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| My Tidal Wave petunias are showing signs of life after only 3 days, my angel trumpets are starting to pop open but my verbena are still sleeping.
What is coming up for you? I would love to see pictures :) Keriann~ |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Guillardia (Blanket Flower), African Daisy. Just planted them Saturday and when I got home yesterday they were up. Also I soaked some Morning Glory seeds in warm water, only meant to leave them over night but got busy and didn't get back to them until the 2nd evening, they alreadly had roots so I planted them in some styrofoam cups until they get going. I planted a lot of seeds over the weekend so I'll check again tommorrow to see what else is up. Happy Gardening, |
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| Tuberous begonia, lobelia, snapdragon, foxglove and delphinium are all up. Snapped a pic of some calendula and balsam seedlings that are big enough I'm starting to wean them off the fluorescents and transition them down to my basement.
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| A good 2/3 of all the veggie seeds I planted have come up: broccoli, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, and peppers. Am about to start planting my flower seeds! |
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| Oh, forgot, as of this morning I have impatiens up, too! BTW, does anyone have a good rule of thumb as far as knowing when seedlings have outgrown their container and are ready to move up to something bigger? Specifically with regard to those calendula seedlings I posted up there; they are the ones to the left of the pictures with the multiple longer leaves/no red stems. Thanks in advance! |
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| On Sunday, I just started Tidal Wave Cherry and Silver, Purple Wave and Blue Wave Petunias, Foxgloves adn Bacopa. I also started some Datura Angel Trumpets so nothing is up yet. I'm using heated greenhouse kits I bought from Walmart for $30.00 so we'll see if that helps germination. Stan |
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- Posted by keriann_lakegeneva (My Page) on Wed, Feb 10, 10 at 18:41
| Sleepy: I peek at the roots evey week/everyother week and see if they are reaching the bottom and looking for more room to stretch out. From just looking at your plants I would say another month but then again the root system could be much more established and need more room now. My other rule of thumb is if I have room for bigger pots : ). I hope that helps. Your plants look lovely! Keriann~ |
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| Ha ha, that is a good rule of thumb! Seems like I'm always juggling between what I 'should' do in an ideal world for the plant versus what is feasible with space and light constraints. The roots on these guys are already finding their way out the bottom of the pots, but I think that's mostly just the main root, they haven't really filled up the whole pot with a root ball yet, and they have had gigantic roots since the beginning; I wish some of the other seedlings would take a hint from them. Think I will pot them up once I am sure they are going to be ok without the fluorescents; I surely do not have enough room for any bigger containers under there! Thanks for the advice. |
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- Posted by keriann_lakegeneva 5b (My Page) on Sat, Feb 13, 10 at 12:15
| My verbena are peaking through now! So exciting. My Angels Trumpets are starting to show signs of life. I broke down and did a third order from Park Seeds. I promised I would not go over 100 seedlings and I am up to 300. oh gosh, I am going to regret it come May first, I will have plants everywhere! I am antsy to get the rest of my backorders and get them started. It seems like everything that takes 4-5 months to bloom from seed are backordered and everything that is 4-6 weeks is here : (. Bummer, but I am sure it will work out. Sleepy33 how are your 'little guys' doing? |
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- Posted by lantanascape z6 Idaho (My Page) on Sat, Feb 13, 10 at 13:22
| I haven't planted any seeds yet, but I checked the greenhouse yesterday, and the potted chives have about 3" of new growth, my sprouting broccoli is starting to put out some new growth, and the Brussels sprouts that were left in the garden with no protection all winter are starting to grow some marble-sized sprouts. I can't believe that the carrots and arugula out there survived the winter as well. We had negative low temps for about a week in early December, but the winter has been extremely mild since then, and it looks like we'll have an early spring. I'm going to start a few seeds today, but we're moving to our new house in two weeks, so I need to be sure to keep the seedlings manageable so I can maintain them through the moving process. |
