First Time Wintersowing #7: The sproutlet watch.

LOL ... well, the money issue is definitely why I got into the WS and the RU's too for that matter.... not to mention you meet great people here on DG!! But I have a 4 acre yard that I am trying to landscape and I had assumed that I would never be able to afford to do the things that I wanted to the yard - with a kid in college and 2 more headed that way soon.... there isn't a lot in the "yard" budget. LOL But thanks to DG and the RU's I am beginning to see real progress in my yard.... in only a year's time. And, if this WS is successful, this year will mean much larger strides in obtaining the flower beds, etc that I want in my yard.

I know for sure that my Strawberry Fields hasn't germinated yet because that is one of the ones my daughter has been anxiously watching..... and she doesn't know what it looks like - she just liked the name! ^_^ But maybe that watched pot wont boil......

Genna

Here's what i got today.....

Indian Summer, BES
Fever Few
Tunic Flower [2 containers]
8th Wonder, Poppies
Basket of Gold

Thanks for the link..I'm definitely going to WS that! Those are neat looking :)

In just the 3 days since I posted my last sproutlets, I now also have:

Purple Coneflower
Batchelor Button
TX Bluebonnet
Cosmos (mix-store bought)

The last 3 germinated in 10 days! wow.. amazing how 80 degree days helps that along :)

Chris

Cosmos are VERY prolific if you don't deadhead before they go to seed, so deadhead if you don't want a bazillion of them next spring! Don't ask me how I know this....

Will cosmos reseed in zone 5...

I've never had any. Winter is to cold and to long, I guess. My dad used to grow them when he lived here, and to my recollection, he never had any self-sow either.

I've never gotten re-seeded Cosmos either! Hhhmmm.

One year, I planted those "Strawberry Fields" Gomphrena because my cousin owns an historic house in Maryland that was originally built by our oldest traceable American ancestor and these were in the garden beds that had been reproduced from old journals. I loved them. Unfortunately, they never grew for me. Maybe I'll try again next year by WS!

I have "Poached Egg Plants" up today!

Never heard of Poached Egg Plants either..... ^_^

Well, neither had I, but I am hoping to use them as ground cover in a shade garden this year.
See : http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1904/

I'm curious, where is everyone getting all their seeds from?

I've never heard of the majority of these....or of the seeds I planted. are they from DG trades like mine are?

nannie -- we seed swap.

there are many bit "Swaps" per year, or you do individual swaps/trades with other DG'ers.

if you've seen mention of "Piggy Swap" a few of us in this thread participated in that.
I'ts like a seed "free for all" that only costs you shipping ... iv'e gotten hundreds of packets of seeds - probably well over 300 last year, and i tried to keep it to 50 this year. It's a lot of fun, and you learn about so many different types of plants.

Trades and seed catalogues.
Oh, and "borrowings" from the local botanical gardens and community garden plantings.

And I also gather seeds wherever I travel : wildflowers, interesting plants in public gardens, etc.


Edited to add a 3rd source

This message was edited Mar 18, 2009 8:36 PM

I have those germinating too Jim, Limnanthes douglasii, I have never actually seen them but I thought they looked nice. I think I got mine from Value Seeds. I just browse their pages over and over.

I left the most recent containers I wintersowed out on my deck. This is my east facing deck which gets about 50% sun, then is shaded. The addition of sun really is crazy, and some warm weather. I have a bunch of containers that have sprouts. I think I will bring up the rest of my containers and get them in an area where they will get the partial sun. I am not sure what my husband is going to think of the containers out there. LOL.

Today i found...

cat nip
red flax
3 containers of Wild Flower mix.

I've purchased a few of the seeds, but some I've gotten from trades and swaps. Still some I've harvested myself from my own collection.

What a bright cheerful looking plant. Looks like a winner to me! Maybe you can harvest some seeds to share with the rest of us come fall. I purchased a few seeds from the coop on DG's and then participated in the piggy seed swap that was absolutely overwhelming. I think I ended up getting 60+ seeds from there .... maybe 70....I lost count. Then I also got some seeds from the Newbie seed swap - or actually seeds for newbies since we didn't send anything in return. It was awesome too..... in addition to those 2 - prior to me participating in those 2 I also traded with a few individuals for seeds on DG..... so all in all I probably have over 100 types of seeds to try out this year and the vast majority are perennials - but there are a few annuals. I didn't realize that it might be next summer before I got blooms out of the perennials, but I was trying to get permanent additions to my yard. I guess as long as I have a few blooms this summer, it will still look better with things actually growing and filling in places.

Fun, fun.....

I'm really trying to add hardy perennials to my flower beds this year, so that's what I've planted for the most part. Today I have butterfly weed and balloon flower sprouting!

I grew poached egges a few years ago. Valueseeds offered them for 1cent, so I knew a lot of wintersowers who grew them. They were cute, bloomed early summer. I had them in part sun and once our real hot summer weather arrived, those poached eggs didn't like it and bolted early. (They really did look like cooked eggs then...). They might do better in a cooler, less humid climate than mine or in less sun. The were cute little things while they lasted, though.

Karen

Re: cosmos, it's the humongous pink ones and white ones that reseed like crazy all over the place (I'm in zone 6). I only planted the smaller orange/yellow ones once, and they didn't reseed.

I get the occasional few pink and white cosmo seedlings volunteer, but not very many. The orange ones reseed reliably here though.

A couple of years ago, I got 3 of the "Cosmic Mix" Cosmos. They were orange, yellow, and an orangey red. They were shorter, only growing to about 2'. They reseeded like CRAZY!! I'm *still* pulling out seedlings!

I'd have to say that in my zone, they do not reseed heavily. Yes, they produce TONS of seeds, most of which i gather in the fall ... though many probably still hit the ground... i only have a few plants the following year - many of which could have come in a seed mix i scattered in the Spring.

