9 months later

I haven't posted for almost nine months! This isn't due to anything- other than getting busy and forgetting I started a blog!  Now as the season is dying down, I'll post again, with my results from this year. Also- I built a low tunnel over my raised bed, and I'm having great success with that! 

Garden 2015- included herbs, veggies, flowers, mostly all of which I started from seed. I learned for next year that I'll start my peppers and petunias a little earlier :) 

 Next post: a recap with pictures of what I planted- AND what I learned from it!!

Germination Round 2 - Cold Stratification updates

This post will mostly be for future review, as I'm keeping track of how my cold strat/ older seeds have germinated so far. Here is how I have been keeping track of everything so far:

Currently, no spinach, Brussels Sprouts, milkweed and lupine have sprouted from my first attempts. 

This is a little disheartening, as even though I know it's early (still only at 12 days) I would still like to know if any of these seeds are in fact viable. 

 I did read today that spinach doesn't last for more that a year, so even though I had poor luck with it last year and this year it hasn't sprouted yet, I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. 

Brussels Sprouts are more a cold weather veg, so again even though it's early this is why I did my experiment. I still want to see if and how long it takes so when I try again later I'll know what to expect. 

Milkweed and lupine are my biggest hopes. I'm trying for a butterfly garden this year, and would love to see them flourish. I've read that these are hard to start from seed, and I'm not sure my milkweed seed is viable as I collected it very late last fall. I'm tenacious like this. 

I'm also keeping track of several old packets of Burpee seed that I'm thinking of planting this year. Without cold stratification, here's my records of saved seeds and older seeds so far:

To me, this is more interesting. I love seeing that heirloom seeds I saved are sprouting earlier and in higher percents than others. I'm excited about all the tomatoes I'm gonna have this year! I'm thinking I might plant tons and either sell or gift them away. 

Going along with all those tomatoes- I really REALLY want the marigolds from last year to sprout. I've been reading a lot about companion planting, and for me I always have marigolds by my tomatoes. It's natural pest control!

For reference, here's my spreadsheet that I'll use for my records from year to year:

So all the plants listed on here I've already planted, and once they sprout I'm hoping to keep them alive until I can plant outside in May. I've forgotten Portulaca in this list, but if it agrees to stay alive, I will include it :)  ( the arugula I'm hoping to harvest as microgreens!)

As an update to the basil from the grocery store that I wanted to propagate- they both grew lots of roots and are doing very well in pots!

Tip for basil- never harvest the biggest leaves. These are the sun absorbing powerhouses of the plant. They won't taste nearly as good as the new tender leaves!

My impatiens are doing well- I'm trying to spoil them a bit as the seeds are few and expensive. Granted, not as expensive as already established plants. I can only 'spoil' my seedlings with the lights I have, as my grow lights are good, I feel uncomfortable leaving the house all day with them on. As they should get 12 (or more!)  hours of light a day- they get whatever comes through the window, and then at night when I'm home. I can only hope this will suffice!

This is also a good photo of the butterfly weed in the background that has sprouted.I'm 'spoiling' that too. 

I'm waiting for some petunia, zinnia and coleus seeds. The petunia and Coleus will be going in the window boxes. I'll upload some diagrams of my plans for those. Since two get full sun, and two are mostly shade, I'm diversifying them. If the impatiens do well, hopefully those and the dianthus ( maybe coleus?) will go in the north (shade) boxes while the petunia, coleus, and marigolds will be in full sun. 

The Herb Gardener: Seed Longevity - Herbs

If you are curious about saving seeds, this is a great resource!! I'm now contemplating keeping/planting some old seeds that may still sprout!



The Herb Gardener: Seed Longevity - Herbs: You don't have to be a gardener for long to start appreciating the value of seeds. They're nature's manufacturing faciliti...

Seed Saving Experiment- Germination round!

So I am doing a science experiment with my saved/cold stratified seeds! When I planted them, I wrote the type and number of seeds planted. This way I can get an understanding of how many/ what percent of my seeds will actually sprout! 

Example: I planted 8 Yellow Pear Tomato seeds, so if only 4 sprout, it's a 50 percent germination rate. Then I'll know how many seeds to sow when it comes time to plant in the spring, to make sure I will have the amount of full grown plants I want.

                                     BOY. SO FAR THE RESULTS ARE REALLY GREAT!!

If you haven't seen my first post (that I had to update) my cold-stratified Kale had a 100% germination rate, and both sprouted in only two days. I was over the moon! 

I did damage one of the seedlings in transferring into a pot I could put under the grow light- but this is what they both looked like after ONLY 5 DAYS:

Pretty leggy, but still growing like crazy. I've been reading about micro greens, and I'm thinking if it leafs out I might start a little microgreens garden!

My tomato plants are also rock stars! Here is the first batch of Yellow Pear tomato seeds that I collected from one plant last year. Out of 8 seeds, so far 7 have sprouted in only 5 days so I'm hoping that last little guy will emerge.

 

My Portulaca seeds (which I didn't save or cold stratify) do need an honorable mention though. I'm not sure what I'll do with all of them! 

(As you can see, I use old plant markers for new seed flats. I go over them with some sandpaper then write with bold permanent marker.)

I'll keep updating as I know I have a bunch more tomatoes that are coming up today!

