Join Us! Seed Swap Seed Starting & Conversation #7

I can't come help you cause I am swamped with seedling ready for their new homes. What was I thinking? And I planted more seeds last night. But, this time I only planted a few seeds in each container.

One cup outside has, I know, 50 or 60 little pineapple sages in it. Everyone of those darn things came up. Geezus. lol : )

I only ended up with 16 pineapple sage but that was plenty lol I figure when the gals get here I can push them off on them :) I still have seeds to do too and starting to wonder if I'm going to have enough room once I transplant all of them, I was wanting to put a lot of them in 3" and 2" pots but I already have a shelf almost full of the 2" and a half shelf of the 3" so guess I'll be doing some six packs to save on room I can do the coleus and some others that way just wanted size on them when I put them out. I have two shelves of tomato and peppers transplanted then I have two seed trays full of peppers pluse all of the ornamental peppers to put in 16 oz. cups yet so that will be another two shelves probably lol I do have one of those little table lights that my cousin gave me last year I may have to dig that out this year :) You would think that 16 shelves would be enough but I think I'm going a little overboard with the seeds this year downstairs LOL

Hello everyone,
I'm not really MIA lol, but I am going as hard as I can to get seeds planted. I think if I keep going steady I can be caught up sowing seeds by July or August.

George didn't even say how many jugs he's WS, 103 WaHoooo good job George no wonder you haven't been on here :) I need to get off here and get going but it's so hard to stay off LOL

Hi, George! good to see you're still around and plantin' those jugs. has anything germinated for you yet?

hi ansonfan :)

I'm just getting your amaranth seeds ready to plant. Do they self sow for you?

On the subject of bringing things indoors... I bring several things inside to my garage. Mostly neglect and a little water (emphasis on little) and they make it through. I have 4 geraniums, ivy, black and blue salvia, lemon verbena, some pineapple sage that I rooted in water last fall, and fairy lily. BTW I just this year found out that the pass a long plant that I did not know the name of is fairy lily. Need to look it up again as I have forgotten the complete Latin. Some call it Zepher lily. My lemon verbena is looking kind of "sorry" hoope it doesn't die on me.
Nothing on my ws jugs either. Am going to stop looking every day!!! Can't get out there now too rainy.
I wsowed my alyssum in a big pan and plan to cut in chunks and plant out. Read about that somewhere. It went outdoors today.
Did you all read the article about painting pots? Can't wait to paint all my old ugly plastic pots to match.

Veronica where is the painting pots thread? Like I have time to do that I bought stencils a couple of years ago and some paint it's probably dried up now :) Wanted some large butterflies need to go looking for those they probably have some good ones out now.

I have a few alyssum seeds to sow maybe I'll look for a big pan here, what did you use for the top or did it have a lid?

I haven't seen any germination in my jugs either yet but I don't want them to until later.

All of my pots are Fairy originals:) Have been fro years, from when we lived in apartments!!

Lea-I did the Goats beard inside-took almost 3 weeks for it to germinate...

Thanks Fairy :) I'll dig mine out and plant some then try the WS thing too :)

I want the time to paint pots I think I'll go back to work then I'd have more time LOL

Lea It was in the articles in the last few days. Very good info but I am not very good at that kind of thing. She made it look easy (easy for some not for me) I will as I usually do have paint all over me and in my hair!!!! but I will get the job done. If only I had a camera and knew how to use it lol. Also if I knew how to post a picture I would lol
This pan was one of those big plastic things rolls come in at Sam's. It had a lid and I've been saving it for a long time. I also used one of those chicken things from Wal-Mart. I burned the holes in them with my hot glue gun. Then Lea, I did as you taught me put them out in the rain today. Wha t a rain right.....I sowed them and will put them on a table tomorrow when the rain stops so the excess waater can drain out....

The rain isn't even going to stop until late evening here I'm thinking :) Everything is flooded here and we have water coming in in the basement I always prepare for that and have things up except I left a box of shop lights on the floor they got wet on the bottom ;-) I've had to sweep water constantly though and the sump pump is running constantly. Yes some rain, if I could USE A DARN CAMERA I could take pictures too, I would love to just show all of the water out back and where my new babies from last year are, some were :( A teenage girl is coming sometime this week to help me with my camera LOL I'm soo embarresed!!! It's nice to hear someone else is in the same fix I feel your pain!

