Posted on 08/16/2013 12:42:15 PM PDT by greeneyes
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The Sesame seed flower plant must be 15 inches tall now.
I have no flowers blooming in the dirt garden and I need flowers to attract pollinators. The Sunflower tiny plants I had in grow bags were eaten. I have an envelope of mixed flower seeds and think today I will spread them out in the dirt garden, get a bit of dirt over them, hope the birds/squirrels won't murder/eat them, and see if any come up.
When I started planting months ago, I thought I planted and it grew. That is so not true. I lost numerous seeds/plants either from birds/squirrels eating them or moths/borers murdering them or the sun baking them to death.
And, I read all the posts on here where gardeners gave up on plants due to whatever, bunches of plants or seeds being flooded out, people stealing produce, and you all acted like that was par for the course, that it happens all the time. You have an acceptance of all this and say maybe next year will be better. I freak out if one plant doesn't make it for whatever reason and you guys don't do that.
I've learned from you to cultivate more seeds than you need so you end up with some. I was treating one seed like it was my child and I'm not over that yet. If I plant it in a cup or in potting soil to start with, I expect it to flourish. At least now I know to guard it from predators and sun.
What I got from Terroir Seeds was Hummingbird & Butterfly Mix. The directions are plant the seed on the top of the dirt and lightly cover with dirt so birds won't get them (they actually said that). It says the main reason flower seeds don't come up is people plant them too deeply. Fine, I'll put them on top of dirt and use some potting soil mix to lightly cover them and put row cover directly on the potting soil to keep the birds out. It says to plant them in fall or spring.
Free flowers from Terroir: When I order seeds from them, they put in a free envelope of seeds which could be anything. I've got two free envelopes of sweet basil I haven't planted.
HOWEVER, one time this year they sent “Benary’s Giant Zinnia Mix”. “A mix of purple, coral and orange, fully double 4-5” blooms on long, thick, and exceptionally sturdy stems. High yield of cut flowers and a long vase life.”
The directions say to start the seeds inside and that will be no problem when I get the grow lamp.
I just looked in both envelopes and there are many seeds in both. Think I'll take 1/2 of the hummingbird/butterfly seeds, put those down today and wait until I get the grow lamp to cultivate 1/3 of the Zinnia seed, then plant them after they grow some. I'll have enough seed left of both for planting next spring.
Question: Envelopes don't say if these flowers are perennial so I suppose they are not. Are there perennial flowers so I don't have to keep planting them over and over?
Think I'll do a search for perennial flowers now and see what comes up.
A 2.0 Gallon Hummingbird Bush blooms all summer so maybe could buy one now that is blooming and get instant color in garden. It attracts hummingbirds and butterflies. Will get one.
A 2.0 Gallon Marguerite Daisy Assorted, blooms spring, summer, fall. Attracts hummingbirds and butterflies. Will get this now.
That's two perennial plants to get now to put flowers in the garden and will plant the flower seed also to get more flowers in there.
I love Marguerite daisies. If you plant shirley poppy seeds, and larkspur seeds, they should all bloom early next spring at the same time as your marguerites. Also, if you plant shasta daisies (from plants), they’ll bloom after the Marguerites..kinda extends the daisy season.
Oh, another plant that blooms till frost is ixora.. Mulch them, and they’ll come back from the root after it frosts.
I discovered this after pulling up a bunch thinking they were dead..The few plants I missed pulling up, all came back out the next spring..oops, a costly mistake by me.
If you can find pentas, reds, lavenders, pinks, whites, lots of colors, they attract bees and butterflies, and hummingbirds, take sun or partial shade, and require little care..You do have to water them, but not much.
My fig tree is going to be dwarf and will live in a colored syrup pot on the patio. I’ll also have Meyers Lemons, a real lemon, an orange, even an olive tree. Right now, I’m up to my eyebrows with my potted, fennel, tomatoes, herbs, peppers, roses, carrots and baby pea leaves. Hubby, bless his heart looks, shakes his head and comes back into the house. He does help me move my syrup pots from back of the house to the front. OH, and he helps me roll my garbage compost can around the back yard. We see who can move it the furtherest (is that a real word?), with one kick. I’m sending off for some fingerling potatoe seeds. They will grow in a green plastic tub. I’m thinking of having hubby make me a potato tower. It’s just one square on top of the other, as soil needs to be added, I’ll just put another topless and bottomless wooden square on top to hold in the soil. I saw one in a seed catalog, I’m half Scot, I’ll not pay the price they’re asking.
I'm at the “get more pots right now”. I don't have enough fabric grow bags and don't have any other pots. I looked on Lowes website and founds some heavy duty plastic with something in the bottom to control water and naturally they are all out of them, and they were not expensive, were less money than the fabric pots.
