"THINK SPRING!" seed swap DISCUSSION

Sounds like a wonderful day!!! I was thinking of you all.

It was over 58 degrees here, and there was no wind or clouds and it was sunny, so I was wearing shorts by mid-afternoon.

As I was walking to an area to do some stealth planting (my "story" was that I was picking up trash in case anyone asked), I met someone who was clearing a roadside area so that he could sow native plants for butterflies....and he can use my leftover seeds!

That's great, Muddy!

I am convinced that I'm "that weird lady" of my neighborhood. Today I was walking around in my gloves and baseball cap, carrying a hori hori knife. A car slowed down and may have taken a picture of me as I was surveying the winter weeds in my front yard. I think they wanted to make sure I wasn't a homicidal maniac running around with a knife in my hand. :/

That's hilarious, ssg!!!

Awesome--Muddy!!!! I am looking forward to it...

Judy (coleup)--I was so touched by all your comments and your story-telling
re the Swap. So sentimental! So touching!---S0 sincere! {{{{Big HUG!}}}}
I think you came to terms of what you have missed by not being able to
come to so many of these swaps. You have such a BIG heart!

I picked up a very few seeds too-- many of which should be WS.
I also have some of my own. Need to now sort through them.
I had some luck last year with WS'ing. Am encouraged to do it again.
The next phase of dealing with seeds is about to begin! Will it never end???
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I would like to suggest some very useful containers for WS'ing--besides bottles and jugs.

--The high-domed, vented plastic containers that 2lbs. of grapes come in are awesome.
--Also--some of the larger. higher pastry and cake servers. just make holes.
--Just bought these--the very high domed, square, vented containers the Artisan lettuces
are grown in. Perfect!
All the above (and more of the like) are totally vented on the bottom as well as the lid.
Ideal for WS'ing.

Many of these containers give you a chance to sow smaller quantities of any given plant.
These also allow good light to shine through the clear plastic. And--are easier to keep track
of how your plants are doing. No lifting of tops of jugs to see.

If you are sowing seeds in a bigger container--a high cake top is great as a dome.
Just melt a few holes in it for ventilation.

1qt. flavored water/juice/soda bottles work great for really small quantities of seeds.
Cut the top 1/3 off--add soil--seed seeds--put cut off top back on/into the bottle. NO cap!

You may think I do this all the time....NOPE! Just giving you good ideas.


BTW--I seem to have "inherited" a big Zip-loc bag of a dozen packets of seeds
of "Great Blue Lobelia". Anyone claiming this? It, accidentally, ended up in my Big Box.

David--was this yours??? Did you not give me this plant last year?
I will mail this back to whomever claims it. If you can wait--bring it to you at the
Spring Swap.
Here it is! Speak up! Look familiar? LMK.

Gita

Those are mine, Gita, and I would love it if you would mail them to me. I'll send you a Dmail with my address.

Oh Muddy, I am so glad you will be hosting the Spring Swap. What fun to see another new garden.

You'll leave with a renewed appreciation of how beautifully kept your garden is : - )

Yay!!! We get to see Muddy's place in person :) Long drive for us but it will be worth it.

Thanks for the link Coleup, I checked out their site, looks like some pretty cool stuff. Haha too on the you have hair comment! It was weird seeing you without the bandana :)

I was going through my seeds before the swap and put aside the ones
I wanted to (maybe???) grow out.

Today I went through the selected seeds again and pulled out the ones
that I thought would need to be WS.
Tell me if these are all good WS candidates or which are not.

Annual Celosias
Gaillardias
Balloon Flower
The tall rudbeckias--like Indian Summer (from Karen)
Coneflowers
Tall Ageratum
Alyssum

That's all I can think of now...Thanks. g.

Gita - your candidates for winter sowing would be your Rudbeckias and Coneflowers. Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower), however, is a warm germinater and does not require cold weather.

Gita, This is my understanding on WS but I don't do much of it so I could be off base, be interested to see if I am right. Basically any thing that is an annual you don't winter sow. I'm not sure if you can winter sow all perennials but I think so.
Your Annual Celosias should not be WS
Is your Alyssum an annual, they are in my area so if it is then you wouldn't WS those either.

Thanks all--

I kind of DO understand that biennials are usually candidates for WS'ing.
Basically--follow along with what nature does...is the way I think about seeding...

I have seldom done WS--so I needed some assurances. Had some success last spring.
Many people here talk about WS as it it was THE way to grow plants.
Maybe it is just that they grow many seeds that require it.