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| Isn't that the best? That's my favorite part, when the first little shoot springs up. It's almost like I'm half convinced every time that it's not going to work, so then when the seeds sprout I think I'm a little bit surprised. :) The little guys in the picture are doing well. They are down for their first day in the basement. I need to go check on them after a while, make sure they are tolerating their new 'cold' home. I just got a new shipment from Geo yesterday; I'm doing some planters for a friend's wedding. She thought she wanted to try starting them herself... I told her I thought she had enough on her plate with the wedding, and I'd be happy to start them for her. She's never started seeds before and has a bit of a brown thumb to begin with, so I could see disaster written all over that. :) We looked through catalogs and she decided on some alyssum, snapdragons, pansies, dwarf zinnia and dwarf sunflowers. She's going to set them in some galvanized tubs. I thought the sunflowers would be really cute as we're in Kansas, and she loved the idea. So those came last night (my husband said: more seeds???), and I started the pansies and alyssum right away. I really hope they all turn out ok. I don't mind if the flowers I raise for myself don't do well, but I want hers to look great. Worse case scenario, I can always get last-minute replacements at the garden center. So I have her seeds, and double cascade petunias, hollyhocks, and snapdragons of my own all on various warm surfaces all over the house. Good times. :) |
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- Posted by keriann_lakegeneva (My Page) on Sat, Feb 13, 10 at 14:21
| How fun! what a great friend you are. I bet it will be beautiful! I would throw a few sunflower and zinnia seeds in your garden beds and if nothing else, you can cut them and stick them in water tubes to hide any bare spots in the planters or just add more color. I am not sure how you feel about glads but they do very well and tehy are pretty pest free. I bet they would add some great color and height! You have inspired me, I think I will select a few plants to do a dramitic container and then fill it with more cut/fresh flowers for my sister's baby shower coming up this summer. Good luck! Keriann~ |
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| Hey, that is a GREAT idea about sowing some of the sunflowers & zinnia outside. The only slight catch about this whole thing is that her wedding is at the end of May... So I'm just worried that things won't be big enough by then. But, like I say, I have no shame at all buying my way out of trouble if need be. :) I adore glads; not sure how the bride feels about them, though honestly I'm not real sure she'd know the difference :). Time will tell, I may be getting very creative here in another couple of months... I bet your sister will love the containers for the shower! I am already anticipating having lots of extra flowers for giving away this year. Luckily, my mom, aunt and cousins all love to garden, so any summer holidays/birthdays are covered. :) |
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- Posted by lantanascape z6 Idaho (My Page) on Sun, Feb 14, 10 at 0:13
| To my delight, the seed racks are out at the stores now! It seems that with the upsurgence in gardening the past few years, even Lowe's is carrying a wide variety of seed, and almost all packets are under $2. Naturally, I bought a gob of stuff to go with the 90 or so varieties kept in the freezer from last year. I decided I should start some perennials from seed, since the new house is going to need lots and lots of them. I'm going to go for a mixture of flowers and edibles in the front yard. To my delight, the CCR's for the new house mention nothing about maintaining a grass lawn in the front yard, so lots of sod is getting replaced! Today I sowed: Hollyhocks There's still lots to go, but it won't be tomato sowing time for a few more weeks, after we're in the new house. |
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| Oooh, a blank slate to work with! How fun. As an fyi, lupine and poppies I have heard resent transplanting; most say to direct sow them around March or so, in fact on top of a layer of snow is said to be best. I know what you mean about the seed racks; they are everywhere, and I can't leave Walmart or Home Depot without a few; heck, my local garden center even has a rack of Thompson and Morgan seeds! Fancy! :) |
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| I've planted a few seeds this year, hopefully not to many like every other year lol! I've got tomatoes, cucumbers, sunflowers, and dianthus showing up already! |
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- Posted by keriann_lakegeneva 5B (My Page) on Mon, Feb 15, 10 at 13:11
| Jarek: sunflowers so early! You are crazy, you are going to have 10 foot sunflowers growing in your house come May first :) Keriann~ |
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- Posted by rookie2010 (My Page) on Mon, Feb 15, 10 at 18:19
