Does it Really Matter? Apparently Not

Earlier this month I posted about my experience last year with using cheap potting soil for my seed sowing. I had pampered a stinging nettle for months without realizing it until I went to plant it. I had never seen one before and had no clue what it was until I gripped it and felt a terrible burning and stinging on my hand. It was so painful!

This year I was more careful with my sowing medium, because I didn't want to nurture weeds. For some of my seeds I used a sterile soil mix and for others I used the little pellets. I had planted impatiens seeds and was excited to see them germinate and begin to grow. One of them was growing faster than the others. Today when I was watering, I realized that it wasn't impatiens after all. It is another stinging nettle! How did that happen? Believe me, this one is being handled very carefully...I won't make that mistake twice!

Seed Sowing Time and a Crocus!

This time of year things can change quickly in the garden, especially after a couple of warm and sunny days. I didn't think I had anything blooming yet. Just a few days ago I had walked around looking at the gardens and didn't see anything even close to a bloom and today just before running an errand I looked at one of the flowerbeds on the side of the house and saw this beautiful purple crocus. I wish I'd had more time to play with the camera, but I was in a hurry and just took a few quick shots.


It won't be long and Ill have daffodils blooming too! It really is amazing how quickly things have grown!

Trying to learn from past mistakes, I was determined not to sow my seeds too early this year, so I have patiently waited. Today was the big day! I sowed dill, fennel, parsley, Rose milkweed, butterfly weed, (all for the butterflies), pink and purple wave petunias, impatiens, coleus, Rose Pinwheel zinnia, cilantro, Iceland poppy, and lavender.



This is a picture from last year of my indoor growing system. I have this in the upstairs loft area. It works well and I've had pretty good success so far with this system. As you can see from the picture I sometimes have to get creative with my containers. Last year I also overwintered several gerbera daisies, African daisy and the sweet potato vines . This past autumn I was not feeling well and nothing was brought in to overwinter.

The birds have been singing even louder these last few days and they are starting to get frisky with each other. Ahh... spring is in the air! I'll definitely be keeping a closer eye out on the gardens now, I don't want to miss a single thing.

Buebirds Again

The bluebird is becoming a regular visitor now, I spotted him at the birdbath today. I'm not sure if he was checking out the nesting box again.

I got a few pictures before he flew away.

The ducks are so funny. I was outside on the patio this evening and spotted them coming into the yard. I walked over to Lilly and sat on the grass beside her to hold her leash so she wouldn't chase them. They walked right up to the patio and ate the sunflower seeds. I couldn't believe that they would come so close to me and the dog.

Hopefully Lilly will get used to seeing them and won't bother them, but between the cat yesterday and the neighbors dog in my yard today, they better be careful.

It was a beautiful spring day today with temperatures reaching around the low 70's. My son mowed our backyard for the first time today. It only needed it in the areas where Lilly regularly "waters".
I transplanted the zinnias and quite a few petunias. A few weeks ago, I took some cuttings from the sweet potato vines, that I had overwintered, and placed them in water.


They had nice long roots already and I put into containers today. I'm getting tired of taking care of all of these plants inside and I'm ready to do some real gardening. With temperatures in the 70's it's hard to imagine another cold snap, but I know better than to put these babies outside yet. I have so many petunias that I did get tired of re-potting them today and stuck a few into containers on the patio. I'll just have to cover them if it gets too cold.

All but two of the winter sowing containers have plants growing in them and one of those is purple fountain grass seeds that I just planted a few days ago. The other is columbine. Everything else looks great. We have rain, rain and more rain in the forecast for this week. I'm so glad I was able to play outside for awhile today.

Doggy at the Window and a Lovely Bloom

Two of the impatiens bloomed today and a few others have buds forming. I'm excited to see blooms, but it's really too early. I can't put them outside for a while yet. I definitely won't start them so early next year.

My tomatoes are up and growing well, as is the cilantro. The dill isn't looking too great though, I may have to sow a few more seeds and try again.

