Garden Update – Seedlings

It is hard for me to believe that I have only 29 posts so far this year! Last year in the same time period I had 118, in March alone I blogged 45 times! I think it was way too much… J.

Anyway, last Fall we have decided that we will cut down drastically on flower containers that took so much time to take care of. Also, visually it was a bit crowded. Last year I started so many flowers from seed that it filled our sunroom once transplanted from plug trays. This Spring I have planted only Nasturtium, Lobelia and Red Millet, that’s it. Happy to report all the seedlings are doing great.

When it comes to vegetables I had some unexpected failures (no germination). I planted 2 kinds of peppers, 2 kinds of Asian eggplants, cucumbers (1 variety) and 5 kinds of tomatoes. Peppers and eggplants didn’t germinate at all and 1 tomato variety (Sweet Baby Girl, hybrid F1) didn’t germinate as well. Mind you, I have seeded only 2 cells with 1 seed per cell. However, cucumbers have done well despite the fact that last year they didn’t (same seed packet). New this year are Saint Marzano Italian paste tomatoes that I bought from Thomson Morgan. The seeds are imported from Italy and come 500 seeds to a packet. Five Hundred seeds!!! Nuts! I need only a dozen or so…Anyway, I had 100% germination success with these seeds and they grow so fast! Another new for me this year are 2 heritage tomato varieties whose seeds I have collected from tomatoes we have bought from a roadside stand. We were absolutely blown away by the incredible tomato taste of these timeless varieties. I have no idea what they are, just that one is yellow in color and the other one has green and yellow stripes and is sort of flat in shape. Name is not important, the taste is. Still, I would like to know if they are determinate or indeterminate. Either way is fine with me but since I grow them for a paste determinate will work much better for me.

Four weeks till outdoor planting! By then tomatoes will have small fruits and cucumbers will be one foot high J 

Lobelia. The seeds are size of a dust particle!

Nasturtium. I love to munch on flowers and leaves and to collect seeds for "capers".

On left are tomato seedlings from 10 days ago.

And this is what they look like today. What a difference 10 days makes! Stacked pots in front center are Red Millet seedlings.

Final Flower Seedlings Update

All the flower and vegetable seedlings have been planted and now we finally have our house back! In late winter I have lost my basement workshop bench because that was the only place that had fluorescent fixtures above table/bench. Then in spring when plants were moved to sunroom we have lost use of our favorite dining spot and finally, when plants were being hardened off they took over our deck. It was quite an experience! In retrospect, I think that I have over done it a bit this season. I started way too many plants under lights, way too many. Lesson learned and I hope that I will remember next winter. All we have to do now is to keep the weeds out and feed the plants. Watering is not a problem since I have fully automatic irrigation system on all flower and veggie beds as well as all hanging baskets and most containers as well.

Now is the time to enjoy our gardens.

Next update will be Flower and Vegetable Garden Update in about two weeks.

Note: Big Thank You has to go to Marjo for transplanting most the seedlings into pots, baskets and ground. I did the tomatoes and some peppers, that’s all.

Most containers and hanging baskets are on or close to south side of our walkway. Front containers have a mix of Black Eyed Susan Vine, Nasturtium and Lobelia.

On porch stairs are planters with Zinnia, Snapdragon Rocket, Lobelia, Petunias, Nasturtium and BESV. Large green container in front has a Jasmine Scented Nicotiana.

Island in front of porch has containers with Red Millet, Snapdragon Rocket, Petunias, dwarf sunflower Sunny Smile and later today we will plant Dahlias.

Hanging basket on left has Snapdragon Lampion mix only and right basket has Lobelia, Nasturtium and BESV.

Seedlings update, April 15, 2011

Three weeks to go to plant most seedlings outside and our sunroom looks like a nursery already. I have spotted first flowers on tomatoes already but they are sturdy and healthy. This is a Mountain Magic variety from Johnny’s Seeds and they will grow in containers so no worries here. Eggplants are coming along nicely and so are peppers and basil. They all will be right size when the time comes to see the outdoors. As far as flower seedlings go they are ready but have to stay for a while. It looks like that some will have to be moved to a bigger pot and others into final basket or container. Trailing Snapdragons are doing extremely well and so are Lobelia, Black Eyed Susan Vine, Petunia, Zinnia, Cosmos, Nasturtium and Salpiglossis. Yes, there is a jungle in our sunroom. Only plants still under lights are Peppers, Basil, some Tomatoes and Salpiglossis.

Some pictures are few days old.

Mountain Magic tomatoes.

Black Eyed Susan Vine.

Snapdragon Rocket.

Snapdragon Lampion.

Zinnia.

Seedlings Update, April 6, 2011

What a crazy and weird spring, if you can call it that, we are having this year. I want some of that Global Warming back and pronto. Some of my seedling flowers are blooming (both Snapdragons and Zinnia), one variety of tomato (Mountain Magic from Johnny’s Seeds) is ready to be planted into a bigger pot or even ground and right now we are having small snow blizzard going on! Looks like I will have to bring another table into our sunroom because lot of the plants will have to be transferred into larger container.

Snapdragons only basket.

