6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

Hi Safari,
Sounds like your having the same trouble I use to have with my spinach. Most varieties do not grow well in the summer and winter and must be grown spring and fall months in shade for best results. There are a few varieties that can be grown in the summer with the rest of garden which include my favorite the Olympia Hyrbid Spinach plant. I also noticed that it is hard to grow single plants by themself and is much easier if you grow several plants close together to offer shade for eachother. This will help produce the best results for you.
Here is a link that might be useful: Olympia Hybrid Spinach

Agree with the above post. You are correct that some lupine varieties do need to stratify but the Russell variety are very easy to grow and should be placed directly where you intend to grow them as they grow deep roots quickly which do not transplant very easily. Harvesting your own lupine seeds was a great idea!

Check out Urban Farmer Seeds "Gardeners Guide" It offers a wealth of information about starting, caring, and harvesting vegetables.
Here is a link that might be useful: Gardener's Guide

Handling seedlings by their leaf is safe as long as the growing mix is loose enough to fall away and release the plant. I have never used peat pots and so do not know how difficult it would be to remove the pot from the soil instead of the soil from the pot. Al

Calistoga and Origami Master: Kandesky Cannas online, sells tons of different canna that must be patented, and some they have seed for. That is where I was going to buy seed, thinking, obviously, that would a less expensive way to get a lot of gorgeous plants.
What do you think?

The purchased seed should work fine. Seed is not a problem if the pollination of the plant producing the seed is controlled. The seed produced in your garden is from a plant produced from a cross and can revert to either parent or anything in between. The purchased seed will be an F1 cross where both parents are known and the resulting seed is predictable, though not as predictable as a plant produced from a vegetative part of a plant with no sex involved. Al

They look like they could be slightly light in color but if the berries were starting to shrivel the seeds should be mature. Late summer to early fall is typically when lonicera seeds ripen...
Here is a link that might be useful: Lonicera seed photo

I am sure you will get lots of suggestions, but the one that comes to mind right now would be cosmos. They are an annual, very easy to grow from seed, and bloom all summer long. They also come in many different colors. I don't think they are very fussy as to soil, so a raised bed would be optional for them, but they would appreciate some compost mixed into the top 8 inches of clay.
Lois in PA
Here is a link that might be useful: Here is a link to some examples.

I would love to have it! Although I'm not sure I can bamboozle my husband into it. He already thinks I'm totally out of control =). Would you please email me and let me know what part of the province you are in and if you have an idea of what you would like for the unit. I live in Centre Burlington, a ten minute from Windsor along the north shore.
Many Thanks,
Carrie

Small world Carrie, I live in Windsor, 10 minutes away from you:-)
I guess my father-in-law wants to buy it. I didn't even get a chance to put a price on it after I said I want to get rid of it he spoke right up.
If he changes his mind I will let you know.

Quick update!! Wow, my eBay seeds have germinated! Day 7 and they are JUST starting to show themselves although the seedling leaves are the size of a dot on a piece of paper - but you can see the green!! So I have opened up my baggie for these guys. Wow. Sorry - still *very* new to this stuff! But this is certainly exciting for me! :-)
-tiffany

Clothiers database:
Lilium philippinense , Sow at 64-71ºF for 4 weeks, move to 39ºF for 4 weeks, move to 41-53ºF for germination
So a warm, cold, cool germinator. In this 8b (cooler than your own) I would sow, topping the pot with some grit, do the first month indoors if your Fall temps have dropped out of the 60s. Then use mother nature to provide the cold and cool temps by putting the pot outside.
That moist cool range of 41-53 for germination is difficult for me to provide indoors:)

For a really cheap one, I have had great luck with the small Jiffy greenhouses. =) Really, anything with the clear plasstic lid should have the same results. The key being you just have to know when to move the seedlings back into light & also when to crack the dome slightly or remove it fully for a feew hours.


They're not going to have enough time to root and settle in before winter sets in.Nov.15th.is zone8 first predicted frost. I quit planting out the first of Oct.because new plants need apx.6 weeks to be rooted in fairly well before winter.
Peggy
And I planted some foxglove a couple of weeks ago & last year I planted hollyhock just before cold weather. My foxglove seem to be loving the cooler temps. and last year the hollyhock withstood several freezes & frosts even though they lost a few leaves. They popped right back with new leaves and bloomed very well this summer.
It would be chancy either way. You really never know.
You might want to put some fence wire around the holloyhocks if your squirrels like them...at least until they are going good.