Garden-y Crafting

One of the biggest problems for an impatient gardener is how to pass the time when you are waiting for things to grow. I decided to keep myself busy and start crafting. I'll be making a butterfly garden and I want colorful decorations around it to attract them. 

Because we have rock edging around our house (which is quite the chore if I ever want to plant there) we have tons of spare rocks. My idea was to paint them with nail polish! I won't be putting the rocks in my butterfly water source, just scattered around. 

Here, a few rocks I painted in fun designs:

I also like using rocks to put on top of the soil of potted plants to keep it cooler and to keep from drying out. This way, if you have a flowerpot that's struggling you'll still have some color!

I'm also scavenging Savers and thrift stores for materials to make a butterfly feeder/ water source. I'll definitely post on how that turns out!

Save those seeds. SAVE 'EM!

Like most excited gardeners, I can't wait to plant stuff when the time comes every year. And most times, that begins with buying seeds. Lots of them. They fill your heads with grandiose plans... But let's be honest. I barely have enough room for a container garden. Until last year though, it never stopped me from buying obscene amounts of seeds at our local devil store Menards. 

That's when I learned about saving seeds. It's WAY easier than I thought, the plant ends up being more adapted to the mini climates in your garden as well as hardier and, you know, free. 

There's a catch!

In order to be able to grow successful, productive seeds the next year, you need plants that haven't been genetically modified. So all my devil hybrid Burpee seeds that have extra special names... Won't work. 

I go to SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE, out of Iowa. They have a gigantic selection of heirloom, untreated, non- hybrid, non-GMO seeds. There are only a few stores that carry the seed packets (which are oh so reasonably priced) so I usually order mine online.  It's definitely hard to get to know the cycles and needs of each plant, but they will help you! Call them or go online www.seedsavers.org and get ordering. 

A quick note from Siri: All my experiences with SSE products have been great. The only thing that has caused a ruckus is wholly on my part. Those people do great work. For realsies.

I began by dipping my toe last year. I researched A LOT about each plant that I planned on saving seeds from, and it's really exciting knowing all the different techniques. It's also taught me a lot about plants and how they are spread in the wild.  Here's what sparked my interest: 

Two years ago, I had planted a yellow pear tomato. Great harvest, got all the produce I wanted. Let the plant go to pot, birds and rabbits alike had a field day. Fast forward to last summer when I decided I was going to go the paste tomato route (San Marzano, Amish Paste from SSE.) Much to my surprise in a sandy lonely corner of the yard, a tomato plant appeared! I had no idea where it came from, but I kept it watered (kind of) and kept an eye on it. Turns out it was a yellow pear tomato plant. The hardiest lil sucker in the garden!This got my bean wheels turning. Where did it come from? I didn't think tomatoes were annuals? And many others. 

I saved those seeds, by golly. I can't wait to see if and when they germinate what those plants will be like this summer!

I have all my seeds that I saved in my test batch to see if they'll sprout. Here's my seed basket. The basmati rice bag has all my super SSE seeds. I've also collected some older seeds from my sister that I'm testing. 

Here's what I saved from last year: (some in my test batch aren't what I saved, just got from others)

Milkweed

Giant Marigolds 3'

Short Marigolds

Amish Paste Tomatoes

San Marzano tomatoes

Yellow Pear Tomatoes ( which I have nicknamed BP or bird poop, since that's how I think they got there 😜)

I will create another post with my test results and how to save seeds!

 

My setup

Here's where I show you what I'm doing! It may not be as successful for everyone, so again, experiment with what works best for you. 

We only have a few viable windows in the house that get enought direct sunlight- even these need an hour or two extra of a grow light in the dead of winter when days are short. 

I found a temporary greenhouse on sale a few years ago at Menards - it was off season so I snapped it up for around 20 bucks. Here, I don't have the plastic covering, I'll use that when the whole shebang goes outside in the spring. Right now, you can see I have 3 (and a half) shelves that get light. The bottom most shelf gets its light from a grow lamp. The bulb I got as a gift, and the cord and dome I had from my turtle's terrarium. It works really well, and the best part is its an LED so it's not drying out soil or getting too hot. 

Up top, I have a few plants: (from left to right) Rosemary

This is Seed Savers Exchange Rosemary- this is the second year, so hopefully this summer I can collect some seeds from it.

I also have a cactus and Aloe Vera.

On the second row, I have all my 'science experiments.' I am trying ( for the first time) to force tulip bulbs in water. I had some bulbs left over from the fall, so I decided I would try this. I see it on Pinterest from time to time, and I do love tulips. It's working great! I staggered the times that I started them, so hopefully I'll have tulips inside for about three weeks!! Then the crocus will be coming up outside :)

I also tried growing green onions from the store- another easy trick. Just cut them down to just aboe the white, put in water in front of a sunny window and about a week later, voila!

BASIL LOVERS, PAY ATTENTION!

YOU CAN PROPAGATE BASIL FROM THE STORE! 

If you love having fresh basil in the winter, and those 3 dollar packs at the store just can't cut it, do this instead! 

Take each basil part, make sure stems are in water. To get roots on these leaves, took me about three weeks. Be patient. And don't trim the leaves off to use- it will kill the rest of it!

You can see the other tulip bulbs and extra aloe basking in the sunlight behind.