whet could happen is you get so nbusy outside you forget about the few things in the basement and they dry out or grow so fast they hit the lights and keep going.
Keep in mind they like HEAT. Just because you have reached your last frost does not mean they can go out. The nighte need to be reliably in the 50s. HERE, that means May 1, so I would sow mine on April 1, or maybe a week sooner, but no more than that.
Suzy
LOL I didn't know that :) I'll look again :) When I get my camera up and running I just hope I can do something like that I'm not comuter savy like some people on here LOL Any day now the neighbor girl is suppose to come over and help me with my camera then I can show you babies, I can't wait but you know how teenagers are :) I just wish I had enough brains to figure it out by myself really I need patients more none of that either!
t, It should be close enough to start your dahlias I would think but Suzy could probably tell you better we don't have that much longer to go until we can start putting them out. I think she said it took like 17 days or something like that for them to come up?
The things is, you guys are a lot earlier than I, and your soil temperatures are a lot warmer a lot sooner than mine, so I have no idea except to tell youwhat I'm doing and what my dates are.
I also have to hold stuff back because of the lack of space under lights.
Suzy
Illoquin, regarding planting out . . . I am having a pajama party at my place May 10th, everyone is welcome to come (already have other DG members coming) and we are going to plant out the terrace! Helpers get to take left over plants home.
See? I tried to think of everything. The only complication is that May 10 falls on the weekend for Mother's Day, but alas, we leave May 13 for 2 weeks in BC, so it had to be May 10.
That means in April DH and I have to create the gardens so that everything is ready in time. I am hoping the city will chip in compost, and maybe gravel for the paths. I figure it will take a month to get the gardens ready.
tabasco, my Yvonne's Salvia are germinating (started yesterday, green and starting to look like seedlings today) and I started them on 3-9. I didn't have directions for them, but followed the directions that were on the packages of S.coccinea I sowed the same day. They said they needed light, and to surface sow and firm seed down onto medium. They all started germinating yesterday.
I was just wondering about Dahlias too. I think its about time to get started with them, but I'm dreading trying to deal with their height (that they achieve quickly!). I stupidly started some species dahlias some time back, and waited way to long to transplant them because I didn't want to monopolize all that space for them. Went ahead and got them transplanted yesterday and pinched them back too.
I had every intention of getting Bishops Children this year, but I don't believe any of the vendors I ordered from had them. Where did you get yours tabasco? Victoriana, mixed colors and Giant Decorative mixed colors are what I did get.
Hmm...I guess its about time to do marigolds too. I think they'll do well in the little greenhouse thingy after they're transplanted.
Very well done on your Yvonne's Salvia's, gemini. : ) I thought I was going to have to get some, and get them going for everybody. Seems everybody else is having a problem with them. One of these days, I'll have to get some seeds from you. K? : )
Suzy, your flowers were so pretty, and your babies are looking good. Thanks for showing us. : )
Here's a picture of my little Mountain laurel. I'm so proud of it. : )
~Lucy
Oh Lucy, he's beautiful! I just finished some more jugs to put out in the rain now on to doing seed trays to plant tonite :)
I'm out the door to do some weed killing around an old stump. My cypress vines are gonna want their new home pretty soon. : )
Ha! I'm catching up before this is a 2 day read for me!
I'm going to try and go through the stash one last time tonight and figure out exactly what I can't live without this year. Then the rest is getting bagged up and popped into the fridge and (hopefully) forgotten until next winter.
Suzy I don't think we're talking about the same thing on the 4 o'clocks. This stuff looks like honest-to-goodness perlite. It even crumbled between my fingers like perlite. I got seeds from 3 different people and they all had it....this mysterious, white, crumbly, powdery, styrofoam stuff that fell off as the leaves opened. I have some more about to open and I'll see if I can get a better picture of it. I kind of thought this was something that everyone who grew 4'oclocks knew about, and me being the new kid on the block was just learning. Now I have to go do some research and see if I can figure out what this stuff is.
Carry on kids.
Well, I looked up Salvia splendens (the sort that some think is Yvonne's) and it said 7 to 21 days and irregular germination, so I have a few days yet until giving them the pitch. And I haven't had them on the heat mat the whole time and maybe they are in a sulk about that! It's a bit cold-ish in the basement where I moved my seed starting operation the other night.
I think I got my Bishop's Children Dahlias from Parks and you can have the rest of the packet, Gem, if you want them.
Very handsome looking mountain laurel, blueglancer. Good luck with that!
Rain, rain, go away! We are water-logged and the river is very high.
OMG-I am gone for 12 hrs and look at all I had to read!!LOL
I have 3 var. of echie I plnted (4 seeds each) of White Swan, Sunrise and a fun one guspuppy sent me that just happened to come up in her garden over the last coule years w/ huge purple flowers tipped in white. I have 10 of the 12 seeds up-they were in my little sterlite GH-hehehe
For the lasagne bed, what if I did newspaper, then grass (yes we still have some in our garage from last year) and straw?? would that work in 2 layers and then soil on top-I don't want it raised, just level with the ground??
I will take a pic of my puny seedlings that I have taken out from cover tomorrow to post!! Even DH now looks every day to see what new came up!!
Fairy, I think it would be best to consult with the composters on that forum. They really know their 'stuff' if you get my drift!
Lea-Thanks for the seeds! Can't wait to try them!
When we have made new beds for clients we have used cardboard boxes as a base in tough areas-then load on compost and loam-it has worked out very well!