I haven't looked around yet to find a pan, something like that would be great. I've just been transplanting and still have more and running out of dirt and have one bag left in the back of the truck and the neighbor hasn't been home to get him to carry it in for me, I can't handle 3 cu. ft. bag LOL Usually I bring it in in buckets but I need to get it in here before it freezes when it gets cold again anyway, I hope he's home tomorrow! LOL If not it will just be 5 5gal. buckets LOL I hate to miss out on all of this rain to water my jugs :) The other day I took a watering can to the ones I'm doing now and they are kind of dry but the rain will take care of that when I put them out in the morning, I've got most of them planted still have a couple to go tonite.

Ansonfannnnnnnnnn!!! I been worried about cha! Are you killing yourself with seedlings? Or are you making a booth to sell plants outat the end of the driveway? LOL!

Starlight, I htink I am on the wrong thread, but this computer is funky here and the screens take a long time to change. The peas are edible once you shell them :))

Indynanny, When you bring things in, like the B&B Salvia, are they in pots, or were they things you dug out of the garden? I need to learn how I can pull stuff up and out of the gardenand bring it in is whyI ask.

Lea, Do you have any flats? The kind the little cell packs from the nursery fit into? If you fil it w/ potting soil and the sprinkle the Alyssum it does real well...plus it's another you can put outside the day it germinates. I have no idea if Indianapolis is getting all that rain, but I think if TCS didn't get it, then I didn't either. Save a pineapple sage for me!

Speaking of sages, they have a lot of them down here...one is red flowers, but the stems and calyxs are purple. Does anybody know what kind that is? All their Salvias say "Salvia ssp"...yeah, like I didn't already know that much!

I hope the south east is getting enough rain to fill up their water supplies!

Suzy

Morning all!

Hope you're not flushing away!

Guess what: I've been planning to put some seedlings outside this weekend but now it's going to snow! Not a white Christmas but a white Easter. Hate that!

Oh no Tuink-I'm sure the snow won't last for long!!:)

Suzy-you don't sleep on vacation either??LOL

Lea-I didn't do anything special for the GOat's beard-just in my little Sterlite GH w/ all the others in my living room window....

Ugh. Everything here is wet including my basement. Rain, rain, and more rain.

Bonus:
I've been working 10 hour days because our contract at work is about to expire and my company has been building a strike bank. Apparently we are not "banking" at a quick enough rate so I now have to work most of the holiday weekend and will begin TWELVE hour days starting Monday. Heaven knows I could use the money, but how am I ever gonna take care of the 357,873 seedlings I have growing here? I am freaking out just a titch. Actually I'm freaking out a lot. LOL.

Lala,

What you need is a nanny for your babies!

Tuink you are exactly right and it may happen too. My inexpensive plants that I grew from seed are going to end up costing me a fortune if I have to pay the neighbor kid to come over to water and rotate flats every day. But then again I'd never trust anybody else to do it "right" so that plan probably wouldn't work anyway.

LaLa-LOL-I think we are all a little protective of our babies!!!!

Suzy wrote

OH SUZY ---- with the angle of the HUGE front.... currently ALL of your state is covered in greens and yellows. Our area is dry. it's cloudy, but we hardly got any rain, though it was originally forcasted. [I'm sure you've checked a radar by now]

Lea -- so sorry you guys are floating away. our old house used to flood too. nothing fun about that.... just watching the water spurt up thru the cracks in the foundation, and bubbling up thru the cracks in the floor.... i wouldnt wish that on my worse enemy. [weeeeeellllll, there is this one gal...... ]

as I am a compulsive seed checker.... i have sprouts this morning.... they are in the flat that i have 'cooking' on my heat mat. I still have to go [fill in my spread sheet] to figure out who's popping up, but i do know the "Disco Red" marigolds Suzy sent me and Scarlet Milk weeds, and i think some MGs [split personality i think ] so -- they germinated in roughly 36 hrs or less.

