We came from here.... #22
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/939534/
Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #23
woohoo-I'm 1st!!
And the runner up is....
There is a question I forgot to ask a few days back when the dis-cussin' was about soaking seeds and cleaning seeds and baking soil in the oven (yum yum, hey grandpa, what's fer supper?)
H2O2 was referenced - 3% like for cleaning up cuts and scrapes, 10% or 20% from the Beau-tay Supply for uh..cleaning....uh....things..yeah-cleaning your cutting board and stuff or some other high percentage of food grade H2O2?
Did I miss this info by 'speed reading' right past it?
This message was edited Jan 10, 2009 3:30 PM
LOL-I just got excited since I am NEVER the 1st one;)
ROFLMAO Fairy.... it;s the lil things in live, isn't it??
Ok, workign to get everybody shipped on Monday. I tried to get everybody as close as I could to yoru wants lists and I picke dthrough and picked through and since everythign else was doen to the bottomof the trough. I just took em all mixe dem up good , put emin a buckey and just grabbed and pitche dinto everybodys buckets. Just kept goign the line til they al was gone, so if ya get somethign in yoru envie and ya don't liek it, trade or bury it or save it for the next piggy swap. : )
I LOVE the idea of "random sampling"!!!
Oh and when I was growing up, always heard ya gotta eat yoru veggies to grow big and strong. So everybody getting a veggie or two too. It good for ya. LOL
Forget who it is , but somebody here the group plants veggies with teir flowers and it a great idea. fresh veggies and flowers all in the samearea.
Not sure how they do it, but sure whoever it is wil be glad to explain to th erest of us how to design veggies and flowers together.
Star... with "companion planting" there are veggies to plant with flowers and some to avoid.
I read to plant Borage with Tomatoes. and Parsley with Roses ?? i know i did it this year.
I also had a tomato plant out by my marigolds... didi that after i hear bunnies dont eat maters.... so - out in the field it went. [i had an extra 'mater plant]
I have grown stevia for six or seven years. It is an annual here, at first it was hard to find and just last year I saw it at walmart so it must be growing in popularity.
I mostly use it dried in tea. Just dry it like any other herb and crush it and add to loose tea .
If you use it fresh the leaves need to be bruised to get the most flavor.
Whoever had the honey crystalized in the plastic "bear"... don't microwave it!! I tried that last year, and promptly melted the bear.
The honey did get nice and translucent again, though. But scraping it out of the microwave wasn't great entertainment.
LOL... Jill, i do it on occasion.
another thing... dont add 'fresh' honey, with the 'comb' to tea.... i did that a week or so ago... figuring i'd have a nice treat..... hot tea with fresh honey... the honey comb melted and created a wax like substance... it was aweful, i had to dump it.
sometimes when the honey get so [ as in really old crystalized]... i end up pitching it.
This was a pretty cheap bear... YMMV
I like crystalized "cream" honey as a spread on toast.
OH... never thought of that one... i do love honey on toast.
see-my bunnies don't eat marigolds, but they eat my mater plants, but the marigolds attract Jap Beetles...so I am darned if I do and darned if I don't I guess....
Mornin' Gang. I'm all pumped up 'cause I just saw my first teeny tiny seedling poke it's head above the soil. I've grown plants from seed for several years and I'm still filled with awe every time I see what appears to be a tiny spec of dust come to life and begin to grow.
Here's my question of the day: Is there any kind of rule or guide line telling us which seedlings should and shouldn't be pinched? I seem to always be in a quandary on this one.
LOL, looking for some of that first sprout adrenaline myself. Just planted my first seeds indoors yesterday. Got out the new heat mat and thermostat from the coop, put em under the new light set-up. Sooo, I had to take a look this morning, just in case. Silly, but I had to look. Now the poor things are gonna be like a watched pot... oh well, breathing on them is supposed to be good anyway right ;-)
OK, for those of you who need a Seedling Fix...
".....you're tellin' me to go to rehab, and I say no, no, no....."
Oooooh Robin, what ya got? Huh? Huh? What ya got?
