winter sowing lessons for next year #7

Lissa, With my hostas and daylilies I am printing info from plantfiles then stapling a pic either out of a catalog or mag to the sheet and add notes and then Terasa is showing me how to do a spread sheet so I will have both. I found a few hostas that are not in PF so hope to put them in this spring. BEV
With one of the hosta I printed it off last yr and it is not in there now. Must talk to Dave.

From just playing with a picture in Excel here is a quick synopsis: after your picture has been inserted, click on the picture and little dots will show up around it (allows you to move the picture around and resize, etc). On the top toolbar, click on "format" and then select "picture" from the drop downs. Another window will pop up with different options. Click on "properites" and there is an option to move the picture with the cells. I think this will work.

Since I am a very visual person as well, you can bet that I'll be playing with this over the winter! Gotta love those spreadsheets!

>>With my hostas and daylilies I am printing info from PlantFiles then stapling a pic either out of a catalog or mag to the sheet and add notes

Bev -- i was considering doing this if i ever went to do a catalog of sorts in a binder. Havent gotten that far yet.
I was hoping to do that with my hostas ... as that is much more of an investment than my seeds are.

Hope the spreadsheet is working for you. I do believe Jimbo [oldest DS] has it on his laptop ... though he also has Office, so i doenst use WORKS. So if you ever need help again... drop me a note.

Ugggg, it is just so cold. I want to get WS'ing, but i have to think about baking holiday cookies and getting my Cards in the mail.

I think i just need to get some priorities in order .... my 'things to do list' is more a mental thing and i need to put it in writing... that is the only way i get anything done.

Thanks Michelle, I will try it out too, and keep playing.

I hate being cold. I lived in Tucson for 14 or so years. I loved that.. barely a winter at all. Although I didn't garden then, I think I would enjoy it now.

Terasa, Me and you must be a lot alike. I have Daylily and canna seeds soaking. About three of each are ready to plant. I have been getting my tray of seed starter soaked so can put one in every time one pops. I am sowing red yucca and hostas in the same tray. I am not going to bite off more than I can chew this yr. I grow mine in my aquarium in just one long cube tray and when big enough will put them in plastic cups. Hope you all have fun with yours. I am not doing any outside this yr altho I should have planted some hosta seed out there. They did good last yr. I haven't started my spreadsheet yet but will soon. One for hostas and one for daylilies. BEV

OK -- i've got a question....

in the Cottage Garden thread [the piggy seed swaps] we have been talking about 'soaking seeds'

here is what started it all:

I do winter sowing and have never soaked my seeds and haven't had any problems.

I WS too--and have never soaked any seeds--and never had any mold. Our winters here on the Cape are cold-ish, but not overly so ( by NE standards.)

remember - you are sowing the seeds in saturated soil. The soil will freeze and thaw - that is enough to soften the shell around the seed.

OK... i gotcha on the freeze thaw thing for the reason NOT to soak....

but what about the 'bacteria' thing? or i just shouldnt worry about it?

I wouldn't worry about it. If she was just soaking in water, then that would not do a thing to kill any bacteria.

terese: I don't know. I gotta say my yard is packed with wintersown plants from three years. And I do mean packed, as in it's hard to find a spec of dirt by late summer, and I think they seem healthier than in most gardens. And I don't soak anything. I sometimes lose a plant, but who doesn't? Most times it's human error (like lack of watering) or other natural forces (wind).

After having spent countless years in science classes over 30 years ago, I now have trouble retrieving anything I learned through the cobwebs in my brain. But I do remember from microbiology that not many microbes can survive long without moisture, air (OK, there are a few anerobes), all the things any organism needs. If seeds are dried well, stored for months, rehydrated when sown, subjected to repeated freeze/thaw cycles, exposed to UV rays (sunshine), how many organisms could survive? And I think that any organism that can be destroyed (oxidation) by peroxide would probably only require a quick spray, not an overnight soaking in a bowl of peroxide water. Just my opinion, not offered as scientific fact.

I don't soak seeds in H2O2 or anything else, I just sow them and stick outside in the snow. As long as this works for me I'm unlikely to change my routine. After having your seeds mold after soaking, I'd guess it would be hard to convince yourself to repeat, too. Untill I see evidence of a need to soak to kill anything , I don't plan to change anything. If it ain't broke, it doesn't need fixed in my book.

Karen

Anita -- sorry -- the gal soaks in H202

Karen -- thanks for that explanation. I'll just stick to what i've been doing... and if i happen to do a bit of indoor sowing [which may be harder now since we just got a cat] i'll have the H202 in a spray bottle.

