CLOSED: Free Seeds for New Bees July 2011

Corey ~ Will you take partial envelopes of commercial seeds? I have many kinds of seeds but only a few of each, as I save the leftovers and sometime I actually plant some the following year from the packets. Or will that be just too much trouble?

>> Will you take partial envelopes of commercial seeds

Sure! Love them!

>> Or will that be just too much trouble?

Actually, they're the least trouble since they already have name & info on them, and even have a picture. Although I've noticed that the info seldom has anything that sounds like a lot of work, like "needs stratification" or "divide every 3 years after established".

if they're partial, I don't even split them so don't need to make labels. I just tape them closed and file them into their category.

If a commercial pkt seems to have a lot more seeds than a home gardener is likely to need, I'll sometimes split it so more people get those seeds. I tend to go by how unusual the variety seems, and how old the seed is, and whether we have many or few similar seeds already.

Thanks again!

My SO is happy that I trade seeds, because now I check my mail slot often. I used to let bills pile up. She just accuses me of "propagating with those Flower Ladies again" and chuckles.

Corey

Corey, I would like some of the lavender poppy seeds.

LOL @ your SO

>> lavender poppy seeds.

Sure thing, when they arrrive from nancy I'll forward some even prior to printing a color label.

Patti, not only do I not need to look up your address, but I still have spare pre-printed labels from Susie's Round Robin!

Corey

Ooooh...lavender poppy seeds!

I had better get into my seed boxes and start send you some seeds. They are all unsorted now, so it might be a while. I woudn't need any poppy seeds until winter anyway. I would just sow them in place, and not bother with all of that other stuff!

I really do have many seeds that I do not need. Now what about older seeds...??Some are a few years old. I have not tested germination on all of them.

Hi Evelyn. Haven't seen you forever! Or is it because I lost this thread and you haven't seen me????? lol

I love poppies. Grew them for the first time this year. Red ones. The black peony poppy that I got seeds for did not get planted early enough as it went from winter to summer, with hardly any spring to grow in. I didn't plant them all, just in case. Then I have some regular orange California poppies. I would take any color of poppy seed you come up with Corey. I'm excited to see them in the spring.

Hi Rick,

I'll donate seed next week or a week later, depending on the time I have.

But may I also give some comments:
- If someone wants to donate seeds, they won't like some of the extra work you ask:
- Annual or perennial might depend on the zone where someone lives, there are a lot of perennials that can be grown as an annual in colder climates
- Hight and spacing depends so much on zone and type of soil
- A lot of shade plants will do well in full sun in colder climates, as well as some plants that usually need sun, will do better in semi shade in hot climates

Since it scared me a bit to send in seeds without all this info , others might think the same about it.

The newbies can look up some things them selves. Nothing wrong with that, they will learn from it. And it encourages them to learn more about gardening.

I will mention the zones, without mentioning it will be an annual or a perennial in which zones. Just an 'A' and/or an 'P' or an 'B' (biennual).

There are growing instructions on the packets.

I sent in seeds for the newbies before in seperate packets, but this time I'll send you a (little) bunch of seeds you'll have to repack in smaller packs again.

Jonna

Jonna,

>> If someone wants to donate seeds, they won't like some of the extra work you ask:

Thanks, Jonna! That's a very good point.

Please, anyone who's willing to donate seeds, you don't have to look up or list any information beyond the name, although color or "mixed colors" can be nice to know too. They are very much appreciated, and those donations are the only way this tradition can be continued.

The seeds are the thing!

Jonna, there are already many great seeds from you in the stash - I recognized your packaging. You always had an unambiguous name on your packets, which I think is great.


Evelyn,

Old seeds are just fine and much appreciated. Many are good for five years, and since this is not commercial, low germination can be handled by sowing twice as many. When I know it, I list the year collected, so people will know when they might need to sow extras.

I also suspect that some packets get re-traded, and that is where some of the Stash packets came from. If a pkt has been traded a few times, it may accumulate enough years that it is good to know whether they were harvested in (say) 2006 or 2011.

Thanks for seeds! The more variety there is in the stash, the easier to find something for people (say) in cold zones, or who wish for specific things.

Crit,
Check! “Any color poppies”, or rather, “several”.

