First Time Winter Sowing #6 : There's still time!

I imagined that Miss Marta was french all this time. how cool to have her job. Jim, are you retired? Independantly wealthy and dont have to work?

I was raised on Army bases in Germany and France and we mostly shopped at the Commissary so I remember mostly canned veggies. brocoli, squash, cauliflower? never had those either. there was lots of pinto beans. but we did have fresh artichokes with a butter and garlic dipping sauce. and local bread that we walked to and picked our daily. i remember going to the market on Saturdays. and there was a truck that went thru the housing area that sold fresh veggies, tomatoes, bottled drinks. (sprudelwasser???) without the german characters) I remember raw oysters and eating bread dipped in wine and pate', cheeses, lots of bread and butter. but very little veggies.

i looked up parsnips, rutabagas and celeraic and it appears we should have planted rutabagas in the fall....that celeraic grows best from transplants, takes about 4 months, but I think I will try to grow parsnips.
and leeks, again.

we are due to have storms so I will find out if my seeds sink or swim. We've had snow since I put them out, but this is the first rain. Ive got 30 containers out now...more seeds to plant.

I have been out of town for three weeks due to an illness in the family and have not been able to check my WS containers. I sure hope they are perking ok! I am getting nervous.
Bonnie

Bonnie: My containers have been outside since I started in early December and they're all great. I'm sure yours are as well.

Angie

As long as the containers are getting some natural moisture they should be fine. I love the way you can just walk away from WS containers and let nature do its thing!

I agree Neal

Well I am up to 61 containers! YAY! I have 12 that have germinated so far. The little chia jugs are looking good. The sweet alyssum looked a little pale so I may move that one to the sun.

My problem is that I keep trading for more seeds, and I keep buying more seeds, and people keep sending me extra seeds!! I won't ever get them all sown. HA. oh well.

I got some cool pics of the little seedlings.

Here is a fun one of the red flax that is germinating right on the side of the plastic animal cracker jar. Those containers seem to be doing so well. It is fun for them to be clear and I can see everything that is happening inside without trying too hard. LOL.

Here is my red corn poppy forrest.

Lookin' great Lissa! Every one of those Wallflowers seems to germinate, looks like mine. I WS some last year too, and should see blooms this spring :-)

My red flax is just starting to germinate- I'm really excited about those!

I still need to sow my red flax. thanks for the reminder... i have 2 gal jugs left on the counter.
I'm sowing on commercials... watching LOST.

Speaking of Flax... i noticed a few weeks ago, when i was out back - before the last snow fall we had... there were Blue Flax seedlings.... YAY. I love the Blue ones... first thing i have blooming in the Spring.

My blue flax is sprouted too, now I shall have to get some red... lol

Lissa great photos! Definitely HOS material in those wallflowers, eh?

All my babies are right now under more than a foot of snow. That's fine........ snow is a great insulator. ;-)

I am going to sow a bunch more tomorrow and stick them out there to sink or swim or germinate or not, though I have my bets placed.

UMMMM.... yeah HOS. Turns out I have a heavy hand when seeding. I think it is still hard to believe that EACH seed could be ONE plant... remember I am new to this whole gardening thing. LOL. I have blue flax germinating too. They are an annual right? So I should get blooms this year?

I am entertaining myself here while DH and the kiddos watch exploding things on Mythbusters. I would be getting ready to watch AM Idol but we actually don't let the kids watch it, so DH and I watch it after they go to bed with a cup of hot cocoa.

Welcome to my life. hahahahaha


I did good today though, I sowed another 18 containers today...... woo hoo.

BLues are a Perennial and the sow freely..... meaning... lots of babies.

Man, I get that mixed up every time. So did you get flowers your first year with the blue?

Terese I plan to go out in the next day or so and direct sow my blue flax from you along with some california poppies and white lace flower. Then I am going to step back and let nature take control. That should turn out nicely I think. I also ordered some gentian blue larkspur and am not sure where I will sow it. I ws the red flax. Should I hos it or do each individual plant?