Yeah Terese!!! I check mine every day now too-it seems if I forget a day all kinds of stuff goes on!! I have my 3 WS containers on the patio just waiting for it to warm up so they can grow!!

I have 10 tiny sprouts [out of 98]

It wasnt the SMW, but Green Envy Zinnia that is germinated [3 of those, out of 7] 1 Candy Cane
4, out of 7 Disco Red, 1 each Star of Yelta MG and Split Personality MG.

It's the best time of day: checking for more newborn babies! Had none yesterday, such a disappointment!

tcs, I admit I am a compulsive seed checker too! How can anybody not be :) Ya just gotta love all of these babies coming up!

Dad had one side of the basement fixed for leaks these on the other side must have popped up later and he never got around to it I guess. There is more water out there this morning than I have ever seen here and I grew up here :)

I have two tripple daturas up and one looks like it has a knot on it's head lol this one is going to be a waste because there is no sign of leaves just the seed pod in a knot it looks like :( I have a few more in there though.That's the only ones that have germinated so far.

La, I used to work 12-15 hrs. a day, my choice, I did lose a few but not many, just get up an hour earlier, I know it's hard and water, water, water that's all I can say about that and good luck!

Suzy, I have plenty of those flats and the ones with the holes in the bottom too, good idea, I've never planted a whole one before so never thought about it, I know people do just didn't think about it, thanks! I may do some of that perennial A too! I got you covered on the pineapple sage, ho many did you want :)

I need to learn how to save plants over the winter too, I had a beautiful saphire blue salvia that just killed me to leave it out to die :( I just hope I get one out of my two seeds LOL

Hey everyone! Sorry Suzy, we got rain. Boy howdy, do we got rain! Nora and I were watching some bad horror movie (we LOVE those old 30's-50's sci-fi movies) and the power flickered a bit - then there was this VERY BRIGHT FLASH, and nothing. So we got our flashlights and padded through the house turning off everything we knew was on (like the modem, the plant lights, etc.) and stood and stared at the neighborhood without lights. In a bit we heard sirens, and waited to hear if they were the tornado sirens or moving - they moved. I went downstairs and decided to stare out the front window for a while (amazing how stupid I get when the power goes out) and I noticed a glow in the distance, maybe a block or so away - and was amazed to realize it was a house on fire!! So we watched the flames and glow for a bit, were thankful it wasn't us in this weather (and thankful the rain helped put it out), and then I gave up. This morning when I went to turn my lights back on one won't turn on, so it's back to Wallyworld! I've already rearranged the basement from the last large rain we had, so all I've got to do is keep an eye on the few spots we have that bubble up during big rains like this.

HI Ansonfan!! I figured most of the folks who are "MIA" are off planting seeds, transplanting seedlings, or something related to seedlings - LOL!

Next I have to switch the software I use for my website, and get some new plans to a couple clients, pot up some seeds, transplant some seedlings, and see if I can get that door closed on my new greenhouse that I started to put up last fall so that I can use that to harden off my seedlings. No....I've got PLENTY of time....(thank goodness the government lets you file an extension on your taxes, I can see where this may be the year I have to give up and let someone else do my taxes....)

Now that lots of stuff is sprouting and quickly needing transplanting, I find myself standing there staring stupidly at all of it, thinking "what have I done?" I'm going out of town for a long weekend (4days, 3nights), and had an all out anxiety attack last night thinking about all of it. So, I was up till 3am making and filling newspaper pots, sterilizing more soil, and sowing more seeds. This morning I practically bolted awake, and after my giant mug of coffee got back into it; got 32 Nicotiana transplanted as well as the first 11 Magellan zinnias.

Any of you growing Convulvulus? I have Blue and Red Enchantment sprouting, and were they ever fast!..like 2 days. I've never even seen them grown, and wondering what to expect from them. I'm curious if they'll tolerate a bit of shade.

Hi Gemini,

They behave like MG's except they don't climb but trail. Good for hanging baskets or the border of flower beds.

They can stand some shade but flower more in full sun!

