Start Your Seeds,Get Ready, Get Set!

I received a note from a friend yesterday about mishaps starting seeds and the expense incurred by their failure and having to buy plants from the nursery.  Seed starting can be very rewarding if you experience success.  The first time I practiced seed starting, I lost the whole crop to damp off because I used a regular potting soil instead of a seed starting medium.  Also, I did not have them under lights, and before they all sucumbed they were tall and leggy leaning toward the light.  I realize now that they never would have been healthy plants.

Since then, I have practiced seed starting many times, with many successes and still some failures.  Research needs to be done on the specific plants in regard to germination and the time frame from planting the seed to readiness for outside planting.  Geraniums take a long time, petunias a much shorter time span.  One March, I had 12" full blooming petunias under my lights.  I had to cut them back several times before putting them in the ground.

There are so many products today to start seeds, that it is almost foolproof.  I also found that it didn't seem to matter much in regard to lights just used for seed starting.  I spent much more buying specialized plant lights than for flourescent, and both seemed to work equally well.  If I were keeping the plants under lights permanently the special plant lights might make a difference.

My lights are packed in a box in the basement now, and the only thing that would prompt me to ressurect them would be a most unusual plant that I could not buy at the nursery.  Good luck to all you indoor seed starters!

Gatsbys Gardens: Lettuce Dream

Gatsbys Gardens: Lettuce Dream

Lettuce Dream

It is afternoon,and weattherbug says it is still only 11 degrees.  My fingers are actually cold typing this!  I did manage to peruse some internet catalogs today, Select Seeds (vintage flower seeds), saw a great vining fragrant petunia.  I may go back and order these as plants - not seeds.  Then I went on to imagining what my vegetable garden will be this year.This is the one type of garden that can be started before the snow stops flying.  Several years ago, I used to start all of my vegetables under lights.  I would begin in February with tomato plants, then a few weeks later with peppers.  I prefer to start my cucumbers and basil right in the soil when it warms up - late May.  By starting your own seeds, you can grow unusual varieties that do not come in the seed packets at the grocery store.

I really got the bug today to grow some unusual lettuces this year.  For the past few years I have bought those seed packets at the grocery.  They were just fine, and I always got an abundant crop, but nothing new!  This morning I moved on from Select Seeds to Johnny's Selected Seeds, and ordered several of their new introductions.  Some of their introductions don't even have names, just numbers - what could be more mysterious!  It was a good thing I recognized the pictures as lettuce.  The ones I ordered had names like Guardsman, Skyphos and Panisse - nothing like what I was used to like Salad Bowl, Buttercrunch, Romaine and Bib.  Come March, I will put these experiments in the ground along with radishes and green onions.  I can't wait to throw these names around, but probably no one will even ask!

Colors for Containers

Actually as I looked out at the snow this morning, I thought any color would go with this!  For gardeners, this is the time of year for planning.  I like to vary my color scheme for colors each year, oranges one year, pink another year, or orange and pink together or pink and cherry red together.  I have all of these colors in my perennial garden, so no matter which color I decide to play up in my containers it is a blend.  Also, take into consideration the color of your house.  If you have a red brick house, red flowers are not going to "pop."  Adding small splashes of blue, yellow and white also help frame your main color scheme.

Containers can also be filled with colorful plants that do not have showy flowers.  I check out the http://www.provenwinners.com/ site to get ideas for my containers and see what is new for the 2010 planting season.

Snow Duty

As I shoveled along the side of my house this am, I noticed my Miscanthus Udine (I could only find this on the internet) trying to stand upright in the raised planter bed.  Each year I debate whether or not to cut it down before winter.  I should have cut it down, looks really bad, doesn't hold up well under snow.  Very few varities of the taller grasses do well once the snow hits.  One that does do well all through the winter is Panicum "Northwind."  You can see "Northwind" at  http://www.hostas.com/  It pops back up even after the heaviest snows.  Come March it is ready to cut down, but you have this lovely upright grass all fall and winter ( tan color).