I'll know for sure this year... i had the pink ones [sensation mix] and i am not sowing any this year... only white.
[though i may have sown some NoID"s, but i'll make sure they are in a different bed than last year, so i will know the difference.]

YEAH, I have sproutlets too. I moved some of the containers to the eastside and after a few days 50° these ones sprouted:
Dianthus deltoides Arctic fire
Draba sakurai
Erysimum cheiri
Hesperis lutea
Iberis umbellata
Lepidium meyenii
Leucanthemum superbum Crazy Daisy
Ligularia vorobievii
Meconopsis betonicifolia
Nemophila maculata
Papaver orientale
Papaver somniferum Drama queen
Papaver somniferum Hens and chicks
Papaver somniferum paeoniiflorum
Tolpis barbata

Now I have confidence all the others will sprout too.

Nothin like a little bit of green to boost your confidence! YAY!

I have green in my Lavatera trimestris that you sent Jonna. :) There are a few others too, but I haven't updated my spreadsheet!

I had an old packet of Mixed California Poppies that I just never got around to sowing, and it was supposedly "no good" after December 2007, but I WS'd them and guess what? Today, the jug is full of seedlings!

Out of 22 containers I have 8 that have sprouted. I would call it 9 but the nicotiana that has sprouted is down the side of the container. That is a first for me. Guess it was warmer there as there are none yet on the top. I know there will be.......yes I'm a believer

I found 6 more today....

Centaurea Chocolate
Rose Mallow
Purple Millet
Agastache Honey Bee Blue
Burgundy Gaillardia
Yellow Yarrow

Melissa, I'm glad the Lavatera sprouted. In my zone they only selfsow a bit in mild winters, so I suppose WS is only an option in zone 7 or higher. Hope de Hesperaloe Parviflora will sprout. Well, if it doesn't, you sent me enough seeds to try it another way. I would love to grow that plant.

Indynanny,
I'm surprised you have Nicotiana sprouting in zone 5b. They only selfsowed here once in a very mild winter. Which species did you WS?

Jonna... i got some lavatera from a gal in Canada, and mine has already germinated too. not sure what it is, but looked cool from the photos.

Well, last year i also did some Nicotiana, the White one... can't recall the actual name... but for the life of me, i can not find any info in my notes.... I did have 1 make it, which was planted out. I'll have to see if i get any volunteers this year. and i think i gave away all my seeds in the swap.

tcs, Melissa and I are talking about Lavatera trimestris an annual. But maybe I'll have to give it a try next year to WS them. Had no room in the house this year to sow them.
About the Nicotiana, the N. sylvestris is white. I did sow that one indoors, but if it is succesful in zone 5, it must be here too. The Nicotiana's I spoke about are the Nicotiana affinis and the Nicotiana tabacum.

I've never had it before.... I"d have to check my notes, but i'm thinking it was an annual also.

This is the one i should have.... http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/48715/
it's an annual too.

Yep Therese, that's the one Jonna sent. Technically, I don't know if anything I started recently can be called truly wintersowing..... LOL, more like spring sowing in jugs. Our temps have been in the seventies pretty consistently and 40s at night. Since I sowed these 2 weeks ago we have only had one mild frost. In fact I am getting ready to sow the rest of my annuals and tender type stuff.

We typically get 1 or two more frosty nights in April, but this year it is hard to tell. If it came down to it, I could easily protect them for one or two nights.

I started Nicotiana sylvestris 'Only the Lonely' indoors a few years back, and it self-sows everywhere, and this is from one plant that I put out. This time last March, I still had about a foot of snow on the ground, and they still came up. Haven't seen hardly any snow this year! I'm dreading the invasion.

stephanietx, don't know how familiar you are with butterfly weed, but it has become one of my favorites. Nice big splash of orange through summer and fall.

I stumbled across this thread a couple of weeks ago, and it all sounded so easy. I started 27 milk jugs about a week ago, as last freeze is still a month away. Figured easier than DS, and haven't had a lot of success with some of the ones I started indoors. Days have warmed up alot for this time of year, but nights still hover around freezing. Hope I didn't get started to late. If so, I'll be prepared for next year!

In 5b you are probably right on time. ;-)

I did a quick check of my jugs yesterday and have a few more that have sprouted but I noticed that right in the middle of the jug I had lost some sprouts where they had been growing. One jug in particularly it was very obvious because the jug had been completely covered with hundreds of sprouts and not there is about a 3" gap right in the middle where they are dead. Not sure if it from the recent days of rain (since it would be right where the rain would fall) or the recent dip in temps..... temps are back up now so whatever is left should continue to do well. I noticed this in a couple of different jugs but not all - just wondered if anyone else had ever noticed that happening??

Genna

It happened in one of mine also, and I also figured it was where the hole was and some cold drench was a bit too much for those exposed ones there. but it only happened in the one. not sure why....

Yeah it only happened in 3 - 4 of my approx 50 that I have done. Maybe that plant was more susceptible or maybe they caught more water?? I guess if all the others make it in the jug I will be fine..... just hated to see that I had already lost some!

Genna

I don't know what the name of the nicotiana is as I got it in a RR last year. Last year I didn't get a sprout and what I saw today is little green things down below the dirt in the grape boxes. It has to b e a germinated seed but will probably not grow as they are kind of far down about and inch and a half. That is why I am hoping I will have some. I'll let you all know and I hope I do get some to self seed that would be great. I think I could pull the self seeded ones out. Couldn't be worse that verbena bonansieras?sp and I love them.

OH -- My nicotiana was White Cloud. I know for a fact i gave away all my seeds in the last swap, as i just didnt care for the plant... too gangly ... though the scent was very nice.

YAY!!! My larkspur has sprouts!!!