Lea I don't even own a camera. My next techy purchase
VB

Illoquin
The black and blue was a big ole thing and I pulled it up and put it in a bucket with some of the garden dirt. It has grown lots of sprouts around it and I am hoping I can divide it when it gets warmer. this was my first and the hummers loved it . I could not find any seed to save. Don't know WHO ate them. Ha

Some things were in pots so I just left them in their pot. You can just about do anything and see if it works. They are in front of an East window but the temp in there hovers around 40 all winter. It is an attached garage.

Suzy, those Red salvias you see around in the stores, don't get much bigger than what you see. They last a long time. I don't know what kind they are tho. I think they biggest I have seen those are about a foot tall. They do get wider.

I like the taller salvias, myself. Also, I've never seen a hummingbird on those small ones. I don't think they like to get down that low.

I love all salvias, and wish I had a bunch more. I'm looking for white right now, and mainly any other color besides red. I have 3 reds already, so I trying for some other colors, before I go back to the reds.

Are ya warm, today?

No, Blue, not warm at all!

You may be interested in Salvia argentea which has white flowers and is nice and fluffy!

Tuink, nice and fluffy sounds just perfect. I just looked that one up. It is pretty, and I like the leaves, too. : )

I'm here! I'm not MIA
I promised DH 2 YEARS AGO! that I would paint the loft before he moved his office into our new house. I've peeled the wallpper off the wallboard (cursing those nice little old people who sold us the house), removed the popcorn from the ceiling (getting seasick from the sagging ceiling that was revealed), mudded to fill in the gaps (developing multiple tendonitises), clogged/disabled the AC with all the drywall dust, and now am removing the last of the dust and eagerly anticipating sealing it with GARDZ and finally PAINTING!-which is all I wanted to do in the first place! In addition, I'm getting my licensure requirements up to date, planning/facilitating a pilot project butterfly garden at my Hospice, studying for the Hospice NP certification exam, cruising the co-op page(I need professional help! ). Also we have a round-up soon.Whenever I drive anywhere, my car refuses to pass a nursery and will not start until I load a plant into the back. In my copious free time I'm planting my beloved seeds and seeking a cure for cancer. Other than that, everything is boring here. I pretty much think this is how everyone elses life is too. Which brings me to the question that brought me back here:

How soon do I separate the seedlings? I know it's been addressed- somewhere- I just don't have it right now.

How do I get them out of that foam stuff? Someone gae me an herb kit and I planted it w/ seeds from the coop. They are coming up and I'm not sure how to separate them.

How soon do I separate them? I seem to recall 3 sets of leaves but I fear that may be too late?
MIA but you are not forgotten,

Maggie

Thanks, Tuink, that's just what I was hoping to hear!

Maggie, what kind of foam stuff are you referring to? The little foam cubes out of the stuff fresh flowers are arranged in (or at least looks and feels the same)?

Maggie-make sure you patent that cure for cancer so you get the millions....LOL-you are one busy lady & shame on your car for making you get more plants!!

gemini
>>Any of you growing Convulvulus? I have Blue and Red Enchantment

I grew Blue last year.... and what the bunnies didnt eat, got HUGE, as in covers a lot of ground!! plus they grew upwards just a tad, 4-6" maybe, but spreads like wave petunias.

It's terrible the way that car behaves;-)
I'd give up the patent to avoid the pain I see.

Maggie

Hope everyone is staying as dry as they can this soggy A.M...I saw some pics of cars just floating away on the news last night..yikes!!!

I guess I am off to plant some more to day..I have petunias and tomatoes sprouting..so hopefully the temp is good in my little hot box contraption.

I'm afraid my story eclipsed my questions.

How soon do I separate the seedlings? I know it's been addressed- somewhere- I just don't have it right now.

How do I get them out of that foam stuff? Someone gae me an herb kit and I planted it w/ seeds from the coop. They are coming up and I'm not sure how to separate them.

How soon do I separate them? I seem to recall 3 sets of leaves but I fear that may be too late?

Maggie

Oh, Maggie, I realized I didn't answer your question. Typically after seedlings have their first set of true leaves is the recommended time to transplant, but some small seedlings benefit from allowing them to get a little bigger so you can handle them. I've waited too long to transplant many times, and its usually no big deal, you just have to be careful untangling the roots.