Seed Starting 2024

New seeds to start: 

    Celosia yellow for the garbage cans bed, will contrast nicely with the "blue" or purple Balloon flower.

    Balloon Flower for the garbage cans bed and in middle of bed until I can get more hydrangea.

Penstemon Electric Blue

Plant between blue and white phlox on front slope, a tall, upright flower to contrast with the round phlox and fill in blank spaces.

Start Date: 6-8 weeks, March 20

Cold stratify: 3 weeks 

Temperature: 60 - 70F

Average Germ Time: 14 - 30 days

Light Required: Yes

Depth: Cover lightly, seed should be visible

Sowing Rate: 2 - 3 seeds per plant

Moisture: Keep seeds moist until germination

Height: 18 inches

Use Hyssop blue in place of lavender as a fragrant border around the veggie garden. Smother grass with wood chip mulch and dig a nice big hole for each seedling and amend with compost. To keep the grass out of the planting bed, make a "V" trench. Plant hyssop blue 12- 18" (or on average 15") apart, garden fence measures 20' (240") each side, so need 16 plants each of the two sides of the fence- 32 plants total. *The back measures 16' (192"), so if hyssop blue does well, grow at least 16-24 more plants next year to complete the back side and to fill in bare spots of plants that didn't grow well. 

Start Date: 8-10 weeks, March 6

Cold stratify: none

Temperature: 68F

Average Germ Time: 7 - 14 days

Light Required: No

Depth: 1/4 inch

Sowing Rate: 3 - 4 seeds per plant

Moisture: Keep seeds moist until germination

Green Twister Coneflower

Try this again, plant in front porch beds. Hopefully some of the Black eyed Susan and Purple coneflower come back up here. These beds were hard as a rock in the fall. Be sure to amend these well with compost in the spring and also top dress. This is an expensive seed, should I keep trying? Outside Pride Out of Stock, Park Seed ($8),     

Start Date: 10 weeks, March 6

Cold stratify: 4 weeks

Temperature: 68F

Average Germ Time: 10-15 days

Light Required: No

Depth: 1/8 inch

Sowing Rate: 3 - 4 seeds per plant

Moisture: Keep seeds moist until germination

Lupine

Outside Pride does not have the wild lupin that feeds Karner Blue, use Prairie Moon for true Sundial Lupine. Also winter sowing and direct sown in late winter in the wildflower beds facing River Road.

Start Date: 8 weeks, March 20

Scarification: Yes

Cold stratify: 10 days

Temperature: 65 F

Average Germ Time: 14-21 days

Light Required: No

Depth: 1/8 inch, press firmly into the surface

Sowing Rate: 3 - 4 seeds per plant

Moisture: Keep seeds moist until germination

Sow in 4" tall peat pots as tap root does not like to be disturbed.
Make extra starts, because the attrition rate's pretty high

Direct Sow

    Nasturtiums these get vining and out of control quick in the last weeks when started inside, try direct sowing this year

    Lupine- try all three methods, seed starting, winter sowing and direct sowing in fall or spring

Winter Sowing

Try Milkweed again, even though none germinated last year. 

Pearl Yarrow did great in winter sowing, so plant at least 3 jugs of this again.  

Globe Thistle did well started inside, but give one jug to try with w.s. 

I have a ton of Rudbeckia seeds, so direct sow, start inside and winter sow some. I also used some for Guerrilla Gardening along Zenner Road.

It would be nice to have a large drift of the blue Penstemon, so start at least two jugs in the winter.

Calendula took forever to bloom last year when direct sowed, so get some started over the winter. 

The Lavender I winter sowed did better than the seeds I started indoors.

And finally, Lupine. Really looking forward to this plant and hope it takes and spreads in the wildflower bed. Trying all three methods- winter sowing, direct sowing in November and starting from seed indoors.

Seedlings

Start as many extra seeds as you have room for to give away. Add the shop lights above workbench to the shelves in basement. Add another grow light to get four shelves. 

Materials

4" Peat pots for plants with long tap root that doesn't like to be disturbed.

    Lupine- 24, Milkweed- 12, Borage-12 = 48 peat pots needed  

https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/products/jiffy-peat-pots?variant=42701220479175 

Compost

 Compost

This has happened nearly every year, that there are clumps of white roots in the bottom of the compost bin. It makes it difficult to turn and seems to reduce the overall amount of compost I get at the end. Reddit says to try putting cardboard underneath which was what I was thinking as well.

I got a compost thermometer on Amazon, and it is not even in the warm zone. The answer to how to heat up compost is simple: nitrogen, moisture, bacteria, and bulk.

Read more at Gardening Know How: Heat And Compost – Heating Up Compost Piles https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/composting/basics/heating-up-compost-pile.htm

I think my pile is def too small and even after I added all those windfall apples, still too low in greens. Next year, get rid of the black containers and make a 4' by 4' pile. If you have the motivation, build three wooden containers. 

Zucchini

Well, another year with no good zucchini. Out of four plants, I only got two small, misshapen zucchini. I think, if Im going to try again I should direct sow and try more plants, maybe it is a pollination problem and there are not enough plants to pollinate each other. Also, the "wet" herb bed probably doesn't really need the extra water. Maybe next year, curve the hose around and double up on the drip heads to give the zucchini plants more water. Also, I didn't really dig a deep hole to plant. Next year, make a spade sized hole and add a bunch of compost and fertilizer at the bottom.

Cherry Tomatoes

This years tomatoes were very small and many cracked. It could have been that we had such a wet summer with many rainy days.  However, I also tried the "no dig" idea, which I didn't really think worked. This fall I'll clear out the whole bed and dig in a good layer of my own compost. Then in the spring I'll do the same and see what happens. 

Also, it seems like Roma tomatoes are better for roasting and Bruschetta, which is what I like them for. So next year,  plant four cherry tomatoes in the back of the bed, and four Roma in the front of the bed.