Gardening: Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #28

We came from here ==> #27 http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/947535/

Thank you. Thank you .. Thank you! : ) I cna breath again.

Oh I am so glad you can breath again Star! : )

>>I would love to be somewhere warm.

I think - some day, DH wants to sell everything and move to Panama or somewhere WAY south.
**sniff sniff** hostas wont grow down there....

but Oh to be rid of this cold weather.

You wouldn't have hostas, but THINK of the orchids you could have!!!

I will some day live where I can garden year round and I will have the best garden ever lol

as soon as hubby retires from his job since he is a FED employee we are stuck in canada for mmmmmmmmm another 12 years lol

Hey Meredith, what did you do to get your lucifer (I'm assuming crocosmia) to sprout? I WS'd some but would like to try some indoors too.

Lots of empty houses out here, and I'd love the company. Wouldn't go further south, only because I can't stand how they treat people down there. Still can't grow hostas, but my orchids are happy!
Thank you for the new thread, tcs! ^_^
WIB,
SW

so how much for those empty houses for like a 3000 square foot one acre

Don't know, but I'll ask around if you are serious. Our area has so many new buildings, and then the market fell out. Supposed to be the worst hit area in the nation, and people are motivated to sell. Lots of foreclosures and lots of desperate people. You may want to check with an online realtor. I'll Dmail you with more info.
If it is any consolation to you back east. Our power went out tonight. We've been getting rain showers and an unexpected T.storm. Do you know how long it takes for teens to go into internet withdrawal? 3 1/2 minutes. Yup, you should have heard 'em complaining! Sissies! I always enjoy storms, but tonight I had just gotten into the shower when the power went out. It was a very short shower. LOL!
WIB!
SW

Are you scared of the shower buggy man LOL

Naw, Just tripping on the edge of the shower. ^_^
I figure I'll go blind someday, and I've been practicing walking around the house without using my eyes. I was more worried about loosing the hot water! LOL!
WIB,
SW

Singing Wolf, you know what they say what will cause you to go blind.....

I have missed chatting with everyone. I had to get a new laptop, the old one bit the dust. So I am now trying to catch up on everything.
I have WS some of my seeds, I have been afraid to put them outside. Leap of Faith, I know. I do have poppies sprouting!
South Prairie is cleaning up after the floods. I am going to start seeds and put baskets of seedlings on their doorsteps for MayDay. I can't wait.

Star, I am going to try your method with the towel under the flats for the seeds the I start in the GH. I have a bad habit of overwatering and have been fighting those nasty gnats. I potted up about 20 petunias today that I had propagated in the EZ Cloner.

I am going to host the PNW Roundup at our house this August. Thanks to everyone here, I should have some pretty flowers, and some seeds to share..

Star, are you using your apron? I would like to see a picture of you wearing it!

Lynnnnnnn!!!!!! Glad to see ya check in finally. Been worrie d abotu ya. Thought maybe ya had got hit with floods too. Scarey when our friends kinda drop out of sight suddenly especialyl when ya know there disasters in their area.

Nope not yet, Was too cold day I went to PO, had to bundle up, I had four sweater, one t-shirt, two ski hats and my winter coat on that day , no heat or defrost in car at all, , so I saving for the first day of market. : ) Yep will get pic for sure.

They cost a bit of money to get but well worth it is you waterign lot s of seedlings to get a nossel for the end of your hose that has the small droplets on it.

Also think I paid about 8 or 10 bucks , somewhere aroudn there for a fertilizer sprayer. You hook it to you water nozzle, then hook your water hose on to it, and put the one end of this hose that attached to it down in a 5 gallon bucket of water with 3/4 cup of powdered miracle grow mixed in it and ya can fertilize all your plants without giving them too much and burning them. Saves on fert costs too.

Perenniallyme - I just did them at room temps, our house stays pretty warm because dh keeps the woodstove going. It averages 80 F in here during the day! lol It gets cooler at night, it's 71 in here now. So about a 10 degree difference in day and night temps. I don't know if it matters, but that's what they had. It took 15 days and I had 8 sprout out of (i think) 30. I haven't counted them again since two days ago, so more might have come up now. Hope I helped. : )

Looks like I'll be able to transplant some Pansies today! I'm seeing the first true leaves on them, so I guess its about time. That will free up some space in the warm room, so I guess I'll get some Torenia and Nicotiana sowed in the next day or two. This year I swear I'm not going to be so heavy handed with those tiny seeds, LOL.