I have this tiny bed that is a lost cause--by my Lilac bush where the Hornets were.
Last summer--I tried to grow a second round of Cukes in there--but it was too late
in the season--hardly any sun--so I got maybe 3 cukes out of it.

Before the Cukes--I did dig up and amend one end of this bed (right next to the
beginning of my YUK bed) enough to plant 4 DL's in there--as I had nowhere else
to plant them. These 4 DL are ones I grew from seed hat Nancy--gave me at the
seed Swap when Joyanna was a baby. Seems she never stayed active in the MAF.

I planted them in clay pots and they survived OK-lounging around my Raised Bed.
They bloomed in 3 years. Very pretty blooms...hybrids...unusual...

Last year--they were still in those pots--and i wanted to "liberate" them to a bed.
Looking for a spot to plant them in--I chose a part of this disposable bed.
Actually--the soil in this "useless" bed is pretty awesome--but dry--it needs something organic.
I fixed that with a lot of the compost sally helped me dig out of my SEM.

Was thinking today that-since I really cannot grow anything in there anyway--(roots)
why not just work up the soil a bit and fill the whole bed with Tropical B-Weed???
Judy--this thought should make you happy!!!

I have plenty of seeds of this Butterfly Weed from last year. Had them in a big pot.
Should I start them indoors? Or direct sow in spring? I will rake this bed up---dig in some compost--and scatter the seeds. Sounds OK to me!

Then--put up a sign...."Monarchs! Come and get it!!!!."...:o)

If I may make a suggestion---

Now that the seed swap is over--how about a new Thread on issues
with growing things from seed--and any problems or successes with this
aspect of gardening?

My last post here would be a good "Lead in"....you can c/p it over to here....

Gita

Gita, your Balloon Flower could be winter sown. As far as annuals, those listed as hardy annuals can be winter sown, half-hardy and tender annuals cannot.

Post # 256........................hint.............

Thanks David....You are always so helpful!!!

Gita

Just started a SEED thread.

Please join our seeding adventures this spring over here

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1386420/

Here are a few pics of the Mini Amaryllis bloom. For those of you that got the little bulbs.

Very cute!

Sweet!! Did you grow those from seed or propagate from a bulb you once bought? There are several white & red named miniatures... wondering if yours could be 'Baby Star'... Does that name ring a bell ?

I don't think she remembers where they came from for sure. She thinks GH club.
I'd like to do some winter sowing but just can't brave the cold to prep my materials.

Muddy, when do you think you'd be hosting the spring swap? I think our swaps are usually on a Saturday in May, although not on Memorial Day weekend. There's one weekend I won't be available, so I wanted to make sure to pencil in the swap date!

ssg, I started a thread so people can weigh in: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1386734/

Critter, I was given the Mini Amaryllis, pretty sure from the Greenhouse Assoc. I never did have a name for them. The color is really more of an Orange with a white throat. I have had them for about 3 or 4 years now and they are reliable bloomers.

Nameless or not, they're very pretty! I'm looking forward to mine. :-)

I have a question------

Did my long envelope (like the ones I have in my BOX), with the Yellow
Pear Tomato pictured on the front accidentally go home with someone????

If someone wanted all the seeds to these tomatoes, it's OK, but I sure
would like to have the envelope back. I have looked in ALL my boxes--
and it is not there. I would use it again and again in the BOX.

Please check--and let me know. Not a huge deal--I can create another one...
I am sowing seeds--and I have NO envelope--and NO seeds...

Thanks--Gita

I'll double check, but I don't remember anything like that ending up in the "free to good home" box of extras.

Thanks, Jill--I found it.
It was in a small envelope-NOT in the legal size--and was "lost" among them.
G.

Critter, that was a great article about the importance of knowing Latin names for plants!

Thanks, Muddy! I was traveling yesterday and didn't realize it had re-run. The "name thing" came up yesterday when I was trying to help somebody ID a "mystery plant" that I think might be one of our favorites -- Alpine Catchfly -- and I mentioned that there were 2 different genuses that went by the name "catchfly." Lychnis alpina is the one I have, but if the flowers on hers don't match up with that genus, she's going to look at Silene species also... both can have similar basal rosettes, which is what she brought in to look at.

The importance of knowing Latin names also came up when Gita and I were comparing our experiences in growing primroses, and Greenthumb pointed out that many different plants are called primroses.
I didn't realize just how many until I looked up "primrose" in plant files: there are 726 entries!

Think of all the John Smiths in the country. The Latin name is the equivalent of a Social Security number.

nice analogy greenthumb