We thought Lilly looked so cute looking out the window. She may have been watching for the ducks. Unfortunately we didn't see them again today, or the bluebird either. I don't think my new nesting box was selected. Bummer!

This is a busy week for me since Hubby is on vacation. We are trying to get a few things done around the house. Hopefully, I can get the inside cleaned up and organized during this rainy week and then I can be free to play outside as soon as it warms up.

Delightful Ranunculus-Dumb Mistake

I bought this gorgeous ranunculus last year and was delighted with its rose-like blooms.

I found ranunculus bulbs a few days ago at Meijer's and purchased two bags for a total of twenty bulbs. I had never planted them before and discovered today, quite by accident, that I had planted them upside down. I'm so glad I discovered that huge mistake. I should have done the research before planting the odd shaped bulb.

I assumed, (or misunderstood the package instructions), that the stem went on top with the tubers pointed up. Not so, according to several internet sources, you plant it pointed down. Now I have to replant 20 ranunculus.

Indoor Growing Update

So far, all of my seedlings are doing well and I'm quickly running out of space on the shelves. The upstairs loft area has been a perfect location for growing plants. The combination of corner windows and overhead lights seems to be perfect too since all of my plants are growing straight and are filling out nicely. I just bought another light to put on the bottom shelf because it is time to transplant more seedlings.

The impatiens are getting too large and a few have tiny little buds. They really should be planted outside soon, that is, if it was already past the frost date. They grew faster this year than in 2007. I need to remember not to plant them as early next year.

I just checked and I started these on Feb. 5, last year they were started at the end of February and it took them a while to bloom once they were planted outside. They definitely did better and are healthier this year, but starting them in early February is too soon.


I've never grown liatris before, it grew much faster than I expected. They are so easy to grow from the little bulbs and they are inexpensive too. I planted three bulbs to a pot and now have six nice sized plants to add to the garden. The Butterflies and bees loved the small clump I already had and I'm very excited about adding a few more to my butterfly garden.

The Purple Wave petunias are growing well. Last year I had trouble with the lower leaves turning yellow, (probably from too much moisture), but so far, no problems this year.

Growing and propagating plants is a lot of fun for me, I love to learn new things and I like to experiment to see what works and what doesn't.

I'm a little embarrassed to tell what all I have growing inside right now, but here is the list any way. With a few notes to myself, (and you too, if interested).

Impatiens - Feb 5- 37 plants - Beginning to form buds. Start in late February 2009.
Petunias - Feb. 28- 40 plants- Need to transplant the other 34 in containers.
Balloon Flower Feb. 28 - a lot of them germinated- thin and transplant
Pansy- Feb. 28- 8 plants- transplant
Feathertop grass - Feb. 28- growing well
Hare's Tail grass - Feb. 28- growing well
Fountain Grass- Feb. 28- growing well
Scabiosa - Feb. 28- ? lost label and can't remember where they are.
Blue Flax- Feb. 28- Several- transplant
Bee Balm- Feb. 28- 10 plants- transplant
Irish eyes Rudbeckia- Feb. 28 - several germinated - transplant
Blanketflower Feb. 28- ?
Candy Mountain Foxglove Feb. 28- Several -thin and transplant

Liatris- 6 plants- Growing too quickly; in the future plant bulbs outside.
Larkspur- 12 plants so far- Recently germinated. Transplant soon.
Lilies- 6plants- Buds have formed, grew way too quickly, shouldn't grow these inside.
Hyssop- hundreds- Thin and transplant.
Lavender Hyssop- 17 plants - Transplant
Bonfire Salvia- 16-18 plants - still germinating- some ready to transplant.
Hollyhock Maroon- Some have germinated- didn't label well
Butterfly weed- growing well but didn't label - (Can't distinguish between butterfly plants)
Pink Butterfly plant - growing well but didn't label

Mallow pink beauty -March 12- a few are growing - transplant
Rudbeckia Maya - March 12- just germinating
Frost Hardy Geraniums - March 12- two have germinated - transplant

Coleus, March 22, hasn't germinated
Cilantro - Planted March 22, hasn't germinated
Parsley- Planted March 22, hasn't germinated
Mint- March 22, hasn't germinated
Dill- March 22, hasn't germinated
Roma tomato - March 22, a few are just beginning to germinate.
Tomato Super Sweet 100 - March 22, a few are just beginning to germinate.