LissaD -- honestly , i dont know... i assume so, but i got them in a mix. yanno, as i think about it, if they are seedlings now, and duplicating like mad thru-out the year... i'd have to say yes they will bloom first year. I got them in a mix, and never really knew what they were until i looked them up this year.... though i did have them last year too.

Veronica -- my red flax also came in a mix. so i've never sown them before. they were all direct sown. I think it depends on whether or not you have 'chia pets' or if the seedlings are single. I've just sonw them this evening and only put 30 seeds in a gallon jug. we shall see how they turn out. If i can, I will try to do 'single' as they get sorta big on there own... and they nicely stand upright ... i dont think any of them fell over. Taller than the blue too, though i had them in different flower beds.

Lissa, my blue flax WS last year didn't bloom, but are returning now as the most perfect little bushy clumps! However I was late getting them planted, and we had a terrible drought, so they were probably delayed or stunted (some are far from where the hose will reach and got almost no watering). Mine stayed quite small last year. The good thing is they look wonderful this year, I guess they were growing more underground last year. And the really good thing is they can tolerate drought, even as babies! I think most of us sow heavily when embarking upon wintersowing. I remember thinking so many seeds would probably succumb to the elements, it just blew me away how many grew!

I think I read somewhere blue flax are a short lived perennial, but reseed freely. Terese, have you found that to be the case?

>>I read somewhere blue flax are a short lived perennial

That could be the case Neal .... LIke I've said - i really dont know much about them. They came in a mix that i put down in 2007 ... and i dont really recall them until last year - or at least they did not make a statement to where i noticed them ... but last year i had TONS of them and it was stunning ... I can definitely attest to the fact that they freely self sow.

Hi1 I planted the blue flax autumn before this and they came up readily--but I forgot what I'd done and pulled up all but one plant :(--but it took off nicely. I think it reseeds so well that even if short lived there are always more--at least I hope so! They are really lovely.

I love looking thru the T&M catalogue cos it has a symbol next to the perennial seeds that bloom the first year--then I can plant some that flower in the first year next to ones that won't flower this year but (hopefully) will look good together next year when they both bloom!

I don't even have a clue how to plant these things out yet. LOL. I am trying to keep straight annual and perennial, so that I will have something blooming in my yard. But then I just realized that some flowers bloom at different times. I was just trying to think of what it would look like if it all bloomed at the same time. Ha, oops I forgot that they probably wouldn't maybe I should add a category to my spreadsheet about bloom time....

yep Bloom time can make a difference to you. How sad if everything planted in one corner bloomed at same time so you have weeks left with no blossoms at all there.

Then there are some things that bloom all summer? SO much to keep track of! I am going to have such a hodge podge this year.

I think aside from annual and perennial, the other 2 important things to track are height and bloom time.
and i gotta admit, i rarely [though i really should] think about any of those things... .i say... hmmmm, open spot,. dig hole, stick plant in.

I do find if you have zinnias and marigolds in your flower bed, you will have something blooming most the year.... for me, it's finding that 'early' color.

once mid-June hits, i have full color til Oct and some things still blooming [though raggedly] in early Nov.

After last season... i have started thinking about heights though.... now the trouble will be -- finding areas where i can stick the taller plants in the back.

Lissa, I sort of think of it this way to keep them straight; most annuals bloom all summer (or at least have a long blooming season) and work so hard through the growing season that their life is done once frost hits- grow and bloom like crazy then die. Perennials usually have a limited bloom time, but will be back every year to do it. I think of annuals as impatient and perennials as patient plants, LOL.

For me, early color comes from bulbs, March through mid May. Then perennials and blooming shrubs show off in May through June, when the Asiatic Lilies start blooming. I collect a lot of Lilies, so June and July are really colorful around here! The annuals are all coming into their own by the end of June and through July, when Dahlias become the show stoppers. The annuals and Dahlias stay colorful up into fall, when the mums herald the last hoorah of the season.

Terese, sounds like I'm going to have to get you into spring bulbs! I've got a bunch of snow crocus and some daffodils, and winter aconites blooming now! They cure the winter blues :-)

See that helps me so much! Really. I know none of that. HAHA and to see the progression like that Neal will help me figure those things out.