I think I know another cause for the mold in my impatiens pots. While the power has been off its been much cooler in the house. I think the combination of moisture, darkness, and cool temps set the stage for mold growth. I'll keep an eye on them for a while longer before giving up.

the nicotiana is that the five foot white ones or the pastel short ones

I've got some of both (Nicotiana) to start. The tall ones in particular I like to get an early start on- they make a dramatic statement in the garden!

Agggggggggg It's alive!!!!!!!!!! And it moves!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man oh man, I just had to make a mad dash out in the frost and cold. I had brought in a bunch of empty seed trays yesterday to get washed and sterilized. Too cold to be doign it out side.

I went and did a coupe, adn turned around, grabbed another one and as I went to put inthe water. I saw a slight movement. grabbe dmy glasses and whoaaaaaaa ther it was little feet waving in the air saying Hi and goodornign and please don't give me a bubble bath.

here I had a baby prayign mantis that had been hiding in the trays. Had to run him out sid e in the gh so he coudl find food to eat. If I would have any raw hanmburger in the hous e would have feed him and kept around the plants and seedlings in here, but know there not enough food for him right now.

I put him under a msall plant that had lot sof leaves so hopefulyl he cna stay warm for a little bit til sun comes out.

So folks, if ya liek me brigning stuff in from outside to work, becareful, ya may have more house quests than ya want. LOL

Now to get my heart slowed back down. Not good to get me so excite d first thing in th emornign when I haven't had my coffee ration yet. : )

>>baby prayign mantis that had been hiding in the trays.

What a wonderful sight Star. I see the adults all the time, but never any babies. I have a few 'pods' around the yard - get'em every year, but never seen the lil ones.

>>start seeds and put baskets of seedlings on their doorsteps for MayDay. I can't wait.

Lynn -- that is such a sweet gesture. I'm sure everyone will be grateful.

I got some new one the flats I mean , and now Im running out and will have to clean the old one soon like yesterday hahhah but will get around to it this weekend I will not let them sit but wash them right away or even better will get DH to wash them hahahhah
he has to do his share lol

Thanks for the info Meredith. So you didn't soal or scarify them? They look like tough little buggers.

I left some of my 3.5" pots out thinking I'd get them later. Now they are buried under a few feet of snow! Ugh! guess I'll have to do without until this snow melts!

Thanks Mer for diresting me-totally missed the jump at first!!LOL

I cross posted with you. I meant to tell you I had to water them. So I recounted and there is now 14 in there. Some of them are barely breaking the soil. I didn't scarify them or anything. Now I think I actually put 3 per cell, so it is probably 14 out of 18 germinated. I held some back in case they didn't come up this way. So I'll probably start some more now that I know they'll work out. I just learned my lesson last year- ending up with 6 flats of ungerminated stuff - taking up space. I decided I would not devote any more space than I have to to seeds until I see I am successful getting them to germinate. : )

Hi Fairy! Your welcome :)

if they are perennial they will come up on there own in the spring
I do that every year I will start them and leave them in the pots
last fall I left 23 6inch pots on the deck with small plants in them I will plant them this may
since they seemed to small to plant last fall I was afraid of mistaking them for weeds this
spring so by this fall they will be bigger and they will bloom this summer

This message was edited Feb 6, 2009 10:39 AM

Thanks Meredith. Guess I'll try some indoors. I know what you mean about those ungerminated flats. I've got 1 1/2 flats of various candy lilies and belamcanda that have been sitting on the heat mat since Jan 11 and not a sprout in sight. I'm beginning to wonder - and could sure use the mat space for something else.