Those are paper daisies - to the left are pansies that haven't quite sprouted yet, so I keep them under a piece of cardboard (the "in the dark" thing). And when I checked this morning I was tickled to find some Johnny Jump-Ups had just begun to peek out.
I completely agree on the amazement of a sprout. I have to keep looking in awe. Such a wonderful thing! My dd received a "sprouting" kit from her teacher for christmas - and when I say sprouting kit, it is a 1 1/2" pot with a peat pellet and 5 seeds. She was SO excited and we had to plant them immediately. Oh, did I mention they are seeds for Christmas trees? I have NO experience with trees and there was next to no information with it - my heart sank. Well, we now have 4 little sprouts and my girls think I can grow anything. Ha! I will have to do some research though because as the cotyledon opened up, it is not the typical two leaves I'm used to......there are 8 pointy leaves that look like pine needles. Interesting.
Star, I had mentioned that I grow veggies along with flowers. Yes, you have to be careful of what you plant together. Here is a link to a basic list for anyone who is interested. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants I am a reader and read a couple companion plant books which got me started mingling everything.....but you just can't throw everything together. I should have mentioned that before.
Here's a link to another site that list beneficial planting combos:
http://www.tinkersgardens.com/vegetables/companionplanting.asp
Thanks for bringing that up - I've got to be sure I take that into consideration when replanting the front yard after they're done fixing the sewer. I was also surprised to see that fennel elbows out other plants - I didn't have that issue at all with the fennel I had in the back yard.
You can't throw everything together?.... :( really? You mean I actually have to plan this one out? I don't have a lot of veggies, just a few that the kids might like to try so I wasn't going to plan much.
Great information on this site though, as for the ones I want to grow, it doesn't seem to be much of a conflict so I am probably good. :)
I think one of the biggies is to be sure not to plant hot peppers near anything else you may want to eat, like broccoli, etc., as they'll pick up the capsaicin (or something) and end up tasting rather horrid. Believe me, I've inadvertently had this happen to me (in my first garden). The broccoli looked MAHvelous, but tasted, well...not so good. Now the hot peppers go with either flowers, or in a container.
Piggy Update....
Two things first. We have one piggy who at this time due to personal health issues not able to get her seds for the swap. Sopon as she is able to , Margaran wil be contacting those she had seed soined for and sendign them on to ya seperate when she can.
Secodn bit of news. Gonna try and get evrybody to po tommorrow but it may be tuesday. I just spent almost three hours broke down in the cold and waitign for somebody to come try and get me started and back home and until I sure I aint gonna break down again, may have to buy new battery , my friends gonan come take me and everythign to po and it wil either be tommorrow after they get done with their stuff or tuesday afternoon.
I so sorry. Finally get everybody here and now I last piggy holding us up another day.
Don't worry about us Ella, take care of yourself!!
I'm amazed at how quickly you were able to deal with that mountain of seed packets! Yes, take care of yourself and don't take risks, especially in this cold weather. And tell Maragan her health is more important than seeds, also! :-)
Moutnan of seeds is right LOL. Tryign to get warm. Had to stadn in cod wind and didnt have coat with me just sweater on cuz wasn't only going little ways down the road to store for more packign tape and pringles. held out for as logn as I could and next a chip fix. LOL
I don't know how old this battery in in this clunker i got last year so I may havet o get a new one, sicne i have a big old wagon takes alot of power to start and run it.
No worries Ella-not like a day or 2 will make a big difference....
Take care of your health first, Star & Margaran, and no more going anywhere in your tricky car without a box of emergency stuff like extra scarves, mittens, sweaters, socks, water-resistant poncho, thermos of something hot...what am I forgetting, piggies?
Don't you be streesing on my account - what would a reverse oink sound like?
bluespiral, knio, with the k being silent like in knife? Or would you pronounce the k?
Star don't fret a day. Mondays are horrible at the P.O. Get that new battery and keep warm and safe!
Margaran, I hope that you are feeling better soon. : )
I was so inspired reading your posts that I went out and planted that seed I should've planted last year. Then I updated my Garden Journal so I knew when I planted all that. I hit the full moon ! : )
I've got to make more milk containers ready for planting, so it's fine with me that the piggy package will not be here for another couple of days. I might even use some soda bottles if I need to.