It appears she is not only soaking in water, but also using peroxide or chlorix. I have heard of doing that with iris corms.

If you wanted to soak them you could do it for a very short time (hour or two) before planting and then they wouldn't mold. If you winter sow you are putting them in wet soil or direct sowing you water them right away.

I will continue to winter sow and not worry about the soaking part. The fewer steps I have to make the happier I am and the resulting plants are very healthy.

I do get aphids on some of my roses, but that is a totally different story.

tcs we cross posted.

This message was edited Jan 4, 2009 8:07 AM

>>I do get aphids on some of my roses, but that is a totally different story.

LOL zen... and i know it's not a laughing matter, but the way you changed subjects was....

I used to get aphids too .. but years ago i read that planting lavender next to or near your roses keeps the aphids away... i did that 3 yrs ago, and i can't recall any aphids any more... i still get the dreaded Jap Beetles though.
I wonder... do Mantis eat JB's ?? maybe i can invest in some of those....

but i did get Neem Oil this year... i may try that too.

thanks for your response on the soaking .... and yes... KISS. the less steps the better....

tcs, I was just stating opinion, not fact or advice. I am a lazy gardener, no extra steps if I don't need them.

Karen

I do tend to jump around a bit don't I. I have ADHD most of my friends can follow my train of thought. It takes others a while to figure out what is going on.

I will try the lavender. Lavender doesn't over-winter here. Munster is reported to, but I try every year and so far haven't gotten any to make it. The thing I have found that works the best for me on aphids is powdered lemonade mixed to full strength and sprayed on the whole plant including the undersides of the leaves. It smells good to. I read about it in a household remedy book.

I don't have luck with lavender either. My clay just holds too much water through winter and spring.

Karen

zen... my Lav limps a long each year... it is planted right next to my foundation, which may bump it to a zone 6
I will ahve to look up what type it is... it's a dwarf is all i recall... but i do know [since i've been on Daves] I have talked about it, and i know i posted the name... [as i had once found the tags] ...

Mine more lays on the ground ... doesnt really grow upright. is the grayish foliage, and i do find it blooms late. more Fall blooms than anything.

I do not have a lot of experience with Lav... as all the others i've planted have croaked... even WS'ed plants.

Karen -- I too find i'm a lazy gardener... the quicker i can get a job done, then sit back and relax and enjoy it... the better it is. Though weeding does not bother me, unless the soil is like a rock... so i have to wait until after it rains to weed.

I find WS'ing tedious .. so the quicker i can get it done the better... I just like the end result.

Terese

this is not the best shot... as the photo was of my rose bush, i just happened to capture some of the Lav... but you can see... it does not get "tall" but more "ramble".

I purchased 3 or 4 of these... can't recall -- 3 i think... parts have keeled due to root rot, and one of them has spread a bit... i do not know if it were from seed that it spread, or like it rooted from a part that was laying on the ground. [do they call that layering??]

anyhooo -- if it keep the aphids from my roses, that's all i care about. plus they smell nice.

uggggg, would help if i attached the image...

oh -- this photo was taken the end of May.


This message was edited Jan 4, 2009 8:53 AM

I like that lavender, I wonder if it would make it in zone 4 away from the house? Being in the city proper it is a bit warmer than other parts of zone 4 so I do get a few zone 5 plants growing.

zen -- it may take a while... but i'll figure out what that is.

Zen -- i think it's Dwarf Munstead ... i do think i have one of the plant cards out in the flower bed... but not 100% sure, and it's been there 3-4 yrs, so not sure what condition it's in.

Maybe the Munstead will make it this winter, if not I will look for the Dwarf variety. I just realized my spell check changed Munstead to Munster earlier.

Zen... when i was doing my search ... i never found a thread where i had the exact Lav ... but i had checked the Garden Centers Lavender... that is what they had listed for Dwarf.... AND, ,when i saw the link to Daves PF, it had it hardy to only 7.

so i have no idea what the heck i have ... jsut a Dwarf.

I think i need to look for one that is hardy to about 3 or 4. I do have quite 'dry' soil out back ... i think it stays 'damper' by the foundation, that is why i had some rot in the past.

Terese

Terese, The Munstead I have planted for the last 4 or 5 years says it is hardy to zone 4b yet I have never gotten it to live. Maybe I have been planting it in the wrong place. It is in one end of my rose garden and now that I think of it that end hasn't gotten the aphids that the other end has. The rose garden doesn't have the driest soil in the yard.