I sowed four kinds last Spring, and then probably didn't water the remote bed enough between rainy days.

Lots of Orange CA came up, ONE red "Mikado" California Poppy, and ONE peony Poppy. I hope they self-reseed, despite my adding compost & mulch.

Corey

I have never had luck with poppies, and I especially LOVE the color orange. Patti - do you have a "black" poppy? I am very interested in all the black flowers coming out lately and just recently got my first basked of black petunias. They are GORGEOUS. But I wouldn't want a yard full of black flowers. :P

Like you all - I have many packets of old seed.

I have read on another thread/forum about using a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water to pre-germinate seeds. People seem to have incredible germination rates even with seeds that are decades old!!! I'll post a link to the thread if I can find it. That sort of puts an end to worry about what year the seeds come from, though as Corey points out, many seeds remain viable for years and years.

Have a goodnight.

A.

Edited to say, "I found it!" I hope you enjoy it - there's some awesome information here:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/423028/

This message was edited Aug 4, 2011 10:45 PM

Still sorting out my leftover stash of tomato seeds. I must have 10 different varieties to package up. Since I've done this before for Robin, I've got the label info pretty much nailed. These are considered "sample" size so the packs are only 20 seeds or so, but plenty for what most people would to plant anyway.

Al

I heard that "0.1%" is a good concentration. If nothing else, it will reduce the number of bacteria on the seed surface.

So dilute 3% drugstore Hydrogen peroxide by 32:1 ,
which is one ounce per half-gallon,
or one and a half tsp per cup.

This was my first year trying to start poppies, and they went out in the spring while there were still some mild frosts, instead of fall. They sprouted GREAT where the soil is heavy and moist no matter what I do. I think the ones in the sandy bed might have started to sprout and then dried out. Or they might still be dormant and surprise me next year!

Corey

Al, I remember seeing your labels in Robin's round robin. They were the best - in fact perfect.

Like a great skirt: long enough to cover the subject and short enough to be interesting.

Corey

Corey - I've read enough. "Like a great skirt." 8-P

I am rolling my eyes at you. And I also slapped my forehead.

Goodnight.

A.

'Night!

(Guilty as charged.)

Are there seeds that are frequently asked, or seeds your looking for for the newbies?
If I have (enough of) these seeds, I will add them.

Jonna

Anyone into cannas? I'm having to remove alot of cannas around my sons trailer They are really pretty and very tall. There are yellow ones with red dots on them, pure red and red and yellow mixed. I think they've been cross pollenating. Will try and post pictures.

Thanks Evelyn! I am coaxing the pink campion into hanging on in this heat. I'm not sure if it likes my clay, but I am happy to have it. :)

I do so love those orange poppies. I guess maybe you just have to sow it on the ground directly and keep it moist? I have even tried growing in pots, but they are sort of delicate when they are tiny.

@ Marti - Welcome back! Glad you made it to CA. I don't need any cannas but if you take them out does that mean you can replace them with your own stuff? :)

Do keep us posted on the community bed you said you were looking into.

Ladies (and Corey)(ha ha hahhaa) we had a HIGH of 80 degrees today. I will TAKE it! The rain has missed my neighborhood entirely, but at least I got a lot of yard work done today. Hallelujah!

Ahem.

Happy Friday, ya'll. Have a good weekend.

A.

This trailer is surrounded by very large green shubs and some cannas. I will move the cannas to the backof the space and get rid of all the bushes. Than I'll build planter box the length of the trailer space and plant my mini roses,, mini fuchsias and will have some room for a few daylilies. The lady that used to own this trailer was obsessed with making sure her neighbors weren't spying on her and planted all this green shubs to block the neighbors view of her trailer. Now I'm going to remove them and have some area to plant. The park gardener got down here today and cut down all the bushes off the porch area before I could get pictures, but have pictures of the area now. As I work on it I will continue to take pictures. As soon as we get the wireless rotor, I will be back on my own computer and will be able to post pictures.

Amanda, I did get some black (deep purple)poppies in a trade. Didn't get them planted in time to bloom this year.

Marti, I would love some canna's. I've lost a lot of mine due to the drought and not being able to water them enough.

