Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #26

I don't *think* that one is Nepeta cataria (the kitty crazy species), but you might double check...

According to PF, 'Pink Dreams' is a catmint not a catnip variety (different species) http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/168108/.

Ok, confused again. Whjat the differenc ebetween a catmint and a catnip. Aren't they both for kitties?

Most cats will ignore catmint. Catnip is the one that gets a big reaction (except for a few kitties who just don't care about any type of Nepeta).

Thanks Critter. That a big relief. : )

Lea, so glad to hear that your Dad is feeling better, and getting accustomed to the change. Change is the hardest thing to accept. What is with his DR? I'd be camping out waiting for him by now. Hang in there! : )
Cindy, I didn't send out much seed but I am glad to know that my fellow piggies are putting smiles on faces! Your post put a big old smile on mine. HUGS!
I'm enthralled with sprouts as I think every craves fresh greens this time of year. Thanks for all the posts on the subject! : )
Never thought of germinating seeds in the toilet tank. On top of DH's toilet is usually covered with plants.
My Kalanchoe seems to thrive on benign neglect. The one in the corner of the greenhouse is currently covered in blooms and has bloomed several times. It doesn't get direct water, but seems to thrive on the condensation. I usually ignore them.
I sowed my Lupine (Texas BlueBonnet) outside in a couple of different locations, today (yes, I took photos). I have some mixed Lupine I'll be planting tomorrow. Yes, some are going into paper cups. Poppies are next, although I won't know until they bloom what kind they are. Surprises are good!
I am so far behind on WS'ing. I do finally have all the seed listed (Like 194 seed packages) and am doing research still to figure out when to plant in my zone. I am going to make more tags and clean some more containers, and soak some seed tonight, and get back on it tomorrow.
DH, Spirit and I took a long walk on the farm today. It is looking so pretty and green. One of my favorite wildflowers is sprouting it's a form of native Chamomile aka Pineapple weed. See Photo.
I have sprouts coming up of the B.fly mix, and the Window Box mix. I have so much to do!
I don't know who sent the "Farewell to Spring" seed, but it is one I really wanted, and had forgotten it's name. Thanks for the nice Surprise! : )
Has anyone else had a problem with this thread? I mark it as unread and it keeps disappearing and I have to go find it again in the Cottage Gardening forum. It's probably just me. : |
Missed you guys! : )
WIB,
SW

SW, I've never used the "mark as unread" feature before but I just tested it twice on this thread and it worked for me. I usually just watch the thread and people post so often it appears on my homepage 90% of the time.

It's fun to see the new seedlings coming up. Gives you hope that spring is near!

SingingWolf... I'd LOVE to see a current photo of Spirit, if you have one.

and I know this is totally OT... but did you all see defoecat's adorable Jackabee babies??
nothing like a basket of puppies.



This message was edited Jan 25, 2009 7:47 PM

Nope I missed the basket of puppies. Where is it?
However, I took a lot of photos of my buddy Spirit today, and I have a great one to share of him watching me plant some lupine at a site DH suggested, note the drip line. I chose to plant in places that are naturally damp along the water courses. I had pointed out to DH that the ones still remaining in the wild are growing up next to the road where they don't disc up the wildflowers.
The 'mark as unread' is working fine today. Go figure! : )
I finally posted an Apache story about "The Legend of the Wolves", today on my blog if anyone is interested. I promised someone a while ago to do it, but made time today to keep that promise. Enjoy!
Since traditionally winter is story telling time, I hope to share others with you in the coming days.
WIB,
SW

OH heavens... is Spirit adorable!! I love the coloring.

here's the basket of joy ... ok, bouncy joy
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/945994/
it just screams puppy love.

He is a sweetie! Didn't even try to dig up my lupine! Could brag all day on him. Here's another shot of my intrepid pup, getting ready to jump a steep slope into the dry creek.
WIB,
SW

Anyone else have directionally challenged Geraniums?

I started most of mine in the little biosponges from ParkSeed. I tried to plant them completely horizontal, so they'd have a choice which way to go (since I can't tell the 'down' end of these seeds) The silly things seem to have a 50% chance of sending the root up instead of the leaves! Too fragile to turn over, tried that.

