Starting More Seedlings 03-04-08

Plants from our wedding. These are cyclamens (click on image for larger picture)

On the first of March, I was busily planting seeds. I planted a variety of basils that include lemon basil, Thai basil, sweet basil, and a large leaf variety. I started my cucumbers (straight 8) and squash (black zucchini, spaghetti, early prolific) together in small cups. I set this tray outside so they can germinate under the nice sun. I also started some oriental poppies and Shirley red poppies. Some poppies I planted earlier this week have already sprouted and doing very well. To end the first day of March, I started some nasturtiums (9 pellets) and 4 o clocks (6 pellets)

I started bulbs yesterday night (03-03). I started some tulips, grape hyacinths, narcissus ice-follies, and muscari bulbs.

Cabbage Early Golden Acres Seedling at 40 days (click on image for larger picture)

My seedlings are doing well except for a bout of aphids. I found some aphids on my African violet and they somehow migrated to my little seedlings. I cleaned them with alcohol and soap/water mixture. The soap and alcohol does something to the aphids. Maybe suffocates them. Anyways, it worked so I was happy. I plan on transplanting my tomato seedlings into bigger pots tomorrow or Thursday and set them out under the sun for a little bit or until it rains (which is estimated to be on Sunday into Monday). We hope not but we’ll see.
Today, I planted some watermelon radish, nasturtiums, great lakes lettuce, sunflowers, Pinocchio pepper, 4 o’ clocks, daisy bush and marigold seeds. I am interested in seeing the watermelon radish grow. I hope it does well!

Happy gardening everyone!

Garden Update 02-27-08

Roma, Jelly Bean, Black Cherry and Brown Berry Tomato Seedlings at 23 days

(click on image for larger pic)

Gardeners Delight Tomato Seedling 23 days (click on image for larger pic)

Red/Gold Currant and Lady Bug Hybrid at 23 days (click on image for larger pic)

The weather here has been very nice with temperatures in the mid 60s and tomorrow, we’ll experience our first 70 degree temperature. I wish it could stay this way forever. I just checked my seedlings I started early this month and found some peat pellets bare with no seedlings. I quickly remedied that by adding the same seeds of the bare pellet’s brothers and sisters. I only had 1 eggplant seedling and I had originally planted 8 seeds so I added additional seeds to the bare pellets. I also started some Numex Big Jim peppers and some more patio tomato peppers today. I hope they’ll sprout and be ready by next month. Here’s hoping.

On Sunday, I started some more herb and flower seeds. I started some pink nicotianas I got from a round robin exchange. I love being apart of this group. It’s like your birthday every month. You get new gardening presents from a different person every month. This month, I got a nice package that had so many different varieties of seeds ranging from coleus to nicotiana and included in the package was some plant labels. I, too, send stuff to other people as well. It works out well. I send my left over seeds to someone who might use them. It works out really well. Anyway, forgive the side track. I also planted the following:

• Stocks
• Calendula (saved seeds)
• Cosmos
• Dill
• Shoofly
• Chinese Lanterns
• Chinese Houses
• Shirley Poppies

Coleus Seedlings

Today, I also set out my precious coleus seedlings to get them used to outside temps which is lovely! I hope they’ll be fine out there. I might cover them tonight but the meteorologist predicts temperatures tonight will be in the mid 40s so I think they’ll be fine tonight. On my lunch break, I planted my Bok choi, Swiss chard, and cabbage seedlings. I always water newly set seedlings with a combination of fish fertilizer and water so they get an added extra boost. I covered them with pots since it was the middle of the day and I didn’t want them to shrivel up and die. I’ll uncover them tomorrow morning so they can get a full day of sunshine. I can’t believe it’s almost Spring. Slowly, my garden will get filled with lovely veggies and flowers. I can’t wait! In a couple of days I'll be starting my squash, cucumber, sunflowers, and basil seeds. Yesterday, I started some peas and beans too. Is it spring yet? Eek...Happy gardening everyone!

Garden Update 02-22-08

It's raining here in central California. Forecasts predict that it will rain all weekend long. They also predict strong winds. The last time it was windy, a lot of my pots fell over and dumped a lot of soil so this time, I'm going to be proactive and put all my pots along side my wall so they have some wind protection.