Still hot and dry here. Smoke is hanging in the air from grass fires several miles north of us. I took a drive to see if I could tell where the smoke was coming from and I couldn't, so may be just smoldering. Couldn't even see where the big grass fire was yesterday. Must of been back in a pasture, not along the road. 100* now, only suppose to go to 104*, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'll pack up some for you. I'm going to try and enclude both colors and the mix.

About sowing poppies:
I winter sow all my poppies with great succes. They benefit from a cold period.
Poppie seeds need light to germinate, so never cover the seeds.
It's often said poppies don't transplant well, but if you transplant them early in pots and plant them in the garden when they're big enough to distuinguish them very well from weeds, there is no problem at all.
I have quite a lot of poppies (Papaver and Meconopsis)
Fast growing poppies like Papaver somniferum and Papaver rhoeas you can easily scatter in the garden from October until March in zone 6.
I advise to winter sow in containers the slower growing poppies, like Papaver miyabeanum, Papaver rupifragrum, Papaver orientalis and Meconopsis species.

Jonna

Thanks Marti

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

(Corey, I received my seeds today)

TO ALL WHO DONATED SEEDS, regardless if I'm the recipient:

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Did I remember to say thank you?


Now to go research some of these plants so I know their requirements and where to put them in my garden.

Goddess Bless!


SFC

LOL - sounds like one happyy Newbie. :)

A.

Yeppers!

now i have to re-plot out my garden using my grow-veg software so I don't repeat the mistake I made in the spring by over planting and overcrowding.

Yeah....i need some software like that! Being new and just reading the backs of generic packages i didn't quite space my stuff very well. My zucchini is absolutely taking over and shading out the gazillion turnips!!!! Didn't have a trellis for the cukes that decided to climb the carrots that are really fat, and really short weird shapes. and the watermelon....finally flowered! Lol. We're eating good though. Plenty of zukes and cukes cherry tomatoes are finally coming along with Italian Golds right behind them! Didn't get many beans or peas. But next year i have a plan!!!!

LOL @ SFC & Outlaw

i had a plan this year, but it wasnt a very good one. failed to take into consideration the time from planting till veggies could be picked. next year have to do better !!!!!!!

My Daikon radishes have boomed and are overshadowing things arund them. Rather nice, frilly white flowers, and huge seed pods, too. If those seeds mature before the fall rains, I'll be able to save lots of radish seed.

Corey

Corey, still waiting for your answer what seeds are frequently asked for.

Jonna

I'm sorry, Jonna, there is no specific answer, unless Robin has an idea from longer experience. Around 16 people have asked for a very wide variety of things.

Many people will ask for "perennial flowers hardy in their Zone" ... Zones 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 have come up.

For them, I have to pick from pkts that I happen to know are perennial, and guess at how hardy they are, since my gardening knowledge is slight. I haven't had time yet to look up all the "singleton" pkts and write down hardiness zone, or whether a name that I don't recognize is annual or perennial in some zones (or whether it is a flower or something else).

I did make one pass through every packet, and if that pkt was marked "[P]", or had a hardiness zone, or I recognized the name, I filed it that way.

If a name is completely unfamiliar, I don't even know if it's a flower, shrub, tree or vine.

What I researched first was anything that we had multiple pkts of, so that I could make one label and then label 5-30 pkts. Right now, that is mostly what I'm filling requests from.

I have some more recently donated seeds to file, some of them enough to divide 3-15 ways, and I looked those up already but still need to split them.

Corey

would love some double peach holly hocks and shastas if possible? susan

>> would love some double peach holly hocks and shastas if possible?

Sure, both of those show in my notes as "multiple pkts".
I assume that is "Peaches & Dreams" Double Hollyhock.

Corey

ohhhhhhhhh, I would like some of that too, please.

Sure thing, Patti. I have you down for these:

lavender breadseed Poppies (Papaver somniferum)
Double Hollyhock "Peaches & Dreams"

Corey

plus purple poppies if possible,ty

??
lavender breadseed poppies / Papaver somniferum http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/238/
??

I forget what else "The Stash" has for poppies, but I'll look. If not, I think I have some of this left:
"Lauren's Grape" Opium Poppy Papaver somniferum

Corey

your the best! what would you like in return?