Didn't have this problem last year, but no heat mat or lights last year either. Guess maybe that confused them somehow?

Starlight, got your package. Thank you! I'm planting the second attempt at 'splish splash' in regular soil, so they should be easier to turn over if they get confused ;-)

Kelly, I wintersowed hardy geraniums last year and noticed some doing that when they first emerged. I didn't bother them and they righted themselves. Some of the seedlings had oddly twisted little stems, but they did just fine.

Whew! Y'all are BUSY! Neal, I remember last year we all seemed to be sprouting snaps at the same time, and were surprised that anything that seemed to be just a stick could survive! They eventually do sprout real leaves though...

As for the tobacco - I'd have said the same thing as Critter - they teach that in the Master Gardener class and that's the only place I'd ever heard anything about it, so I always tell smokers to not pitch their butts in a garden, and to wash their hands before gardening. Oh well - since I'm not a smoker, what the heck?

I got to see LeBug on Friday!!!! She lives close to my sis, turns out it's just about an hour away, so I swung down to spend a few hours with her before heading up to sis's house for the weekend. I won't blab personal stuff, but I will say her house is adorable, her seed starting arrangement puts mine to absolute shame, and her yard is, well - it's a botanic garden. I couldn't begin to tell you all the plants she has, how nicely they're organized, and how healthy they all are (yep, it's obvious even in the dead of winter...). She's a full zone south of me, so she's got things starting to pop up and show life already....sigh..... My entire yard, front and back, would fit into her front yard. Her yard really should be on a Garden Tour stop.

OK, I'm off to make note of what's sprouted and where the seeds came from so's I can let my fellow piggies know how well the babies are doing! I also got a shot of sis's new puppy - she got a little boy pembroke corgi - he's great! Her one year old pit bull thinks she got the puppy just for her - it's a hoot to watch the two of them play together. Tiny (the pit bull) will lay down and play tug of war with him (his name's Tater), and then get all excited and start chewing on his ear - but she really seems to understand that he's a puppy so her chewing ends up being just slobbering all over him. He's relentless - hangs off her cheek and ears with those little needle puppy teeth, and she puts up with all of it. Sorry this is so OT - here's a pic of the two of them playing and then I promise to shut up :-)

Robin... adorable critters. I just LOVE corgies... and when i saw those lil legs - that was my guess until i read the end of the post... what a cutie. there is one up in our park in Wisc... his name is "Biggens". didnt see him much last year, but he was a huge hit in the dog park when he was a pup.

Morning all!

Someone sent me ginseng seeds but I have no clue what they are. They don't look like the regular ginseng. Does somebody know which seeds these could be?

In Kentucky its pronounced Gee-un-sang, LOL.

Robin, I'm hoping this warmer spot for my snaps will help them along a little faster. Last year mine weren't big enough to plant out till the end of May- that's why I got an extra early start on them this year. We were also in a terrible financial position last year and I couldn't justify buying fertilizer, so I'm sure that attributed to their slowness too. This year I'm prepared, got some organic fertilizer from a clearance wrack at Lowes in fall.

Got about a dozen more containers wintersown this morning- I'm on a roll! I'm out of containers again, but only about a dozen short.

I got some too. They came from Singing Wolf and I don't knwo hwo to germinate mine either. Everythign I read up on them has me more confused than ever.

Ohhhhhhhh puppies. All over the place. Love em all!!!!!!!!!

Loved your article too by the way SW. How so true that is. Thansk for the lesson. : )

Wait....SW wrote an article and I missed it?? Gotta go looking...

Tuink, I just searched PlantFiles and noticed there are 3 other genera besides Panax listed under ginseng:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/search.php?q=ginseng&Search=Search+PlantFiles

Wish I could help Tuink, but I don't know nuthin' about ginseng...other than it's supposed to be good for you....fat lotta help that is.

SW article is on her homepage garden blog area.

Tuink we gona have to wait til SW gets her totell you, me and the others that oinked it from her.

OH! Well, that makes sense Star...thank you.

OK, here's what I've got sprouted so far: bachelor buttons and some no ID phlox from LeBug; Creeping thyme from Lala, and Forget-me-nots from Neal. The pansies and paper flowers that have sprouted are from commercial seed, and the Johnny-Jump-Ups are from Weezie's seed from last year.