| I have Coleus, Roma tomatoes, beefsteaks, Jalopena and banana peppers sprouted, waiting on Lupine. Doing a comparison on indoor sowing and winter sowing with the Lupine. Planted some Foxglove last night. Also doing a comparison on dampening off preventions with cinnamon and water and peroxide mix. Could not believe the size of those seeds. R U kidding me!!!!!!! |
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| Wow, no kidding about sunflowers inside in February! In Michigan! Maybe they are dwarf sunflowers...? Rookie- careful with the Lupine seedlings; they have a taproot that they don't like to be disturbed. Might save some to direct sow as well. My alyssum I'm sowing for the friend's wedding sprouted straight away and is going like gangbusters. AND her pansies have sprouted too, which were the ones I was most nervous about since they can sometimes have poor germination. Whew! Maybe I won't have to be making a run to buy plants come May... :) |
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- Posted by belleville_rose_gr (wtk44@sbcglobal.net) on Fri, Feb 19, 10 at 6:46
| lobelia geraniums impatien petunias snapdragons rudbeckia pansy four o'clocks coreopsis zinnia marigolds celosia vinca nasturtium coleus |
Here is a link that might be useful: Gardening by the Seat of my Pants
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- Posted by sarahbarah27 5 (My Page) on Fri, Feb 19, 10 at 10:49
| So far this is what has started popping up: Eucalyptus Still waiting on a few: Columbine And many more to be planted in the coming weeks! I have my hands full! |
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- Posted by keriann_lakegeneva (My Page) on Sat, Feb 20, 10 at 8:03
| I think I started my corkscrew vines a bit early because they are getting pretty big but I have two 'extra tall' light shelves ready because every year I get antsy to plant. I woudl post pictures but I broke my camera skiing a few weekends ago.. very sad. And my extra camera can't really do the seedlings justice. Anybody have pictures of begonia seedlings? I need some motivation :) Keriann~ |
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| Ugh, mine have stalled out and I don't think they're EVER going to get any bigger! I'm too depressed about them to take a picture... I think they got too dry one day and maybe went dormant. Starting some new Nonstop seeds. |
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| Hey, saw your post over on the Begonia board... It's pretty slow over there. I'd totally start your Non Stops now; they might bloom a little later, but then you can hopefully have tubers for next year! So far, they are the most difficult thing I've tried to start from seed, BUT I don't think I would've had such a hard time if I hadn't potted them up into peat pots. I usually don't use them, but this year I used some I had lying around, as a transition between the flats I started them in and bigger cups. I know what a pain the peat pots are, but most seedlings it's not the end of the world if they get a little too dry once or twice. These little guys got dry one day and a lot of them got a brown tint to their leaves and haven't been growing much since. Even the ones that are bright green and look healthy are still only about the size of my thumbnail, and they sprouted on 1/18. So, my new plan with the batch I'm germinating now is 1. not to transplant them too early, no matter how impatient I get 2. NO PEAT POTS :) and 3. be very diligent in ensuring they don't dry out. |
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- Posted by keriann_lakegeneva (My Page) on Sat, Feb 27, 10 at 19:30
| My lisianthus germinated in 3 days! That is crazy! My petunias, Angel Trumpets, Corkscrew vine and African Daiseys are getting pretty big and plump... so very exciting. My Hollyhocks and bellflowers have germinated in record time but they are soooo tiny. I can't wait to see all of them Mid July.... I have Spring fever for sure. : ) Keriann~ Any more pictures of your seedlings? I would love to see them |
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| Oh, I am jealous of your corkscrew vine! I really wanted to get some of those from Park's, but I didn't have anything else to order from them, and hated to pay shipping just for one pack of seeds. They look so cool! I'll be curious to see how yours does; I wondered if it would grow and bloom fast enough in zones where it wouldn't be perennial, it sounds like it does. I just spent all day potting up impatiens, digitalis, petunias and snapdragons. Oh, and the wedding alyssum. Also sowed dianthus, phlox (annual and perennial), geranium, coreopsis, rudbeckia, shasta daisy, ice plant... whew! You know what is so strange though, I sowed some appleblossom Hollyhocks from a Seeds of Distinction seed pack, and only about 5 of them have sprouted. I'm pretty bummed as I thought they generally had a pretty high germination rate. I've been playing around with more or less heat, light, no light, trying to get some more to sprout. Oh well, hope the few I did get survive! |