Maybe try taking them off the heat mat first and see if they sprout at cooler temps. I am no expert on either of those. BUt I did get some belamcanda from last years piggy swap and they germinated fine without a heat meat.
Scicciarella - I still have all the flats in my garage right now. In hopes some stuff will stiull germinate. At some point there will not be room for them there anymore. As I make room for this years sown seeds. My plan is to dump them all in a pot and sprinkle it in an open area and see if anything comes up. : ) Once there isn't 3 ft of snow on the ground that is ; ) Hopefully that will be before April. he he

Thanks Meredith. Guess I'll try that - but I don't have temps of 80 in my house. 60's max days, probably 50's at night.

I'm afraid the foot of snow that's on the ground is going to melt and end up in my basement today and tomorrow. Indy's sewer system ain't the best in the world.....yeesh. Maybe the wind will pick up and a lot will evaporate??? Yeah, that's my story and I'm stickin' with it.

Robin -- I too was thinking about all this "meltage" we are gonna get this weekend and into next week... at least they took the rain out of the forecast for tomorrow.... last time this happened, the week after Christmas.... much of our town went under again... just not as bad as in Sept.

Oh Fudge!!!!!! I need some help. I gotta quit lookign at sales and pretty pics. I bought from T & M some Chrysanthemum carinatum ' Sunset" seeds. bright bold colors. Nevr had em before and I readign th eback of the package and it says to sow outdorrs. Well that ain't gonna happen.

Winder has anybody trie d to sow them indoors yet? Also. and this the kicker... udner all the directions it says...

Foliage can cause dermatitis.

Now I grow decorative mums and have no problem. Ya think I would have one with these guys? And ain't dermitis flaky skin? Does it eat yoru hands?

perenniallyme - do you have a heat mat? It might help with these ones. Especially since it would make your temps. similar to what mine sprouted in. Even if you don't I would try them anyways. I moved them down to my finished basement after I saw the first 8 germinate and it hasn't stopped more from coming up. It is pretty much the same temps. as you said you keep your house. So they will probably be fine with the cooler temps.
I set up my zip up greenhouse down in the downstairs with some lights on it. Last year I only used the garage - but I didn't start as much stuff this early. I think this winter has been much colder. My garage has been staying about 40 to 45 degrees. Last year I think it was more like 50's all the time in there. So I think it's too cold for seedlings still. Once it starts getting warmer I'll be moving stuff out there. The little set up I have going right now won't hold half as much as my set up out in the garage.
I put a flat of hollyhocks down in the basement there thinking they might germinate better in the cooler temps. - I don't know though because clothiers sight says 70F then grow on cooler, so we'll see. I might have to bring them back up. What do you think?

I use a dome and I put the rack above a heat vent that is only open a little it keeps them just warm enough to germinate

I prefer the cold germination since I have a large part of my basement that is unfinished it stays in the hight 50s to low 60s it seems to work fine and for the one that need light I have two windows that do just right for those

Oh good. I figured if hollyhocks are outside germinating - it would probably be much cooler than 70 at night. They don't drop seeds here until our nights cool off a lot.

geez, Meredith, you just told me to take them off the heat mat and now you're saying to put them on! Actually I have some good news. I just noticed that I have 2 teeny sprouts peeking up from some candy lilies that I started on the 24th of January. Still nothing on the 11th Jan ones, but the ones I started later I had in moist mix in the fridge for 10 days or so, after reading to do that. No signs of life on the blackberry lilies yet, but now there's some hope. Also had some of those in mix in the fridge.
Can't help you on your hollyhocks. Hope someone else will.

For what it's worth, I WSowed 6 or 7 containers of various hollyhocks (all singles) and they have all germinated. Our temps have been as low as 32* and as high as 70*+ since I put them out. Don't know if that helps any.

Just some humor. I remember planting some hollyhocks about ten years ago and pulling them up because they didn't bloom (duh). I don't think I even had heard the term biennial back then. Knowledge is such a wonderful thing and I'm getting som much of it from you fine folks!

Tonya

if you purchased the seed then just plant them in soil cover the seeds with soil and they will grow if they are the perennial kind and they got collected put the seeds in the fridge for a couple of weeks before planting them

Hmm. All of my hollyhock seeds were from the swap, so y'all must have kept them cold for me or the temps outside did the trick. Maybe they got their dose of cold in the mail truck!