What annuals do I need to start in January?

Leeks love our climate, but don't get as big as you see in the grocery stores... not enough time in our season. We can grow the kind of artichokes that put out blooms the first year, since they don't winter over here, but it's always iffy.

Violas & dianthus should work fine either way, but if you want early blooms, start them indoors. Violas are lovely little seedlings and transplant well. Your season is so different from mine that I'm not sure how to advise you.

OK-Here's one for ya'll. I do have 1 light, we gave others away when we weren't really using them : ( No mats. What are some good suggestions for plants that use little light and germinate at lower temps?
Weez, it's nice to see you here and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!We all so appreciate all the seeds you sent in for the swap!

~HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Weez~
And thanks for all the seeds you have given us. Hopefully, we can repay your kindness some way, ...some day soon. : )
~Lucy

Thanks, Flowerhead... why not try growing fungus... doesn't need much light.

You are more than welcome, Lucy. I'm just thankful that Suzy and friends are willing to see they find good homes.

Flowerhead, Primula and pansies and violas and begonias would all be good choices to start now. Start them all in 4" pots. When they get bigger, and they need to be transplanted into flats, just keep your light on 24 hours and rotate them in and out of the light every 12 hours.

In mid Feb you can do Impatiens & hosta and in March, add Coleus.

Of course all this is dependent on you having shade in your garden....they are all plants for at least part shade.

Suzy

Thanks-Weez! lol-I do love mushrooms! and Suzy- thanks for the suggestions. I should add that I have a wall of passive solar windows-spring is when the sun starts shifting, so it won't be direct sun at all points.So, some goods will be in my basement with the grow light, others I can grow utilizing the windows, some annuals I will WS and then there's the ones to do direct. I like the idea of rotating using my one light!
I have everything in my garden Suzy-sun, shade, part this, part that. We live on about ten acres and see no neighbors no matter how hard we look!

Tigerlily, (or anybody)

Do you use the bales of soilless mix? If so, how do you break it up to fill your pots and sheet packs? Mine is one big brick that I have to sort of chip away at to get a chunk, then I have to squeeze the chunk several times to get it to break up...this stuff can *not* be good to breathe, and I am working in an enclosed basement.

Thought there might be some tricks o' the trade or something.

Yes, a mask is a definite plus! Since I sterilize it, I sort of break it up as I go. Wetting it will definitely make the breathing easier.

Hi WZ!

I just sent a something off to you yesterday, then I got something from you today, and sent something right back at cha.

You sterilize your soilless mix? How do you do it, and do you have to practically chip off hunks of soilless mix out of the bales?

Suzy

Illoquin, I do use the baled soiless mix. Its already sterilized, so I don't sterilize it.

Some of the bales are more compacted than others, but I get the guys to toss the bales off the truck when they deliver a load just to loosen them up a bit. You will find that one end of the bale is always looser than the other end, and its usually the top that is looser, so thats the end that I open up. I slit open the top (its hard to explain-I actually took pictures of how I opened it and loosened it for someone else, but not sure where those pictures are-I think in a dmail and not sure how to just paste part of the dmail thread-if I even can do that)

With a knife-start at a corner and cut in a diagonal to the center and stop, then do the other side. Then repeat on the back side (still the top) and this time go thru the center seam of plastic. You should have 4 cuts and the bag should be open. Then on the front flap, I make a cut from the top side, in the middle so that the front becomes two flaps that open up, like a funnel, so you spill less dirt, so you can scoop out the loose dirt into a large container. I have 50 gallon tree containers that I use.

Its easy now that you have some of the dirt out of the bag, to slide your hand down a side and break off a piece and just pushg down on it with your palm and it should break up some. As you get it loose, push it down the funnel in the front of the bag into the big container. I usually use a third of the bag at one time. After I get the dirt in the container and its all broken up (believe me, its easier and faster to break it up in the bag than the container) then I put water on the top of the dirt ( about 5-6 sec-from a hose) and then put my hands in and do the doggy paddle mixing all the dirt. When you are done, if you grab some dirt in your hand and squeeze hard, when you let go-some of it should remain in a clump and then its ready to use. You don't want it too wet or too dry when you are working with it. The key is too get the dirt somewhat moist, but not soaking wet. Then after you transplant, it will water in well, and fast and the dirt won't be too compact.

Hope this helps, and that I have explained it clearly enough. Its hard without pictures!