Ranunculus - 20 bulbs- no growth because I planted them upside down, (post to follow).

This doesn't include what is being winter sown outside, or the many seed packets I still have, many of which I will direct sow.

Anybody want to volunteer to help me plant all of this?

Winter Sowing Update 3-21-08

Even though it's spring, it doesn't feel like it today. It's cold, but thankfully we aren't getting the snow the upper Midwest is getting.

I took a stroll around the soggy yard today to see if anything else was blooming besides my lone crocus, other than one other purple crocus, there isn't. I wasn't too disappointed though because I'd rather the blooms hold off just a little longer until it warms up so I can really enjoy them. I saw a lot of tulip, lily and daffodil sprouts coming up. Soon, it will really look and feel like spring!

This picture was taken spring 2007. I hope the pink tulips are as pretty this year.

I checked on my winter sowing containers on the patio and there are more sprouts. Here are the containers that have germinated so far:

#1- Foxglove, Candy Mountain
#2 & 3 -English poppy
#10 & 11- Cosmos
#17- Alyssum
#18- Gazania

I don't think I had ever made a complete listing, in one post, of what I had winter sowed, so here is my winter sowing list for 2008:

1- Foxglove, Candy Mountain
2 & 3- English Poppy
4- Foxglove Excelsior Mix
5- Blanketflower Gaillardia Aristata
6- Delphinium, Blue Bird
7- Delphinium, pacific Giants, Mixed color
8- Milkweed, Rose, Asclepias incarnata
9- Viola
10 & 11- Cosmos
12- Bellflower, Campanula carpatica -Blue
13- Lantana (This is just an experiment since I had plenty of seed. Considering this is zone 5, I doubt it will be successful.)
14- Columbine
15- Daisy Garden wildflower mix, (Black-eyed Susan, Blanket flower, Coreopsis, Cosmos, Shasta Daisy, Tricolor Chrysanthemum)
17 Alyssum
18 & 19 Gazania
20 & 23 Larkspur
21 Milkweed
22 Hollyhock
24 Ipomopsis Hummingbird mix
26 Butterfly bush
27 Malva

I'm missing numbers 16 and 25, I'm not sure what happened, I may have skipped the numbers or just forgotten to write down what I sowed.

First Crocus and the Swizzle

Saturday was Garden Blogger Bloom Day and I didn't have one single outside bloom to report. I had forgotten to look on the side of the house where I have a new flowerbed. I just happened to walk past that side of the house on Sunday and notice this purple crocus in full bloom.



One of the flowers that brought me immense pleasure last summer was the Swizzle zinnia. At the end if the season I collected what I hoped were seeds, they were terribly thin and didn't seem like viable zinnia seeds. A few days ago I decided to plant a few just to see if they were really seeds.
Well, I'm very happy to report that my first attempt, has been successful! Now I will try a few more. FUN! FUN! FUN!


The Purple Wave petunias are getting larger and all forty of them are growing!

I've been asked what I will do with all of my plants. Most of them I will keep and plant around the perimeter of the yard. I'd love to start a butterfly garden in the courtyard of the nursing home where my mother-in-law resides, so, many of the plants will go there.

Also, I'm on the neighborhood HOA committee and I've volunteered to help beautify the common area that is beside by home. I plan to plant some of the flowers on the street corner around the new playground rules sign we are installing. With the new flowerbed and the new sign posting the rules, hopefully it will be a more beautiful and pleasant place to live. I can only hope.

Well Behaved Kitty and Seedlings Galore

I couldn't ask for a more well behaved kitty. She really is a sweetheart. Not once has she attempted to play in the dirt or nibble on my plants. Even though I have a few gnats swarming around the plants and she is fascinated with them, she just watches from a close but safe distance.