Boxwood Cuttings Rooted

My seedlings appear to be doing well. I have way too many seedlings for my shelves but they manage happily. I did check on my boxwood cuttings and they have done wonderfully. They've all rooted and some have tiny little growths on them. I'm so proud of them. I neglected them for a long time keeping the plastic bag over them for a couple of months. They are doing well. I hope by the beginning of spring, I'll be able to take them outside and pot them up. I'll probably give some away since I have so many. My coworkers won't mind if I leave plants on their desk. I just gave one of my coworkers a coleus plant I had. I have tons of coleus now that I have a ton of seeds. She loves it and I hope she won't kill them. As I was walking to work with my coleus in hand, I was calculating the cost for that little plant and I guestimate it to be around $.30-$.40 cents for it and how it would be a wonderful gift to give one. Oh the joys of gardening...I love it!

Garden Update 02-09-08

Supersweet 100s (click on image for larger picture

Red/Gold Currant and Ladybug Tomato Seedlings (7 days)

Marglobe Tomato Seedling (7 days) (click on image for larger picture)

These are some of my tomato seeds, more specifically my supersweet, Red and Gold Currant and Lady Bug, marglobe, and tomatoes I planted a week ago have sprouted. A week is pretty accurate. Last year, it took my seeds 9 days to sprout. So, they are officially 2 days early! They're our little preemies. I can't wait to get my own home so I can garden in a bigger space. We currently have a backyard that is probably 10 feet by 10 feet to garden with. This is much bigger than my other apartment backyard which was half the size I have now.

Today, I plan on planting some butterfly orchids, zinnias-Giant Doubled Flower, hollyhock-majorette mix, chinese houses, shoofly, coleus, hollyhock-burgandy, maltese cross, echinacea, and Chinese lanterns in a 72-cell pack.

Pretty Coleus Seedling (click on image for larger picture)

On an ending note, I just wanted to show you guys my pretty coleus seedling. I potted it in one of my favor pots I gave away at my wedding. At the end of the wedding, there were a ton left so I took them home to garden with! Recylcing in action I guess...

Garden Score

My Loot

Today, I went to Lowes for the sole purpose to get some storage boxes for our Christmas decorations but my plant addiction got us some discounted forced bulb kits as well as the storage boxes. They were discounted 75% from $6.97 to $1.74! So, I got 4 hyacinth bulb kits and 2 crocus bulb kits. The crocus bulb vases are so tiny and adorable. I always have tons of crocus bulbs leftover from spring so I can reuse these vases. They're also great for forcing small bulbs too. I have grown crocuses crocuses this last spring and they're the most delicate, cute little flowers that bloom in early spring.

The hyacinth vases are just as cute. Since I bought 4 hyacinth kits, I'm going to force two of them and plant the other two outside in a pot. That way I'll have blooms in my garden in the spring. I've been wanting some bulb vases for awhile and I'm so glad I found some. I've been looking everywhere for these including thrift stores, antique stores, etc. and now I have some! Yippee.

It's pretty simple to do. All you need to do is fill the vases with water enough for the bottom of the bulbs to touch the water. Maintain this level of water and keep in a place that gets indirect sun. In 4-6 weeks, you'll have blooms. I'll keep everyone updated on the progress. A warning about forcing bulbs is that once the bulbs are forced, they are less likely to bloom again but bulbs come cheap today. They're only around $.50 a bulb.

Garden Update November 10, 2007

I just wanted to provide an update on the various garden projects I'm currently in this winter.

The cuttings I took from the ivy have rooted. The boxwood cuttings will take a little longer to root. I haven't seen any growth on those.

Yesterday, I started some coriander (aka cilantro) seeds I got from the grocery store. I got a big canister for $1.50. We'll see if they work. If not, at least I have them for cooking. The coleus seeds I started have started to get some of it's true leaves. Once they do, I'll transplant them into individual cells. Hopefully, by the beginning of spring, I'll have a ton of coleus to give as gifts or plant in my garden.

I also started some more African Violet leaves from the AV I got from my husband last Valentine's Day also the AV from Walmart that blooms these variegated white and purple flowers, and the AV I got from the .99 cent store and also this white AV I got on clearance at Lowes. I started 3 leaves per plant. In a couple of months I'll get babies that are this size:

This week, I also transplanted my radish seedlings to the garden. I placed them in front of the peas and beans I started several weeks ago. They're just poking their little heads out this week. We haven't seen a frost yet. The meterologists expect a frost at the end of November. Lucky us.

Seed Collecting:

I collected some of my peppers for its seeds this week. I'll start some this spring and give out some as trades. They have tons of seeds in each pepper. I got this plant on clearance at Wal-mart two weeks ago. It was only $1.40 and had these gorgeous yellow peppers.

