Seeds Sown So Far #2

Oh, yeah, not everyone has a winter like us!

xxxxx, Carrie

I was off work today so I got a chance to sown some more seeds! The first time I wintersowed I did 25 containers and I was way too busy with seedlings in the spring. I said I would do less this year. Well I am up to 27 containers and I have not started any annuals yet! Looks like another busy spring!!

Here is my full list:
Salvia farinacea 'Blue Bedder'
Iberis sempervirens - Candytuft
Asclepias tuberosa - Butterfly Flower
Nepeta x faassinii - Select Blue Cantmint
Salvia x superba - Blue Queen Salvia
Penstemon (unknown species)
Lunaria annua - Money Plant
Penstemon smallii
Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Arizona Sun'
Salvia forsskaolii
Rudbeckia hirta 'Autumn Colors'
Penstemon digitalis
Daylily (parent 'Strawberry Candy')
Rudbeckia hirta - Black Eyed Susan
Rudbeckia fulgida - Black Eyed Susan
Echinacea purpurea - Coneflower
Hosta (parent Frances Williams)
Liatris spicata
Platycodon grandiflorus - Balloon Flower
Leucanthemum x superbum - Shasta Daisy
Heuchera sanguinea 'Firefly'
Heuchera americana 'Hybrids'
Echinacea purpurea 'White Swan'
Monarda didyma
Thymus vulgaris - Common Thyme
Festucus ovina glauca - Blue Fescue
Thymus serpyllum - Creeping Thyme

- Brent

Wow, when they grow, would you please send them all to me? Great list!

xxxxx, Carrie

There is no need to worry about enough cold here. Although at the moment it is 48º. My winter sowing is still under the snow. I have been waiting for the snow to sink a bit more before I try to put any more containers out there.

In here I have:
JoePye Weed,
Cosmos Bright Lights,
Cosmos Cosmic Orange
Vervain,
Siberian Iris',
Coreopsis early sunrise

I'm done for the day, though there is still room in the bag for smaller "containers"

*edit to add... the bag is pretty tall, so i taped starbucks straws in the corner for support. Works like a charm. Hopefully we wont get any heavy snow that will weight it down, and bend the straws. There is also one chopstick, though it's about an inch too tall.



This message was edited Mar 10, 2007 5:37 PM

I am so behind!!!! Here's my question: if I, say, am growing mixed red and yellow helenium, do I have to wait until it blooms to tell what color they're going to be? Duh, of course! So I guess IF I wind up with a lot of plants, they'd better be colors I wanted... Oh, what a quandary. I'll just do a lot of annuals in the colors I like.

xxxx, Carrie

I don't have a darn thing to contribute to this thread except to say that after over a year of trying, I have finally been accepted by the system. I have been reading threads for quite a while now but just couldn't get accepted to post. Now that I have been accepted, I hope I will have something intelligent to say.

Well, congratulations! My e-mail's been down for a week and I'm going nuts...
If you want, you can click on your name and "manage your preferences", and add your hometown or state, or your hardiness zone. Or not...
Did you sow anything this winter? My list is too long to type again, maybe I can cut and paste it.

Mike

This message was edited Mar 10, 2007 8:38 PM

Brent: Do you have any sprouts yet??? My containers were frozen until today, but after the goregous warm weather this weekend, I'm hoping to see some green seedlings in my jugs!

tcs1366: Great idea to ws in a plastic blanket bag! You might need something stronger than straws to hold up your corners, especially if you get any more snow. Did you poke holes in the bottom for drainage & on the top for precipitation?

carrielamont: Good idea to ws annuals in colors you want just to be on the safe side.

bjoan: Welcome to the wintersowing forum. Hope to see you posting more often.

claypa: It's terrible going without e-mails for a week! How did we all function BEFORE computers??? :~0

Thanks for the welcome, Mike and Shirley. I've been reading posts for some time now. This is my second year of WSing, and I went overboard, just like last year. It is so much incredible fun and the germination rate in those containers is astounding. Just like in a perfect world.

I think Alicewho mentioned using the blanket bags last year; I put trays of paper pots in them.

bjoan, I'm curious, what do you do with your 'extra' plants, and did you figure out why you weren't able to post before?

Yeah, that's my burning question... why couldn't you post? Luckily, I have a very short attention span.

So, I'm going through my seed box, to pull out the annuals, and what did I find but 73 or so kinds of perennials I haven't done yet! Good golly! I do have a number of doubles and, in one case, even a triple, but here I am posting in the seed forum that I can't find the seeds I really want (waaaah), when I have them the whole time.

xxx, Carrie

Shirley: No sprouts for me yet...expect soon!

- Brent

I checked my containers today and found ONE sprout. I thought it odd that there was only 1... and for all i know, it's a weed that possibly came with the Jiffy potting mix.

Which plant is supposed to be in that container, tcs? Tamara

I finished up a few containers of perennials today and did some annuals also:

yellow beardtongue
white buddleia
chocolate daisy
hardy cyclamen 'Lily Pad Pink'
pink mallow
angel spray (Muhlenbergia capillaris)
prairie smoke (Geum triflorum)
prairie spiderwort
rose campion
salvia 'Victoria Blue'
sweet william
Artemisia absinthium
salvia 'Jewelled Towers' (annual)
Tomato 'Cupid Hybrid' (grape tomato)
Tomato 'Park's Whopper'
4 o'clocks (had seeds from 4 different DGers, nice variety)

nothing has germinated yet. but at least I could get to my containers to check them. some of them have thawed. there is one group of gallon milk jugs that are still pretty frozen.