I never use a mask-just don't do it near a fan. The whole process of breaking down and mixing a third of a bag should just take a few mins after you get the hang of it. We put the container of dirt on a large table after mixing it and then put the 2nd third in the pot and keep doing that. Once you get the first third out of the bag, it goes a lot quicker

Okay, thanks! That is more or less what I'm doing, except the cuts into a funnel, but then I don't have (or have room for) anything to pour it into. I wanted to just dip my litle plastic pots in to the nice fluffy potting soil and it ain't happening. I think I need a Rubbermaid bin or something. Hmmm....

Suzy

Suzy, get a couple of chickens. : )
My neighbors let their chickens run loose, and if I leave a bag of anything in my yard, they come over and shred it into fine particles. Yesterday, they raked all my leaves for me, right out of my flowerbeds. I'm gonna have fried chicken tonight. : )
~Lucy

It is so much easier to work with the soil moist than dry. The larger the container you can get in there, the better. You will learn how much water to put on the soil to mix and get the right consistency-its liking making pastry-cutting the butter into the flour is very similiar to mixing the wet clumps into the drier soil underneath after you add the water.

Illoquin, just because something is sterile, it doesn't mean it is sterilized. I sterilizie mine just to be safe. My mix is not so bulked up that I need to chip it, as a rule. If the mix is packe hard, I use one of those claw-type cultivator tools to loosen it up.

Ah, I just figured out that the bag is upside down...I bet I got the hard as a rock and formed into a block stuff that is at the bottom that Tigerlily was talking about -- it's going better now that I have gotten into the bag more.

I was hoping somebody would say, "Ah, ya just need to add a gallon of hot water and come back to it the next day." Or something really easy, but that didn't happen.

I ended up using a Turkey roaster to mix the dusty stuff with water so I could fill pots from that.

Suzy

I can see that the bottom would probably be compacted. Usually starter is a very fine mix, so, if compacted, it would be quite a hunk. You might consider that, if it was so hard, it may have taken on moisture somewhere. If so, the plastic bag was compromised, allowing whatever moisture to get in. I still strongly recommend baking that stuff at 180 core temp for a half hour.

Get a turkey roasting bag to go along with that turkey roaster, fill it with starter, lay it out in the roaster, poke a few holes in the top and stick a meat thermometer in it. It may not be necessary, but losing lots of little seedlings to dampening off is no fun. By the way, sometimes you can lay the bags on their sides and give em a good trouncing with your fists to loosen them up, but those bags are pretty heavy.

Okay, I'll do that (Bake the soilless mix) for my next wave. The Impatiens will probably appreciate it...they can be kind of fussy.

180 for 30 minutes...gotcha.

Thanks,

Suzy

Just to clarify-if I understood correctly what illoquin is using-its the same as what I use which is just a soiless mix that is comprised of peat, perlite, lime charge. wetting agent , maybe some vermiculite and a very small amt of fertilizer. It is not what is known as a "starter" medium that I use with plugs, that is very fine and doesn't have sticks etc in it, and comes in a loose bag, like a Metro mix, ect.

If so, the reason that the medium is hard at the bottom is because its compressed-and therefore supposed to be hard. If its done right, and the bag is not bumped around alot, then the whole bag should be hard/compressed. Sometimes the medium in the bag does get wet (but then it becomes easier to break up) if there is a hole in the bag. In all the years that I have been using both kinds of medium, I have never sterilized any of it. I have never had damping off either-well, maybe in the first year or so, but I quickly learned to keep the soil dryer after germination etc. Thats the real key, that and good air circulation etc.

Different people, different opinions, different experiences. Looks like you are on your own on this one, Suzy. I can only tell you what works for me, but I don't want to make extra work for you.

I have never sterilized my soiless mix either. I use the bags of compressed mix so it is hard when you open the bag. But it loosens without too much of a struggle. I fill a dishpan full of the mix and put it in my laundry mix where I mix it with hot water so it's moist to the touch, but not wet. I plant each type of seed into small trays that fit 6 into a standard black tray. They have holes punched into the bottom. I reuse the trays every year, I just scrub them with soap and water before each use. After I put the soiless mix into the trays I lightly water them with a No Damp mixture and then plant the seeds. I put the trays into clear plastic bags propped up from touching the seeds with pieces of wood. Then I put the trays under the lights until germination (unless they're seeds that need darkness. Karen

bump

Thanks so much for this very helpful information!

Here's a similar thread in the Seed Germination forum

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/943821/