Honest, mom, I was just looking.

Four of the five gerbera daisies are blooming right now. This yellow one has three blooms.

As you can see from my pictures I'm kind of desperate for containers. Thankfully I eat a lot of yogurt and had saved some of the containers. (Dannon All Natural Vanilla is my absolute favorite yogurt.)

In the grouping above I have pansies, foxglove, bee balm, balloon flowers and three kinds of grass that have germinated and seem to be doing well.

I bought a package of lilies the other day that had already started growing. There were six in the package, 2 Stargazer, 2 Le Reve, and 2 Mona Lisa all three types are differing shades of pink. I've never grown them before and hope they will do well until they can be planted outside. The large plastic yogurt containers are a great size for planting bulbs. I punched holes, with an ice pick, in the bottom and lower sides to aid in drainage.






The impatiens are still doing great. They were growing so fast that the dreaded task of pinching back was much easier for me to do this time. They are filling out quite nicely.










All but three or four of the 43 Purple Wave petunia seeds have germinated.
The Scabiosa, Blue flax, and rudbeckia 'Irish Eyes' have also germinated in large quantities.

The Blanketflower seeds, that were guaranteed to grow, are growing. Beside the blanketflower is liatris. I don't know if the corms are viable or not, but there were 12 corms in a package at Aldis for under $3.00, (I think it was $2.49, maybe $2.99), anyway, I thought it was worth a shot. I also bought a package with two 'Bright-eyes' phlox for the same price. They already had a little bit of growth, so I know at least they were alive.



Here is another picture of the Bee Balm.

















I don't know what I'm going to do with all of these seedlings. I guess I had better be finding more containers for transplanting, which will need to be done soon. I still have so much more that I want to plant, but I'm quickly running out of space.

Sowing Seeds

Lilly was here beside me a few minutes ago licking and cleaning her baby. She loves her stuffed animals and just like a child she drags them all out and her favorite place to leave them, for some strange reason, is on the stairs.

I played in the dirt today! So desperate was I to feel the dirt, that I didn't even wear gloves. Nope, I was barehanded and it felt wonderful, (usually I wear surgical gloves for this task)! The only thing missing was the outdoors. It isn't exactly the same gardening in the kitchen, but it was fun none-the-less.

I did get the impatiens into larger containers today. There were 26 of them. I decided that I would go ahead and sow a few more of the seeds for indoor growing. I sowed two packets of the purple wave petunias, blue flax, balloon flower, bee balm, pansy, foxglove 'Candy Mountain', rudbeckia 'Irish eyes', scabiosa, and blanketflower.

I also sowed some grasses: Feathertop, Hare's Tail Grass and Fountain grass.

I prepared eight more gallon containers for my winter sowing. Numbers 17-24 contain:

17 Alyssum
18 & 19 Gazania
20 & 23 Larkspur
21 Milkweed
22 Hollyhock
24 Ipomopsis Hummingbird mix

It was fun planting and preparing for spring, even though we have snow in the forecast AGAIN tonight.

Impatiens

This group of impatiens are growing so fast and are very healthy. The roots are now showing through the peat and I really need to get them into larger containers tomorrow.

I know there are people who avoid using peat for environmental reasons, but I have had great success with the peat pellets on those plants that are fussy about transplanting and will continue to use them.

Notice the huge difference in the impatiens? This group was sown at the same time, from the same seeds and under the same lights as those in the first two pictures. The only difference is that these were the ones that were gently pulled from the peat pellets when I thinned them and the others were left undisturbed. The impatiens I planted last year did the exact same way. I probably won't even bother transplanting them next year. It is just so hard for me to throw them away, on the other hand, it is very time consuming and takes up valuable space that I could be using to grow other things. Considering that, I'll give these a few more days to perk up and start growing, if not, I'll not waste any more time pampering them. I do have two other impatiens seed packets that I can use to grow more if I want. This makes so much sense, why is it so hard to do? It's really kinda dumb.