I didn't find my fruit dwarf trees when I looked. I really didn't want a lemon one because I don't use lemons much, but I'm thinking maybe I should get one since I can't find another fruit kind DUE TO THEY CAN'T SHIP THEM TO TEXAS!
I know our State Ag. Commissioner and he must be responsible for making some rule they can't ship them to Texas. What the hell is that about? Ship all the guns you want to Texas, but not fruit trees??? Honestly, they can't send them to Texas. No peach tree, no plum tree, no tangerine tree, no nothing fruit trees. I am pissed at the Ag. Commissioner and I don't ever remember seeing this before.
I helped that guy, Todd Staples, to become our state senator before he became the Ag Commissioner. And, he's running for Lt. Governor now and he will win. His campaign group is the best I have ever seen and he wins every time. He will be the Lt. Governor and later Governor. So, why did he bomb fruit trees???
My composter bottom sits on roller balls and I just turn it over and over in place. I am not doing that because it's too hot out there to do it and haven't put anything in it because it's too hot to be out there.
I have read about fingerling potatoes and that's a good idea - hmm, need another pot. I have looked at potato bags and customer comments are not good about them, but that's what I need to have them on the deck.
Wait, you said fingerling potato “SEEDS”. Did you mean actual seeds or potato plant seedlings - the actual plants?
Fingerling potatoes. I couldn’t think of another word to use other than “seeds”, I’m ordering the fingerlings from Territorial Seed Co. I’m going to try growing some in a straw/hay bale. I saw something about growing in straw, so why not try it. I’m talking to hubby about make some “squares” to use for growing potatoes. Maybe 2x2s or 4x4s and as the potatoe vines need covering I’ll just plop another frame over the previous frame and fill it with soil. Sounds good. I saw one in a seed catalog, but won’t pay the price.
So precious.
Our mortgage lifters are growing like gangbusters, the big one, and the little bitty one.
Zennias are annuals. Hers have done better in direct sun, rather than partial sun the we have here. My wife grows them every year for cut flowers for the table and her desk. When I see you again, I have a new screw-in type grow light that I will give you that I didn’t use this year.
Thanks for the lamp, Rightly. This is Wednesday, and I hope I get strawberry plants and walking onions before the week is over. They will surely be here by next week.
I need to send you the material on the walking onions. Don’t think there will be any to eat this coming year. They have to send out shoots to walk over and start new onions before we can have them. In other words, the ones we first plant have to stay in the dirt to parent the other onions. If you grow regular onions now, plant those next year to eat so the walking ones can make other onions.
The only onions we grew were green onions. I bought the lamp to start some seeds but never did this year. First year in about ten that I did not start seeds. Normally, I start about 300 tomato and pepper seeds, but this year, procrastination won and we bought store bought starts from Maas nursery down by the space center. They were the healthiest plants we have ever bought, but it was an 80 mile drive each way, and pricey. I don’t know how people can afford to buy starts and grow a large garden.
“I start about 300 tomato and pepper seeds...”
300? What on earth do you do with 300? I’ve got 9 right now and that’s even overkill for me.
I just solved my problem of needing more pots. I bought, on Amazon, bags that look like paper grocery bags, except they are made of some kind of plastic and are black on the inside and white on the outside. I read customer comments and these appear to hold up. They are really cheap and that’s why I got them.
They are sold in groups of 10. The 10 gallon ones were 10 for $12.35. That is $1.23 cents per bag - I got 10. The five gallons ones are 10 for $11.62. That is $1.16 per bag. I got 20 of the five gallon ones. This gives me plenty of bags for fall plants. It says these bags can be used over and over. I hope they hold up that well.
—300? What on earth do you do with 300?— Well, I pick the strongest best looking ones to plant, give away to anyone who wants some then just off the remaining ones. I start 4 jiffy trays of 72 each, about 6 varieties of tomato and 4 or 5 peppers. On my FR homepage is pictures of my seed starting incubator, that I call the ‘mater-bator’ with bottom heat, grow lights above, and set on timers. I just have to manually water. About 4-6 weeks in the and they are ready to harden off and go into the ground.
1st rule of gardening is whatever works for you is right, Everybody does things a little differently and it works for them. As you garden, you will pickup things from various people that you can adapt to your method. This is how we learn. It Is an ever learning process for everyone. You are doing just fine for a first year effort.
So glad you and rightly live close and you got the help you need. You are making great progress.
Those just look sooooo nice. Thanks for sharing the pics.
Did you check the package to see how many days to germination? Also, if the weather is really hot it will interfere with germination.
Thanks for the pics. They are such sweethearts. Love the names.LOL
Good fortune for sure. We are still disappointed with the death of our peach trees. This was their 3rd year, and we should have had our first harvest.
They set fruit, and then just started dying. We don’t know what caused it. hubby researches it, but no answer for sure.
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