Seed starting MAF part 3 5/23/14

looks like you have some wonderful herbs and veggies! That oregano patch is huge!

yum!
My oregano is going great this year too. I cut a bunch last week and dried it.

we better cut some soon too. what we really are missing is all our rosemary that didn't make it through the winter... boo hoo. we use that much more often than oregano. Our new rosemary plants are still pretty small and the needles look fatter and longer. I hope what we got dries as nice as the old rosemary

What do you all do with Mint?

I have 4 big pots of it growing....don't ask me why! I never really use it for anything...
I do not drink tea--just one cup of coffee in the AM.

I already have several zip-baggies filled with dried mints. Don't ask me why here either...

--My 4 pots of Mint at the corner of my shed landing. That is Dr. Seuss Brug
growing from a cutting behind it.

I do nothing with mint either. I have a couple mixed into my garden fence so if I ever decide I like it, I'll have it. Apple mint is pretty right now with big soft leaves. But mint always gets ugly when I pot it.

wind, if I ever have a reason to come to NJ I'll bring rosemary.

I lost my rosemary this winter also. Sad.

So did I--but I bought a new pot of it from Bonnies at HD.
good sized plant--$3.48

Potted it up in a shallow, 10" pot. G.

I have two rooted branches of my rosemary potted, will keep them going for whenever someone needs one. And a large branch needs to be pruned- guess I should make some cutttings of that as well while I'm at it.

Oh seeds- my dill is coming up nicely in the garden, but my okra, zero zip nada! I had three pods , now I did leave them in the shed so they got very cold but that shouldn't hurt dry seeds! I sowed them really heavy and haven't seen a single one up, it has to be two weeks now.

I got new rosemary, too, after mine died over the winter. But it's really small and has hardly grown at all so far.

Guess I need to learn more about how to root cuttings!

Already thinking ahead to the fall swap. I have several plants that have produced babies so far this season!

Sally, sorry to hear about the okra! Hope it grows for you.

I wondered why I keep my rosemary in the house with the more tender herbs over the winter. Now I'm so happy that I did. I put a huge bush of it outside in a pot on the deck. I'll take it in next year too. Sad that I live so far away from everyone that dropping in to share is not really an option.

I lost my huge prostrate rosemary too, but discovered a rooted branch that did miraculously survive. It has not had much chance to grow, as I am constantly nipping pieces off for making dinner. I've tried taking cuttings from it in the past without success.

Typ, it sounds like I should save you some rosemary from my plant later in the season! :-) I love the herbs in my garden--I love to sniff deeply while I am out there, and love all the beneficial insects they attract--but I never harvest and use them--I just don't do enough cooking, as my daughter can attest--LOL. So, if I can harvest and pass them on I'm happy to do that! :-)

Cat, I think I should be okay with the plant I have. Thank you for your kind offer. The original plant was a very vigorous grower, so I'm sure I'll have more than enough by the end of summer. It's a cool plant, acts more like a ground cover shrub. I grew it from seed when I still lived in an apartment.

Glad some of it survived for you! :-)

I have replaced several of the plants I lost this winter--I even found another begonia 'Kaylen' online. Yay! I'm definitely going to bring some of it inside for the winter this year.

thanks Sally!

RRR wish we were closer too

Typ glad you had a surviving rosemary sprig! Cat, I never heard of Kaylen, will have to look it up. I love begonias.

I started our Okra indoors, why? don't ask... anyway, our cats ate all but one sprout. Sally, could bunnies have eaten the sprouts?

I want to plant a few more seeds and get the potatoes in, but mosquitoes are horrible. they started early today those devils!

LOL I haven't heard of okra loving cats before! :-D

The Begonia Kaylen is one I picked up last summer and it was hardy to zone 7. It really grew great for me, and based on the past couple winters I made the decision to let it stay outdoors with a good mulching. Well, it did not come back. So, I found it again; maybe this time it will last!

teee hee... I think they were looking for more purple majesty millet!! they loooooved and devoured those

I haven't gotten in any veggies yet. I do have some kale that resprouted from last year. I'm still trying to get my shade garden going so veggies have to take a back seat.

I think I'm finally seeing some carrots peeking up, and my red beets look really good, I hope to pickle/can a batch this fall. I like to do both qts. and pts. they are really ready to go when making cackleberries. Toms and peppers are finally responding to the warmer soil temps. Asparagus is going to fern, except a few spears cut now and again for fresh eating. Strawberries are going crazy, I've picked 3 1/2 qts. so far. My container potatoes are about a foot tall. I didn't get and Peruvians or fingerlings ordered this year, so it's russets and Kennabecks. I need to spot plant my tuberoses among my glads.

wow, Ric, can't believe you get so many strawberries! how do you keep the birds from eating them all? Never heard of Kennabecks. Do you hill your potatoes? I'm going to try it with a new batch of potatoes that I planted today. Planted them in rows so I can try it.

We have a bed of potatoes starting to bloom and they regrew from the bed they were in last year all over the bed. Too hard to try and hill them. The new ones we're trying that I planted today are Butte organic seed potatoes. They took up 1/2 a raised bed.

While I was out there, I also planted a few cherry tomatoes and Goldman's Italian American tomato plants that I started from seed, plus a few more clumps of Quinoa cherry vanilla. I also moved some Chia salvia seedlings that popped up from last year; they love to self sow all over the place.

ch ch ch CHIA!!