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| marigolds in one seed flat, and in the other the Shasta Daisies, Hollyhocks and Alyssum are poking out. |
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- Posted by keriann_lakegeneva (My Page) on Sun, Feb 28, 10 at 0:10
| Sleepy33 Very cool! I spent the evening transplanting most of my seedlings into 3" pots. If my corksrew vines look good in May, I will send you a little guy. They do look cool, I can't wait to see them bloom. I guess they bloom late so hopefully with starting them early I will get blooms July through frost on 20ft vines. We will see... you just never know until you do it! Geraniums so late? Are you going to over winter them for next year? Ta Ta for now :) Keriann~ |
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| Oh gosh, that would be very generous of you! I have a 6 ft privacy fence in the backyard that I am itching to try some vines on. Yeah, the geraniums are late...truth be told, I forgot about them. They were in with a bunch of stuff I got on clearance late last summer. There were only 5 seeds, so I just threw 'em in. They've already sprouted at least, so that's good. They can just join my way-too-late, second round of nonstop begonias. :) Here, snapped a few picks for ya: "Wedding" alyssum: "Wedding" zinnia: Double Impatiens 'Fanciful Moonlight Rose Mix': Pitiful, stalled out begonias:
Excuse the crappy photo quality, took them with my phone. |
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- Posted by keriann_lakegeneva (My Page) on Mon, Mar 1, 10 at 7:10
| Thank you for the pictures! So motivating! When did you plant your double impatiens? They look so much bigger than mine. Everything looks so good. Your friend should be very thankful. Oh your begonias... I am glad I am going with tubers. I have no patients and I think I would go mad trying to see progress with them. Keep me updated on how they are doing. I want to try seed next year and i am not sure when I should start them. Maybe now for next year LOL :) I started some 'drippy hanging' begonias a few weeks ago, they are small but showing progress. I keep forgetting that starting from seed is all about the journey.. if I just want big blooms and huge plants I should just go to the nursery and buy them. Just think how excited you will be when your geraniums bloom! Maybe in October, : ) but they will. I have some 5 year old geraniums that I put on my pier every year and over winter in my house. They are huge and they do so well out there. Maybe becuase I use lake water and I am always down there to water them? My petunias do not like the intense heat and I am still trying to find something that will like it down there that I can add to the big geranium pots. |
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| Oh I could just siiiiing! The peppers are popping up, yay! This is my first year starting from seed, can ya tell? hahaha! |
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| Hmmm, I planted them sometime in the first week of February. I had read somewhere that recommended keeping the dome on them a bit longer than normal, so I went ahead and left it on (under lights but no bottom heat) until they about had their first leaves. I also germinated them right in their cell packs, which I don't normally do. I'm real happy with them, I have so many shady spots that I think they will do well in. I know, the poor little begonias! It's all I can do not to just go in there every 5 minutes and BEG them to do SOMETHING. And of course, they were the ones I was the most excited about, isn't that always the way. That's why when I ordered the wedding seeds, I snuck in another batch of 100 nonstop seeds; I learned so much with the first round, I feel like I should do better with these. And heck, the first ones are so slow and tiny, I feel like I'm not really that far behind by starting over! I think I just thought that germinating was the 'hard part' with them, and didn't know they were a bit picky about growing on as well. I started them in a seed starting mix that I grabbed at the store without noticing that it had NO vermiculite whatsoever. I didn't even know it came that way! So needless to say it got pretty compacted. I finally got them into a mix with more vermiculite, and they are starting to get bigger and grow more second/third leaves. I think because they need to stay a little bit more moist and being in the mix without a lot of vermiculite, their little roots weren't getting enough oxygen. So the new seeds, I started all in the mix w/ vermiculite. Whew. I will REALLY feel a sense of accomplishment if/when these guys finally bloom! They may get all out of whack with the seasons; I guess I'll just cross that bridge when I come to it! :) Mobyclick- isn't that awesome! Worth the wait. :) |
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- Posted by woodyguthriefan 6a (My Page) on Tue, Mar 2, 10 at 1:13