Check the 3 nipped tips of snapdragons (pointed long leaves)

I have already done two hanging baskets – one with Snapdragon Lampion seedlings only and one with 4 Lobelias and 3 Snapdragons. Snapdragons are actually cuttings as I saved the snipped tops, dipped them in growing hormone powder and chuck them in the basket. They are doing fantastic and look just like ordinary seedlings.

Nasturtium, Lobelia, Cosmos and Snapdragons.

Red Pearl Millet, Thunbergia, Cosmos, Petunia and Zinnia.

 Zinnia in bloom.

 Snapdragon in bloom.

 Nothing leggy about these tomato plants.

Eggplants on left and three variety of peppers.

I need a miracle in order not to lose any of my plants. On the bright side, I am learning!

And, how can I forget our beautiful Bougainvillea! Only 4 leaves and rest is flowers.

Growing from Seeds Update March 23, 2011



Winter came back for few days!

Things are moving quite fast on our seedlings front.

The Lobelias were transplanted from cells into 3” pots; now we have 15 pots that could have been divided easily into 50 pots. My hand was a bit heavy when I spread the seeds, I guess. Lesson learned.

Cosmos have new home and doing very well and so do Petunias, Zinnia, Red Millet and Black Eyed Susan Vine. The Snapdragons slowed down in their growth for some reason but are healthy.

Snapdragons and Zinnias



Black Eyed Susan Vine, Red Millet and Cosmos

 I wrote about my little Snapdragon experiment before but I have to post an update. Few weeks ago I snipped the top of one plant to force it into branching. Instead of throwing the 3/8” long tip in the garbage I dipped it in growth hormone powder and planted it in a Jiffy Pot.  Last week I have notice roots growing through the pot sides. It penetrated the sock! I am sure that If I clip same plant and repeat the process I could grow hundreds of Snapdragons from one seed! Amazing, isn’t it?

Anyway, this plant will join its mother and rest of seedlings in a hanging basket.

Arugula and French Tarragon

Some tomatoes were also transplanted and so were some peppers and all eggplants. Things are looking good.

Growing from Seeds Update March 16, 2011

Spring is almost here, judging by arrival of American Robins, Grackles and Turkey Vultures and hundreds of Tundra Swans going south.

Our seedlings are doing really well. Soon, I will transplant Zinnias, Cosmos, Lobelias, Petunias and Pearl Purple Millet from cells to larger individual containers where they stay till transplanted permanently into containers or ground. Also, 2 days ago I came across French Tarragon that I have overwintered in our unheated garage and it was looking all dried up. I removed all dead growth all the way to soil level and put it in a bucket of water. Next morning I couldn’t believe how fast it woke up and how much it grew in just few hours!

My tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are also doing well. They all had excellent germination rate. Tomorrow I will move my bonsai Juniper from cold frame into a pot and in its place I will plant snow peas and sugar snap peas and see what will happen. Last year I have planted them way too late.

Outside in garden the crocuses are about 1” high and so are tulips. Yup, Spring is here now, not almost!

Growing from Seeds Update March 9, 2011

All is fine and well with maybe one exception: the trailing snapdragons that I have transplanted to hanging basket pot are growing a lot slower then snapdragons transplanted into 3” and 4” individual pots. These are same seeds but growing really fast. Also, all seeds planted into 1-1/2” cells in 9 packs are doing very well. Next year all my plants will be started in these cells or, as I have just learned, using winter sowing method in soft drink bottles and left outside. I think that I will run it as a parallel experiment.

Here is a pictorial story.

Experiment:

Two weeks ago I snipped top of one trailing snapdragon and decided to do small experiment. I soaked one Jiffy pot, dipped the stem of snipped top into a growth powder, made small hole in pot, pushed it in and pushed the peat moss in to close the hole. Since then I just kept it moist and it doubled in size in 10 days! Do you think it will survive?

Growing from seeds update.

Last 2 weeks have been very busy and full of surprises, most of them good. Actually, I had only 2 bad surprises, both involving trailing snapdragons. 1^st was discovery of damaged leaves; they looked like something was eating them. Problem solved after I have sprayed with horticultural spray about a week ago and they look terrific. Second, after reading posts about Jiffy pots on Garden Web, was realization that I could have left the sock on my snappies when I transplanted them into hanging basket. That could have spelled death to seedlings. I poked around and sure enough, they were still there. All pots were carefully removed, sock removed and replanted in same basket. I’m happy to say that 5 days later they are looking pretty good.

Here is picture of my leftover snapdragons. I will make a mixed baskets with them.

Very positive surprise was Lobelia that was supposed to take 20 days to germinate and to my shock I saw first green fuzz on 5^th day! Here is a picture of what hey look like on day 7. I might see flowers come end of May after all.

Zinnia was another early germinating plant, 4 days only. Both were on a heat mat set at 29 °C. They are now in a cooler part of tray, replaced by peppers and eggplants. They like it hot J.

Salpiglossis were another surprise. They germinated after 8 days, first 4 in dark and then under light. The packet said to keep in dark but last year it didn’t work for me so I planted another batch, under lights and they all germinated. This year I went half and half just to see what happens and it worked. Go figure.

 The Thunbergia (Black Eyed Suzan Vine) is a mixed bag. Even though they germinated in half time listed the rate was only 44% - only 4 out of 9 seeds planted, but they do well and 4 plants is just about all I will need. No spares for neighbors this year.

Not a bad week. Now I’ll wait for peppers and eggplants.