Fresh Greens!!!!!! Let me get my scissors and give them new seedlings a hair cut as it lunch time. Would look good sitting on a snadwhich. LOL Lookign good there. : )

Yeah :-) Those gotta get repotted today and under different lights!

Ok, the LeBug family pups are beautiful! Makes me miss my Blessing, 1/2 pit & 1/2 Dalmation. The most patient creature on the planet. It's been over two years, and I still grieve her passing.

Back on topic. I'm not sure really how to start the ginseng. Mine have fleshier leaves than the ones shown on the hyperlink. Here is what they do like. Warm temps, rich, damp soil, and thrive in full sun to partial shade, also seems to like the humidity in the green house. EB#! grew his outdoors where it is arid. I've never tried to cultivate them, they grow like weeds in the green house. I would expect they will germinate in a couple of weeks given the right conditions. WS'ing with a light covering over the seed should do the trick. This is a native variety my brother brought home. Since the seed is so small, I'd just scatter it over the top of the soil in your WS container, cover it with a light sand/soil mix, and bottom water it. It will grow. I do think it requires the rich, damp soil. You can transplant, but is best to do when they are small. (about 2" tall). If they are happy, they will spread like crazy. To avoid self seeding remove the seed balls or dead head. To capture the seed, use that clever little seed bag LynnWeidmann sent. Or collect on paper like I did. The roots are used in medicines, and the bigger(older) the root the more valuable it is. It is a prolific self-seeder.
Now you know about everything I do about the Ginseng.

About the blog. I didn't write it, I repeated the story I'd been told as a child and was reminded of recently. I don't know who originally told the story (I've heard different variations over the years), as it has been handed down orally for generations. I am glad that you enjoyed it, Star, and I do have more to share. As I said, these are stories I've learned and I am repeating them, not creating them. I give credit when I know the source.

Well, I promised myself that I'd go ahead and get some Direct seed sowing done today, and work on some winter sowing too. I just realized I forgot to soak some seeds last night and can't plant those until tomorrow, Rats! : (
It's alright, I probably planned to do too much today anyway.

WIB,
SW

ergh... soaking seeds - I KNEW I forgot to do something today.....

Edited to say: those pups are from someone in the ORVG, not LeBug...

This message was edited Jan 26, 2009 3:19 PM

Robin -- I think SW meant your sisters pups... as she mentioned missing her 'half pit'

But yes... the basket of Mr B's pups are adorable.

You know, I'm so confused, I probably did think they were LeBug's pups, but thanks for setting me straight Robin, and tcs1366. Paw in mouth disease tastes bad. Tell your sister congrats on the new family member.
They are darling pups!
Still yanking weeds, and devils' grass so my baby piggy seeds have somewhere to live. Still can't find my son's cats who decided to split a couple of days ago. Son is sad. Cats demand affection but reserve the right to come and go as they please. I hope they will come back, and make my son happy again.
WIB,
SW

Sorry to hear the cats are on an extended vacation - they can sure be single-minded, can't they?

I just got a bunch of little sprouts redone into some bigger containers, and got some Columbine into some little seed trays and in baggies, and in the garage fridge. Now I just have to remember to check on them - LOL! I love pansies and Johnny Jump Ups, but hate the hassle of keeping them dark....here's hoping that laying newspaper on them will do the trick without wicking too much water off....

Robin, I've been experimenting with Pansies and Violas. Half I covered the pots for darkness, and the other half I just covered with a light layer of potting mix. They're both germinating equally well thus far, so I don't think I'll hassle with covering the pots anymore.

dryad and Gemini, are you soaking the Pansies and Viola seed before you start them? I'm getting ready to plant them next. I'm trying hard to plant first the things I usually see come up first. Right now I've the SweetPeas in soaking and Lupine planted (except the ones I'm going to plant in the paper cups). I was hoping to direct seed the Poppies today, but ran out of time. The sun went behind the clouds, and it is only (gasp) 54 degrees out there. Makes my chest hurt, so I quit for today.
I'll work on some other chores and hope it is a little warmer tomorrow.
WIB,
SW

I didn't soak mine, but bottom watered with H2O2 solution. Seeds that size stick together when wet and it drives me crazy trying to disperse them evenly.