What's crazy is that most of the plants I am growing I will be seeing close up for the first time! I only know them from the pictures. None of my friends garden. I am sure I have seen things in the landscape and not known it. But I have only grown things like Hollyhocks and Sunflowers and killed a few petunias. This will be quite a year for me.

:)

I love my zinnia and don't think I could ever be without.

Anita, do you w/s your zinnias? I was in a zinna trade last year and am looking forward to see all the mixed plants.

Gemini....thats what I understood too about annual vs perennials. blooming once as opposed to all summer long. my mom used to say most perennials double or triple in size/area each year.

I have white candytuft that seems to always be my first bloomer. I have pictures of it with snow on it. And flax and yellow forsythia. thats spring to me.

My mother had flax, all colors, growing in a big bed where she had a lot of river rocks and irises. in our area they spread like crazy, especially on a bank. i think they're a pretty hardy plant. too much fertilizer would be the only problem.

nanniepb, while you wait for Anita to answer your zinnia ws question, just thought I'd pipe into say that I WSed two kinds of profusion zinnias and they are looking great. I'm just waiting for my watersorb from the co-op before I plant them in some pots.

Tonya

That is the only way I know how to sow zinnia. I've had such amazing success w/s'ing them. The blooms are amazing. This year I am also trying to sow some that I collected from my yard. Not sure how that will go, but I'm always up for an experiment.

I love zinnias too and sow some every year but not until spring. Profusion series have been my best performers, so resistant to powdery mildew and offspring have stayed true to type.I grew Dreamland coral in '07 which I loved- gorgeous color, stayed about 12-15 inches.

Karen

I saved some seeds from them and grew them the following year. Those babies ranged from singles at 4 feet tall to doubles that stayed a foot tall but were the most butt-ugly hideous orange I'd ever seen. From now on I know to buy fresh commercial seeds for anything I can't live without.

This photo shows 2 of the offspring

Karen

Here's another of the offspring, towering over the bed. Stayed true to the coral color but was at least 4 feet tall.

Profusions, though, have stayed true to type for me.

Karen

Karen, I love your inspiring pictures and I want to thank you for being such a good wintersowing teacher! Your voice of experience has really helped me.

Just now went out to check my sproutlets after the last foot of snow melted off and, during that weather germination proceeded and I now have sproutlets of

Lavender!
Thyme!
Echinacea!
Basil!
CA Wildflower mix!

in addition to all the others that had already sprouted. The spinach is showing its first set of true leaves today, so later on I am going to get its container ready to plant it out........... Woo Hoo!

I had thought the basil was a goner as it was the one container that got some mold in it, and traditionally basil is one that needs heat, sun, warm soil........ I even bough some more basil seeds to sow another batch, but LO! There is a blinking basil seedling in there all perky.

tee hee

Kyla

I have sproutlets too! Lettuce, spinach, broccoli & alyssum purple & and white!

I've only gotten Blanket Flower and Mammoth Sunflowers sprouting.. hurry up, you silly seeds!! :)

Course this coming week, we're supposed to be in the 40s for a high again, so I shouldn't be too impatient! I do have my first bloom though.. a daffodil..love those yellow colors!

I, too, saved some of my Zinnia seeds from last summer and am experimenting with WSing them, so we'll see what happens :)

Edited to add: I should have looked today before saying.. woohoo! I now also have carpet of snow, French Marigold and Dinnerplate Zinnias showing little green sprouts! The Dinnerplate Zinnia seeds (is that the right name?) were a gift from Merpeg..

Chris

This message was edited Mar 7, 2009 2:57 PM

I've got nothing.... yet.

ditto here. I'm sure after today and tomorrow, I should start to see something soon.

Not a thing here but they were covered in 10 inches of snow a week ago. They are probably scared to show their little heads.

Salvia viridis `Palisades'

This message was edited Mar 7, 2009 7:13 PM

Larkspur `Giant Imperial'