Haven't explored the links, on mixing veggies with your flowers, but I will. Was looking at where I'm going to do some cottage gardening, and glad to know the peppers will do okay with the flowers.
Give that old honey to the bees. Spun (creamed or whipped) honey is available at the store for your toast. The reason I said to start at 30 seconds in the microwave with that plastic honey bear is because they DO melt. Nice to know so many people like honey. : )
Beautiful day! : )
WIB,
SW
I just figured out that I've been using the Three Sisters planting technique, and even better there is heritage seed available from Tribal sources! : )
Thanks 'Chelle for the hyperlink, that piqued my interest. : )
dryad, I especially liked the charts on the hyperlink you posted. Very readable! : )
WIB,
SW
Yes, great info! Thanks!
Does anyone know how to get rid of the stink bug relative leaf-footed bugs? They attack my tomatoes in large numbers the last part of the summer, ruining the fruit!
I love sprouting seeds! Right now the easter lily seeds are up and thriving, as are the trumpet seeds - which I potted up into 3 inch pots - 10 free trumpet lilies, cool heh?
And last piggy swap I received some spirea seeds - and thought I would start those, even though they were a year old - now I must have about 40 of these geminated, and started astillbe - cause I thought I would have to have them warm, then cold, then warm againg - but nope, the little dickens have didn't want to wait to be cold - so here it is not even the middle of January and I have a bunch of astillbe germinated (like about 30!)
Then, I really wanted crimson pigmy bayberry - and someone got me some seeds, and I kept them moist-cold for three months - and I have 10 of those germinating . . . This is just the stuff I started, cause I was bored! What am I going to do when I really have to get started . . . . please someone help me . . . I think I have an obsession for starting plants!
BTW - has anyone ever had any success starting begonias - this is the second year I have tried and no success. The lisanthus appear to be a bust as well . . .
Listhianthuis takes three months to germinate. begonas take about a month to germinate. Begonias you won't even be able to tell they up. Ya just abotu need a magnifyign glass to see when they have sprouted, no kidding. They are the slowest growers. Take a good three to four months just to get them up to plug size.
Ya just abotu have to start begonias here in nov and december to have them ready for ground by May. They sit and pout and sit and pout.
Seandor Glad to know the spirea seeds stil germinating. When cleanign out my bxes to throw into extras trugh had found some i stil had and thought I need to sprout these but wasn't sure if they would stil be viable. Y anever know with shrubs and tree seeds.
LK. Only thing I will use for bug problem in garden for edibles is seven dust. If ya go over to veggie forum or tomatoe forumand ask, them folks wil have alot better advice. Don't get them that bad here and I have lods of beneficials and birds that help with insect problems.
Oh do not cver begonias and ya wanna make sure you use a sterile mix cuz with them takign so long to germinate they wil rot on ya.
The also i have foudn like it semi dark. some light but not alot. I would always put them just outside the range of the lamps. they seemed to do best there until I woudl see the sprouts them would move them to undre the lamps.
It also best once they up to wait ten days and then feed them with real weak fertilizer of miracle grow evry other two waterings and they need to be kept on semi dry side and best watered from bottom unless ya have one of them mini misters to water with.
Oh Rats! I thought the begonia seeds would need LOTs of moisture - well, I screwed up majorly! I did start the begonia and lisanthus in December. Well, I won't waste any more time on them. . . . sigh . . .
Oh, wait! That's right! I have lots more seeds coming for me to play with! Yippee!
Yikes, I guess I'm too late to start begonias for this year, then... should I go ahead with my seeds now (for tuberous begonias) or save them to start next fall for summer 2010?
Gee - what have you got to lose? I would start them now - If you end up with plants, won't they make a tuber that you can overwinter and get a headstart on beonias for 2010?
I did well with the begonia "illumination" pink last year, and I know I didn't start anything before January. They did take forever to come up, and were itty bitty, but by mid/late summer I had hanging baskets overrun with them.
I've just started some more of them, plus the nonstop mocca varieties... hope they do as well this year.
