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.

Does it Really Matter?

Using an organic sterile medium is recommended for seed starting, but is it really necessary to do so? Take it from me, yes, it is necessary! I usually do this, but last year I had so many seeds to start, I thought I'd be frugal and save money by just using a cheap potting soil from a big box store. Big mistake!

For three months I pampered, nurtured and babied my precious seedlings...


some of which were weeds!!! I had quite a few stinging nettle that I had spent the winter pampering, only to discover that little fact when I went to plant it. There is a very good reason for its name. Wow, was that ever painful!

This year I have the proper medium, and hopefully there will be only desirable seedlings that I spend my time nurturing.

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?

Bird Pictures and Lantana Update

We had beautiful sunshine this morning and even though our highs were only supposed to be in the lower 40's, it felt warm enough for me to have my morning coffee on the patio. I have so missed doing that. Being right beside the common area/playground, early morning is the only time I truly get peace and quiet in the yard. The birds were singing and there was quite a bit of courting going on.

There are quite a few robins here at Robin's Nesting Place this year. I went outside this afternoon to piddle around but it was a little cloudy and too cool to stay out long. I did take a few minutes to pull up some scraggly lamb's ear that had been spreading out of control. I saw a lot of earth worms, so the robins should have plenty to feed their young.


The goldfinches are beginning to molt and will soon be sporting their bright yellow plumage. A sure sign of spring. I adore the sweet sound of the goldfinch, I'll be glad when I can raise the windows to hear it better. I have several feeders with nyjer seed in them, so I was surprised to see this little cutie come to the patio to eat the black oil sunflower seeds that I put out for the cardinal.


I was elated today when I checked my winter sowing containers and saw a sprout in the lantana container. I hope it survives and that more will sprout. The seeds I had inside were a complete bust, because the gnats really liked the peat pellets since they had molded, I have them sitting out on the patio, but I don't really have much hope for them. This was just an experiment, because lantana is very difficult to grow from seed. I will consider it a success if I just get one plant from the seeds I collected.

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend.

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.

Winter Sowing Lantana

I'm trying winter sowing, (outside), for the first time this year. I had already started eleven containers including:

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

Yesterday, I added a few more containers to that list and will try to continue adding others over the next several weeks.

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)

I also soaked and sowed lantana seeds, for growing inside under the grow lights. I've read mixed reviews about the ease, or rather difficulty, of propagating lantana from seed. I hope at least one method is successful.

Sowing Impatiens

Impatiens are one of my favorite shade annuals. I plant them every year in the front flower garden, which is the only spot on my property with shade. Last year I grew many of my own Impatiens from seed,( including the one pictured above), using my indoor growing system.

In the fall, while cleaning up the flower bed, I noticed the plump seed pods on the Impatiens. I picked one off and was startled as it exploded in my hand.

Since I was playing around with the exploding seed pods anyway, I decided to collect a few seeds to see if I could grow them from the parent plant.

Last year I started the Impatiens on February 27. They were still small and not blooming by the last frost date, in fact only a few even had buds. I made a note that they could be started earlier. Since I'm a little antsy on this dreadful, foggy and rainy day, I decided to garden indoors a little and start the Impatiens seeds I collected along with a package of seeds I purchased several days ago. On that April 28, post, I also noted that the Impatiens didn't like to be transplanted and the ones that did best for me were the ones that grew and remained in the Jiffy pellets.

So, that is what these seeds were planted in today. My container of choice is an aluminum foil covered cake pan. I purchased several of these last year at Aldi's after Christmas on clearance. I soaked the pellets in warm water and let them get completely wet. The warm water also helps to increase the humidity level, which is important for germinating Impatiens.

I sowed several seeds to a pellet, pressed the seeds in place, but left them uncovered since they also need light to germinate.
I placed the lid on top and put the container on the growing system shelf. Hopefully in as few as 7 days or as many as 30, they'll germinate.

My Winter Growing System

I had an indoor growing system about 10 years ago and enjoyed starting my plants from seed, I thought I would try to do it again this year. The start-up cost was minimal compared to the lighting systems in the seed catalogs. The shelving unit was $39.00 and the shop lights were about $10.00 to $12.00 each plus the cost of lights. For the lights I used one warm light and one cool light. Next year I will be able to do this for very little cost especially if I collect seed from my plants, propagate from cuttings and buy peat pots at the end of the season on clearance.

I started some of my plants on February 24 and the rest on the 27th. I planted Coleus, Purple Wave Petunias, Dianthus, Pampas grass, Impatiens, Moonflowers, Purple Prince Zinnias, and Victorian Mix Dahlias.



I covered the unit with thick plastic to create more of a green house effect. It really kept the temperature warmer and helped keep the plants from drying out so quickly.


I was shocked at how quickly things germinated, especially the coleus.