I am going to pot a few more today, and then shovel enough snow to put them on the patio.
gram, If some are still frozen it will be awhile before you get germination.

>>Which plant is supposed to be in that container,

Tamara, it should be a "cosmos"

Terese

zen, it will be while on those, but some are thawed and were nice and warm yesterday.. of course, it's supposed to get cold again. I give up...leap of faith...they're on their own for now.

edit to add: I did some dahlias and cup & saucer vine (Cobaea scandens) this morning

This message was edited Mar 12, 2007 1:33 PM

Well, I did nasturtiums, salvia coccinea, portulaca, petunia, morning glories, impatiens (butterfly mix?) and lobelia (crystal palace). That's 8 more. It's supposed to get cold again? I now have my seeds in big envelopes marked "perennials - now or never" and "annuals - get to these". It's really supposed to get cold again? I don't know - I wasn't planning on needing faith at this point. I guess I do, though. We all need faith. My PCA and I were talking about NOT buying lobelia this year. Some of those seeds are sooo tiny!


xxxxx, Carrie

It is suppose to be 68 here tomorrow and then the temps are suppose to drop again with chances of shhhhhh snow.. (that is saying the word really low so it can't hear me lol)

But this is typical Michigan weather for us lol... We just never know what to expect. Plus our last frost date runs from the middle of May to the end of it...

But it is sooooo nice to see the robins out. dh even seen the blue jays out today... So Spring is deffinately on its way :o)

Connie

Connie,

we too will have warmer temps tomorrow -- today was great. a lil windy but 62° after all was said and done.
with 69° for tomorrow and then dropping to 33 by friday -- nice while it lasts though... but as long as it stays above freezing... i'm ok with that... at least for now.

First day of Spring is Tuesday. (next tuesday)

Terese

Terese, is spring really only a week away? hard to believe, but very exciting! the only birds I've seen are house sparrows moving in to the bluebird houses next door, but I'm even glad to see them this year.

We have mockingbirds, mourning doves, robins so far.

>>is spring really only a week away?

it's easy for me to remember as it is my grandmother's birthday. (she'll be 90)

as for birds.... some stayed/stay most of the winter, but they are certainly a lot more active -- though a few weeks ago, i did add a birdfeeder. But i have seen A LOT more redwings. there is a pair of cardinals, various bluejays (or maybe it's just one really active one) and the starlings are very active, looking to nest in the exhaust vents (though most in the subdivision have put caps on them to keep'em from nesting) Oh yeah, and i have my 1 downy woodpecker. (I 'id' him in the birdwatching forum) He's a pretty lil fella.

i have a few other seeds left to sow... but i'm running out of soil and containers. Today is gonna be low 70's so i'm VERY excited!! one last day of warmth... even slept with the windows open last night....

Terese

Has anyone ever heard of calibrochoa seeds? I really love them... haven't seen them in my travels.

xxxxx, Carrie

Carrie, I was asking the same thing. I've never seen any.

Somebody told me they are only propagated vegetatively! Boohoo!

xxxxx, Carrie

phooey, very disappointing

I borrowed the idea too. only I used the blanket bags to put my baggies in. so I just left the top open. I did cut some drainage holes in the bottom, and then reinforced around them with duct tape so they won't rip.

>>I did cut some drainage holes in the bottom, and then reinforced around them with duct tape so they won't rip.

I used my trusty "hole punch" to make the holes... seems to work really well for me, as long as i don't lose/misplace it again.

I just did 10 more containers, that brings me to 98 containers, most are either juice or milk containers I think there is 4 or 5 soda bottles. I started thinking about that and I would guess there is at least 10 seeds in most containers so that would be 980 seeds if half of them germinate that is 490 plants to do something with. Boggles the mind.

i had a total of 65, sizes vary from 16oz water bottle to the lasagna trays with lids.
Some small containers has 2-4 seeds where others have 100 or more.

so -- i have no idea how many seedlings i may end up with.
hopefully mopre than i can handle -- then i'll give 'em to my neighbor.

I suppose after Tuesday any we sow will be called spring sowing instead of winter sowing. Just got more seeds from a St Patty Day seed swap and these will be sown tomorrow to officially end my winter sowing. Tuesday, I'll start spring sowing.
I like the idea of sowing in containers outside. This way, the seedlings are comfortable in their little environment until I decide which bed to put them in.

No sprouts yet but it is solid ice outside. I'm up to bottle #48. Which is a lot for me. First I spend a day on annuals, then the next week I'm panicking for the perennials, then I read that the annuals won't sprout until it's 70 but I remember all the annuals like sweet peas that you sow as early as soil can be worked, then I feel sorry for the perennials again, then I get two new packs of seeds in the mail! We're crazy here.

xxx, Carrie

Not sure if I posted the latest... http://lakehousecreations.com/wintersown_2007.htm

Nice list. Love the spreadsheet too.

I have given up -- I have 50 or 60 seed packs here on the desk and I just don't have time to list them from PF into my Journal. I don't see how everybody can keep records and get all the garden chores finished! Oh, maybe if I didn't read all the posts I'd have more time! LOL!

Suzy