I just got up from my seat went over with the resolve to pluck those inferior plants right from the dirt while I had the nerve, but I couldn't do it. O.K. be brutally honest with me, do I have a problem, is this abnormal? Never mind, I don't think I want to know.

Indoor Garden Update

I think I would go absolutely nuts if I didn't have a little gardening to do inside during these long winter months. Here is a little update on whats going on right now in my indoor garden.

The gerbera daisies have almost made it to spring. I've had at least one of them blooming at one time or another throughout the winter.

The pink one is blooming now. I took over a hundred pictures of it this morning, with three different cameras, trying to get the lighting correct and a good close-up.
I still am not satisfied, but I'm tired of editing pictures.


For some reason, I love the center of these flowers. It looks like little ribbon curls in there.

The sun was streaming in through the window while I was having the photo session with the gerbera and I notice the back of the flower.

I'm usually so focused on the front that I haven't really paid attention to the back. It's actually quite beautiful too.

The red gerbera has new buds and a full bloom too.

The yellow one has a new bloom and seems to be the healthiest of the five, with a lot of new green growth. I am having a problem with white flies and gnats at the moment and have to spray regularly with soapy water.

I don't think I've ever mentioned that I brought in four containers of the sweet potato vine to winter over, (2 blacks and two chartreuse). They all have new growth and are doing well inside. I plan to get cuttings and propagate new plants from them. I also saved some of the tubers from the plants I discarded. I don't know if they will be any good, since I didn't store them properly. I just threw them in an open box in the garage, it may have gotten too cold for them.

I'm beginning to wonder if I started the impatiens too early. I started them at the end of February last year and they weren't quite ready at planting time. These seem to be thriving and growing quickly. I'll soon have to plant them in a larger container.

This little experiment isn't going so well. The lantana seeds need warmth to germinate, with the lid on it gets too humid and stays too moist. Now I have some kind of algae or moss growing on my peat moss. I may try to heat from the bottom and leave the lid off. Does anyone have any advice? I know it's a long shot growing these but I'm not ready to give up yet.

It will soon be time to start my other seeds, but before I do I really need to get rid of the fungus gnats. Any suggestions on that little problem?

Growing Impatiens for Spring

Thank you all for your kind comments on yesterday's post concerning our frightening little episode. I am pretty sore today after singlehandedly pulling the range around the kitchen after it caught fire yesterday, our island is a very heavy piece of furniture and I moved it too. I must have breathed in a considerable amount of smoke and the fumes from the fire extinguisher because I coughed all night, which is another reason for the soreness. Thankfully that has pretty much subsided.

Today was a major cleaning day in the kitchen. How in the world does all that junk and gunk get behind and underneath appliances? YUCK! We've decide to get a new floor put down before we get another range. This home was a builder spec, so we had no choices in the building process. They put in the cheapest WHITE vinyl flooring and I have hated it with a passion. A golden retriever and a gardener do not need a white kitchen floor, really, who does? They're coming tomorrow to measure for the new floor and I've been clearing the pantry and laundry room floors and scrubbing the smoky dust off everything. I had been spending way too much time on Blotanical and things were quite dusty. :)

While working I kept reminding myself that I needed to take care of the impatiens today. I had great germination success with both the purchased seeds and the ones I collected and saved. They already had the second set of leaves and were getting very crowded in their little peat pots. They had to be thinned.

This is the hardest part of the whole growing process for me. I hate to thin plants and then throw perfectly good little plants away. I have a tendency to put off this painful process at the peril of all the seedlings. I attempt to spare as many plants as possible while thinning. Last year the impatiens that were transplanted didn't fare as well as those that stayed undisturbed in the peat pots. I still have to try though.

I soaked the containers, that were saved from plants I purchased last year, in a bleach and water solution to make sure they were disease and pest free. I then filled them with a sterile seed starting mix and transplanted the impatiens with the most roots attached. I had a perfect sized box that I put into a trash bag to make it water proof. It isn't pretty but it's economical. Hopefully, these little transplants will do better than last years. I still had to throw away so many though. I wonder if I'll ever get used to that.

I am growing impatient for spring.