I planted a flat of petunias today (silver tidal wave and balcony) and half a flat of thai basil, black from tula tomatoes, chocolate bell and jimmy nardelo peppers.
I will start more stuff once I see how these do..(hopefully the kitty can't get into my sprouting box..a large cardboard box with fencing over the top..)
This message was edited Mar 15, 2008 8:09 PM
I'm planting my salvias tonite, I only got two seeds from my blue saphire that I had last year and one has the fuzzy stuff around it in the H202 so I'm excited I may get one to plant this year that salvia was soo pretty and my black and blue seeds are doing the same last year I didn't get any germination or reaction from them keep your fingers crossed for me :) I have several other salvias I'm starting but those two are the ones I really want.
I had a splish splash geranium come up downstairs too 8^) I just planted it the 12th :) This is what makes all that hard work worth it LOL I feel like I'm getting a slow start today but it took me 4 hours to water everything this morning then doing the jugs so I guess I'm on track? lol It hasn't rained since I took my last jugs out to be watered. I have about 30 out there.
Lea you water your WS jugs in the winter? This is only my 2nd year, so I'm still learning but I thought we could just ignore them until spring? That's how I did it last year....only watering them when it started getting warm. Should I be paying more attention to them now?
I just saw this link o another post and thought we should have it here:
http://www.frsa.org/plateindex.htm
Color plates of garden seeds!!!
No La, I leave the jugs out in the rain when I cut them in half and fill them with dirt, once I've planted them I don't worry about them :) I just don't have the patients to wait for them to soak up water so I stick them out in the rain LOL
I really like that idea you can see the seeds a lot better!
Hi everyone. I've been busy with a second job I've started, between my husband being laid off for a third month (because his job's seasonal) and the higher cost of necessities I have decided I need to make some extra money. I am so behind on seed starting and I plan on catching up tomorrow. I have not read all the posts yet but I was looking at Suzies pictures and I would like to know what this is - http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2572479460099094864emeYPW I had a lot of seedlings that looked like that last year and I wasn't sure if they were something I wanted or if weed seeds blew into my containers.
Flower - I hope your pineapple sage cuttings make it. I would love one if you have enough. Iwould be glad to give you something if I have anything you would like.
Okay I'm going to finish reading now.
Oh that link forthe seed images is great - thank you!
Suzy, that's a great site! I see images can be used "with permission"... maybe Dave can contact them on our behalf when the propagation database gets rolling for a little quid pro quo.
Meredith, I'm seeing a few like that popping up in my daylily pots now... I know I didn't sow them, and I'm guessing "weed," but they could also be from a nearby Black-Eyed Susan. They're getting pulled out of the way of those DL seedlings, though! :-)
Meredith,
I don't know what it is!!! It wasn't what the tag said FOR SURE it wasn't. I took the photo to send to the ID Forum and the pic was just on the camera all fall, winter up to now.
Let me post it and see what they say.
Suzy
Cross posting -- No, Not Black Eyed Susans - those are always hirsuite (hairy), but it is probably from the Aster family. It could be a daisy, or it could be a weed in the Aster family. :)) I just posted to the ID forum.
Hmm. I get a fair number of those in my containers, and my daisies are a good hundred feet or more away... You're right though about the BES being hirsute from the get-go -- I'd forgotten that!
I think I had been hoping they were Verbena stricta, I had tried these seeds and I didn't get any germination by mid summer so I used the extra soil in the pots I used to pot up other seedlings. Then I noticed a bunch of seedlings that look like that growing so I was not sure if they were weeds or if the verbena just takes that long to sprout. They are a late season bloomer so I thought it might make sense. So if they are a weed they must be a perennial or biennial weed, because they never got flowers last year. I have so many darn weeds in my yard. The people that used to live here were basically trash collecters and didn't take care of the yard at all! All the neighbors that walk by are always commenting on how nice the yard looks compared to before. And I still think it's a mess, so that's saying a lot! Lol
............quick interjection here.....
Has anybody sown Castor Beans? I thought by the size and shape that I should soak them, but after fewer than 8 hours, they sprouted a strange appendage I can only assume is the radical.
I want to sow these in a 6" azalea pot -- will they be easy to transplant? Was I supposed ot soak them? Is the appendage a radical? It is blunt, more like it's sticking it's tongue out, than sprouted a tail.
Suzy
I don't know Suzy, but I know they are easy to come up naturally, because my MIL had one, and now she has a bunch. They are easy to transplant. I just planted one that was rooted through a pot, into the ground, and I broke off alot of the roots. It's doing fine.
Okay, then I should be fine. Unless I killed them by soaking, which I doubt. I have more seeds, but the pack said to sow Feb or March inside. (?)
Thanks, L:ucy
Suzy
It's warm down here, bring your polka-dot bikini. : )
Did you see the forecast? It will be in the LOW 70s all next week! With partyly cloudy skies, to boot!
LOL! I htought I was going to need my bikini and short shorts, and it looks like I'll be wearing jeans and a tee shirt!
Suzy
My forecast says low 80's all week. May rain Weds.
WOW sounds like those castor beans are going to sprout fast, I wonder how fast they grow? I think that's one I'll be sowing where I want them to come up.
I was planting my salvia seeds that I had soaking and guess what was sprouted one black & blue salvia, gosh I hope he makes it! I planted 24 seeds lol Just hoping to get one! Everybody talks about this plant, I'm excited, I may actually get one 8^)
Oh you all, we'll be back home freezing probably! Suzy you'll be having such a good time hitting the nurseries and bringing home those goodies you'll forget the weather LOL