| Martha Washington-asparagus Argenteuil-asparagus Everest-broccoli Windsor-broccoli Hilda-Brussels sprouts Tin Tin-lettuce Genevese-basil --none of my onion varieties or celery varieties have germinated yet but off to a good start on everything else. |
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- Posted by keriann_lakegeneva (My Page) on Tue, Mar 2, 10 at 6:59
| Tragedy struck : ( I walked in the house last night and the dogs were no where to be seen…. Very odd for them not to greet me. Well, then I rounded the corner to my sun room and found a trail of dirt…leading to one big mud monster (my dog Winston). He has dug in EVERY flat, that was under 4’ from the ground. I wanted to kill him, especially because of the mess he had made… there was dirt everywhere. And he is a sheepdog mix, so his 12" long hair doesn’t really help either. I think I saved most of the plants but some of my begonias will have rough few weeks if they make it. I love my dogs but I was so sad to see all my hard work tossed about. I have my sun room gated off now, hopefully it will work…because the dogs do come first. |
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- Posted by sarahbarah27 5 (My Page) on Tue, Mar 2, 10 at 7:07
| Oh Man! I am so sorry to hear that! I think I would have broken down and cried! I'm sure everything will turn out in the end:) |
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- Posted by zippity_duda 6 (My Page) on Tue, Mar 2, 10 at 8:17
| Roma, celebrity, early girl, razzleberry, beefsteak, sweet 100 tomatoes purple beauty, sweet banana, anaheim, jalapeno, habenero, lady bell, and cherry hot peppers stevia tomatillo several other peppers, eggplant, a couple more tomatoes, and many more herbs still waiting to sprout need to get onions and leeks started After reading this post, I sooo want to start some flowers, but haven't researched anything and am sooooo running out of space under the lights, even with the plan to buy 3-4 more shop lights this weekend. This is my first year starting seeds and so far I've got pretty close to 100% germination on everything..How lucky for me! The one exception is my better boy and big boy tomatoes...but these were pelleted seeds, which I think just might take longer since I am just now starting to see the coating cracking. We'll see. |
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- Posted by keriann_lakegeneva (My Page) on Tue, Mar 2, 10 at 9:28
| Zippity- Congratulations on your successes!So much fun! Sarah- Yes.. I just wanted to cry and Winston was so proud of his 'gardening skills'... after a lecture and a bit of screaming, he knows now to leave it alone....he actually walked all the way around the sun room entry this morning like it was on fire.. it was quite funny |
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| Oh no, Keriann! We have two dogs, and I totally know that 'it's too quiet...' moment when you walk in the door. Fingers crossed that everything pulls through! |
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| i finally got around to taking a pic of my seedlings (early jalapeno, bhut jolokia, california wonder pepper, cayenne, scotch bonnet, tabasco). all but the jalapenos will be grown in Pro-Mix BX. jalapenos will be grown in a new top drip bucket hydroponic system that i must finish building very soon.
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| I would be scared of that Bhut Jolikia stuff; you must like some hot food!! :) Ok, confession time: I broke down and hit the Home Depot for another set of lights. Which I snuck down to the basement and set up, in the hope that hubby will not notice that the shop lights are reproducing like the broomsticks in Fantasia. :0 Also, they just put out their fruit and spring bulbs, so I couldn't resist some strawberry starts and a few dahlia bulbs. Oh and a begonia tuber. I need to join a 12 step program. :) |
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| lol @ sleepy33. i need to join a 12-step program as well. what originally started as a mini hydroponic project in my basement for four pepper plants has expanded to the backyard this year. i wouldnt be surprised if i started taking over my neighbours backyards as well in a few years. lol |
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- Posted by tn_veggie_gardner 7 (My Page) on Thu, Mar 11, 10 at 19:45
| My garlic chives! =) Last night after I got home from work & unloaded 500 lb of Pro Mix from my truck, I had a tad bit of energy left. So, I decided to do something with one of my dormant outdoor alliums that I need to do with all 10 or so of my outdoor plants, take all the pine needles off the tops & de-weed them. Well, as I was doing so, I saw a handful of garlic chives starrting to grow their way through the pine needles! Exciting as its the first sign of life from any of my outdoor plants so far this year. =) There are probably 15 or so of them anywhere from 1-4 inches tall.
- Steve |
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