SingingWolf,
Rest my friend cause weather not playing our way here we susposed to warm up but never got past 40 , I am so dissapointed was hoping at least for 60 . So our warmth is waiting. Wish I got paid to tell weather cause my bones tell me not gonna be good, guess I should be thankful for old bones lol. Was looking for sunshine instead got rain lol but okay have had no rain that was needed in our area for years sure hope can get the garden going this year and all the flowers be awesome. Then we be smiling all the way home.
Blessing's
Carolyn

I don't soak pansies or violas. And for some reason I just don't want to believe that covering them a bit with dirt is the equivalent to stopping the light - LOL! Like Neal, I bottom-water with an H2O2 solution. (If I run out of H2O2 then I brew up a batch of chamomile tea and put that in the water - seems to work just as well.)

Star just reminded me of the trick of using a toothpick to help sort out small dry seeds, and I bet a toothpick would work with picking up small wet seeds - but I've not tried it yet. I generally only soak the big seeds, or the ones that specifically call for it.

I think I was reading somewhere that Osteospermum need some sort of nicking or soaking, but when I looked at my DG Journal from last year I had started some without doing anything like that and they started fine for me. Does anyone else have Osteospermum that they're gonna start this year?

SW - stay indoors!! And if you want a really good weather program, google for Weather Watcher. It's free, and gives you all sorts of information. (You can also find it on www.majorgeeks.com - one of my favorite sites :> )

Me I got Osteosperums to sow and dont say nothign abotu nickign or soakign on any of the packages.

I just remember Suzy saying something about them last year - mostly because she wanted to make sure she had the right seeds and she described them as looking like little fried eggs. That's what made it so memorable - LOL! I'll go digging and see if I can find that post.

My turn! Here's what I've had germinate and from whom I received them:

6 Different Rudbeckias ... (Fairy's Autumn Colors are germinating better than the commercial seed hands down.) (Some one also sent me some Cappuccino, but there was no name on the bag and I forgot who I oinked them from.)

Petunias ... from many of you! (and they're all germinating like troopers)

Verbena ... I collected some myself and some were a gift from a fellow DGer (from Value Seeds)

Pentas ...Collected myself. These were an experiment, I had no idea what I was saving with these things. I saved 3 different colors...one came up like gangbusters and the other 2 were complete duds.

Crossandra ... Summer Hill

Coleus ... mine

Browallia ... I have these listed on my spread sheet as coming from "Last year's Sw-ap," but I think I requested some from Wind so I may have mis-entered them.

Cineraria ... Star

Corkscrew Vine ... gift from a fellow DGer

Abutilon ... Pamsue (last year)

Mimulus ... Weez (last year)

And Butterfly weed from Mygypsyrose ... I was thinking Milkweed took a long time to germinate but not those babies.

My coleus plants are overwintering much better than I expected which has left me tight on shelf space. I figure I've got a good 4-6 weeks before I dare move anything out to the greenhouse which means some of these babies are going to have to go into the 'cold room' where I'm keeping the ferns, begonias, and EEs. Soon I will be asking advice on which ones can take the cooler temps (I'm not sure just how cool it is, I'll have to get a thermometer in there) because of course I'll want to start more.

I've still not started my wintersowing, but I only plan on doing a few perennials this year. Hopefully I can get to that this weekend.

Haven't sown anything yet, haven't had the time. I feel quite sloppy but will catch up in a couple of weeks!

Singing Wolf, do you happen to have a picture of your ginseng? That may make it easier to determine which one it is......

Thanks!

OK -- can we talk sowing indoors on a heat mat?

I have one mat, and no lights... not getting any either .... but i have great windows that are southern exp.
2 yrs ago, i bought the one mat and a few 'flats'

I'm going to give it another stab this year too. [just hope the cat does not think it's a toy]

I read somewhere that once the seeds germinate to not use the heat anymore... is that true? in the past, i just left it plugged in.

Do you unplug at night, or leave it on 24/7 ?

I'd like to get some Echinacea going - so they have a good jump on the season. and a few others ... probably some coleus too.

any other helpful tips would be great...