I also collected some daisy seeds from this huge daisy bush at my apartment complex. It had a ton of seedpods on it and the maintenance men probably didn't mind since I was picking the dead seed pods for them. No trimming for them! Hehe.

Well, that's all for me this week. Check back next week for more of my gardening ventures.

Coleus Seedlings and Cuttings

Last Thursday, I was at Lowes looking at all the pretty plants and I happened across a seed rack of fall vegetables. I stopped and perused the different types of lettuces, peas, beans, spinach, radishes, and lettuce seeds. As I was leaving, something caught my eye: a packet of coleus seeds. Two weeks ago, I had ordered some coleus seeds from groco.com and they hadn’t come in yet so, on an impulse, I bought it (since then, I’ve received them). On Friday, I potted these tiny little seeds in a leftover salsa container with holes punched in the bottom for drainage. I covered the container with plastic to keep the humidity high and placed them underneath my grow lights. Today, I noticed I had some growth! They are very minute and tiny but nonetheless some action!

Some advice I would suggest in planting coleus seeds is

1. Mix the seeds with sand and sprinkle the mixture lightly over dry potting soil (I
   use regular potting soil rather than the seed starting mix b/c it’s a lot
   cheaper).


2. Cover the seed/sand mixture with a light dusting of more potting soil


3. Sprinkle enough water to moisten the mix


4. Cover the container with plastic wrap (I use a rubber band to secure the plastic
   wrap to the container) to maintain humidity


5. Once the seeds have germinated, slowly take off the plastic and
   
   
   

Coleus Seedlings (very tiny) For a bigger picture, click on the picture.

It took 7 days for the seeds to germinate so all in all, I believe it was quite successful. Now I patiently wait for it to grow bushy so I can take cuttings and propagate them and give them away as gifts!

Speaking of cuttings, I recently went around my work and got some cuttings and seeds. I work at a university and I know the facilities employees very well and they know me as the plant girl. I am always asking them for cuttings from wisteria vines and left over seed trays. The university is well known for its landscape and abundance of ponds (we have 6-8 ponds sprinkled across the campus). The plants vary from rose bushes (the president’s donor rose bushes that go for $200.00 a plant, needless to say I didn’t “sponsor” one) to geraniums, wisteria, ginkgo biloba trees, Japanese maples, pines, daylilies, agapanthus, etc. etc. etc.

Daylily Plant I collected seeds from...

So, about two weeks ago, I went on a break and noticed that the daylilies were producing a lot of seed. I asked the gardening department if I could collect these and they of course said go for it (they’re super nice). So I went around and collected a ton of daylily seeds. I probably have ½ a pound of daylily seeds from all around the campus. Anybody want some? Check out my trade list for trades. I also collected agapanthus seeds as well.

I also took some geranium cuttings (red and bright pink colors), semi- wood cuttings from different bushes and plants and some pine cones. I put the cuttings in a pot with a freezer-size zip lock bag over them. I put them under my grow lights and will let them stay there for a couple of months. They have good company with my ivy and boxwood cuttings. Well that’s all for now. Happy gardening everyone.

Update on African Violet Suckers

African Violet Sucker at 107 days.

In February, I had written a post about African Violet suckers and I thought it was time to update yal on the progress.

The before picture shows the tiny suckers not looking like much. I must admit, I was not hopeful to see these little things survive but this experiment is just a testament to show that anything is worth trying. They were very easy to root. I mean simply easy.

Follow these steps to root African Violet suckers:

What you'll need:
-Small pot
-Moist potting soil or seed starting mix
-African Violet suckers
-A large zipper bag
-1 Straw

1. Gently pry the suckers off the mother plant. You can use anything from a pencil eraser, popsicle stick, or an exacto knife (that's what I used). If you don't know what a sucker looks like, click here for a picture.

2. Put the moistened soil in a small pot. Insert the sucker into the dirt. Make sure there's ample contact between the base of the sucker and the dirt.

3. Put the pot inside the bag and if you need to, insert the straw in the dirt to prevent the bag from resting on top of the suckers. This is important since if the bag touches the suckers, the condensation from the bag will cause the suckers to rot. Put the pot under some bright lights and...

4. The hardest part of this process is: patience. It'll take a couple of weeks for it to take root and a couple more to show signs of leaf growth.

Results:

At two months and a couple of days, here's what the suckers should look like. At this time, you can take the bag off and keep them underneath some strong, indirect light.

After several more months, they should like like a new plant. The picture is of 75 days.