I must start some for my son

First caladium leaves unfurled!! I'm not sure which one it is since all my caladium bulbs got mixed up when I planted them. Maybe Florida Sweetheart or Red Ruffle?

I have tiny pips up in 4 or 5 pots of my caladiums. Just emerging....

All but one are from Aaron--the white one...
G.

Just saw this article about Fall planting out dates, and of course the time for indoor seed sowing is approaching! I have ornamental kale seeds that I'm very eager to grow out this year and thought that some of you might benefit from the reminder too:
http://groweat.blogspot.com/2014/06/almost-time-to-sow-seeds-for-fall-cool.html#axzz34FficNVQ

Typwc thanks for that reference it is a good reminder to start fall seeds. I'd like to hear about favorite sources for seeds. I usually go to whatever garden center is close and pick from their selection.

It really depends on what seeds you are looking for.
Tried and true: Pinetree Gardens.
Fancy varieties: Botanical Interests.
Unusual heirloom vegetables: Baker Creek.

Pinetree Garden Seeds is where I usually order from. They are very cheap seeds but some things I've ordered did not come true to the expectation: Purple Ruffles Basil and Purple Magesty Millet. The plants are/were fine, just not purple. But so far everything else has been good. I would say stick to the standby varieties there. Don't try to get too fancy or you could get burned.

I've ordered from Baker Creek as well, but the prices are just too high for me. Everything I got from them was of superior quality though. Botanical Interests has a lot of unusual varieties of flowers but I've never ordered direct from them (bought through 3rd parties).

If price is not your concern and you don't have unusual or large quantities in mind, then I see nothing wrong with your system of just going to the local garden center and picking from what they have. Benhke's has a wonderful selection!

I adore Select Seeds they have a huge selection of mostly heirlooms which means you can get the big varieties not the little stunted dwarves they're breeding now. Their customer service is good too.

There are a ton of articles out there on the subject but this is the first one I came across. http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-
gardening/best-vegetable-seed-companies-zm0z11zsto.aspx#axzz345yl0SIA

I just picked 1 1/2 to 2 qts. of strawberries again, putting my total to 5 1/2 to 6 qts. When I put the bed in I raised it 8"s, this doesn't seem like a lot till you bend over to pick them. I also added a soaker hose under the landscape fabric to facilitate watering during dry periods. I made use of that a couple of times last year, it saves water, putting it where it's needed, reducing evaporation, and prevents wetting the crowns. Weeding as you pick keeps the bed free of weeds. I'm wondering why it took me so long to make this move. Oh, I remember why, it's called a job. LOL
I think the spelling for job should be changed to jobb, so it would qualify as a 4 letter word.

LOL Ric--too funny! :-D

jobb....hahahahahahaha

I have to quit picking ON my Tristar strawberries so much. I'm finding a few OK size berries this year. Guess the plants just had to mature for a few years. When they were brand new they made lots of pitiful tiny berries. Ric, your raisd berry bed sounds great.

What strange failures I've had this year. I planted about a hundred okra seeds and have two thousand maples and every OTHER weed coming up there but zero okra. How can not a single one come up?

Two batches of spinning top gourds have yielded zero. One in garden and one in a pot. Happily, someone kindly sent me some newer seeds.

Red Castor beans- four in pots before Swap to offer to Catbird, zero so far. I think I'm jinxed!

Have loads of butter daisy volunteers now, and cukes are doing super !!

My cukes croaked, right after I set them in the garden, come to think about it so did my one zucchini. I'll have to see about replacing them. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. My castor beans grew but are so spindly??? I may try some more.

Ric, my cuke died also! :-( Not sure why. I've also thought about getting another, but wonder if it would die, too!

This is my first year venturing into veggies. I also have a watermelon, a bean plant (Phaseolus vulgaris) from seeds from Critter, and a tomato plant from a local swap. These all seem to be doing okay, especially the bean plant which is now climbing the trellis!

It was still pretty cool and damp, when I set mine out. Maybe just too cool, so maybe "cool as a cucumber", should be rethought. LOL
Sally, I just planted my strawberries last year, but my soil and compost mix was heavily amended, so it is well drained and fed, with no competition from weeds and moisture saving mulch, they had no choice but to thrive or be ripped out. All the times I've seen other berry patches I looked to see why they did so well and incorporated all the best features in my first attempt.

LOL maybe I should try again--certainly warm enough now!

My Tomatoes and Cucumber plants seem to be doing OK so far.
Knock on wood! With all this rain--I just hope they don't get some kind of
a "creeping crud"....

I am back to using this East-facing bed for my veggies. Enough sun!
BLAH on the raised bed!!!!!

G,

Does anyone have any idea what this seedling is? I have several of them, if you can suggest a genus then I should be able to get the species. I sowed a lot of seeds around here and then forgot what it was I put here....

Oh the little reddish thing is a cockscomb seedling. But it's the other fern-like thing I'm curious about.

So this has been really bugging me. I went back to my seed stash to see if I could find anything that would grow like that. I think it might be dill. I don't remember sowing dill there and it's probably going to have to be transplanted. But anyway that's what I think it is.

So there you have it! :)

hi, Typ. For comparison, here are 3 different types of dill that I have now from seeds: Dukat, Tetra, and Fernleaf. They are all super fine and feathery looking. The stems on your plant look thicker and not as feathery looking. Is there a 4th kind of dill that has thicker stems?