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karen anne on Seed catalogs (already?) Sheila Lennon on Seed catalogs (already?) karen anne on Seed catalogs (already?) pat on Seed catalogs (already?) To comment on any posting, click on the word 'Comments' at the end of the item. |
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« Growing in winter, as I watch: Amaryllis | Main | Finding colors in winter days » January 1, 2008Seed catalogs (already?)We seem to be dormant, but the Garden Granny is celebrating the Best Gift of the Season…: Seed catalogs in her mailbox. Her homespun cheerful blog design is worth a look in itself on this gray, sleety day. There are some links, many more at this megalist. Don't forget Seed Savers Exchange, a nonprofit organization that saves and shares -- and sells -- heirloom seeds. The catalogs seem to have come too soon this year. I'm still getting the outdoor plants happy indoors. One pot of tuberoses, planted in a pot in May, still hadn't bloomed when frost loomed. It's still trying in a south window. Inspired by Pat, I did rescue a $1 prepotted amaryllis from Stop & Shop's discount plant cart. It had somehow contacted enough moisture to grow, and green leaves were pushing through the hole in its box. I have it in a sunny window, rewatered, optimistically expecting it to bloom soon, since it got the early stage out of the way in the store. (But somebody must have decided it wouldn't sell.) Maybe you'd rather look at historic seed catalogs to work up to all this.
258 historical Seed Catalogs at the Smithsonian. Posted by Sheila Lennon Commentspat | January 2, 2008 9:05 AM link I'm wondering what folks use around here for seed starting mix. I always used to have things damp off, until I made two discoveries: 1. poke holes in the milk cartons to allow drainage, and 2. use sterile seed starting mix. After that, no problems. I can't find sterile seed starting mix around here or on the web. Does anyone have a source for that, or do you have some other method that works? Thanks. karen anne | January 3, 2008 6:31 AM link Karen, all the commercial seed-starting mixes are sterile. They can't afford to ship potentially diseased soil. Pat, happy new year to you, too. I do intend to start lisianthus from seed, but I read one expert gardener's report -- How to Grow Lisianthus -- that says, "The plants I've started in January and the plants I start in March all seem to start blooming around the middle to the end of of July," so I have breathing room. I like to start seeds in trays on top of the refrigerator, where they get bottom heat, and watch them grow. Things get dicey when I have a bumper crop and dozens of seedlings to transplant. I did buy a cheapo little greenhouse late last spring -- shelves with a garment bag over them -- which should give me room outside in say, April, so I'll try to time the seeds for that. It's too early for me now. (A cat leaped from the roof onto the plastic top and gashed it, but that's what duct tape is for, right?) Sheila Lennon | January 3, 2008 11:03 AM link Thanks, Sheila. The last time I looked at my favorite web sites, they were going on about "beneficial microorganisms" in their seed starting mixes, so I assumed they were not sterile. I see Gardeners Supply is now selling one they have labeled as sterile. karen anne | January 3, 2008 3:42 PM link Post a commentPlease be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. |
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Hi - Sheila,
Happy New Year!
May the joy of gardening be with you all year long.
Please let us know the progress of the growth from seeds. I'm such an impatient creature when it comes to seeds. I wish somebody would start it for me. I have quite a collection of seeds that I could not resist buying wherever I went from many places around the world ( Amsterdam, Paris , Iceland and Thailand,etc.) I never got around to starting it. I could not make that as the New Year Resolution either.