AS THE SEEDLINGS TURN: A GROWING FROM SEEDS UPDATE

I started more things from seed this year than I ever have and I'm so happy I did. More than just the satisfaction of growing from seeds and the fact that I'll have a well-stocked garden for pennies, it kept me busy during those hardest months for gardeners. It was lovely to tend to something green.

In fact, I'm still tending. Our last frost date is somewhere around May 10 so I won't be planting anything that is sensitive to cold until after that (by at least a week). Some things, like basil and nasturtiums have just recently been sown. With the exception of a few larger things or things that don't like root disturbance, everything was sown in soil blocks and then potted up into either 4-inch or 3.5-inch pots.

Plants in my hardening-off house.

But the back room, where I set up some grow lights, was turning into a scene from "Little Shop of Horrors" and something had to get out of there. I ended up buying a large temporary greenhouse that I use mostly for hardening things off. That has created room in the house for the dozens of dahlias I'm starting in pots. Dahlias just need warmth to sprout, but not light, so they are mostly stacked up. As they sprout, I'll move them into the greenhouse to grow on.

Redbor kale

As far as growing from seeds goes, I think I can qualify most of my efforts as successes. The redbor kale, which I will grow as an ornamental (although there's no reason I can't snitch a couple leaves here and there) in the circle garden is ready to transplant any time. I'll be growing other kinds of kale for eating, but I plan on direct sowing these in the garden: I can't start everything inside!

Nicotiana alata

The nicotiana alata is the big success story of my seed starting. The plants are lovely and healthy. Just last week they all tried to start flowering and I had to nip out the buds. In fact the only problem with these is that they grew much more quickly than I anticipated and they are going to get a little tight in their pots until I can get them planted (especially since a few are destined for containers that don't usually get planted until the end of May).

Signet marigolds

I fell in love with signet marigolds last year when I picked up a few at our master gardener plant sale. They have charming little edible flowers and citrus-scented foliage that is pleasant to me, but not to critters. I found the "Tangerine Gem" seeds to be easier to grow than "Lemon Gem" but I have enough of each to spread around the garden.

I'm also growing "Geisha Girl" calendula which I like for its flowers but I'm also hoping to learn how to use it in tinctures and creams (it's great for cuts and burns).

Sweet peas

Gomphrey (aka globe amarinth) didn't germinate as well as I had hoped, but I have enough of them. And the sweet peas, at least those that escaped the wrath of a cat hellbent on eating them every time she sneaked in the back room, are doing pretty well. All have been nipped back to create bushier growth.

Bronze fennel is gorgeous and I'm hoping I can get these plants to a decent size before putting them in the garden. I love the airiness of fennel. It's also a host plant for swallowtail butterflies so if it all gets eaten, I'll at least feel good about it.

Just sprouted basil.

The basil has just germinated but looks to be in good shape.

As is often the case with gardening, sometimes the things you want to succeed the most, end up struggling for no apparent reason. That is the story of my verbena bonariensis seeds. After sowing them the first time after chilling them in the fridge and having no germination, I consulted other sources that said nothing of doing that and did a second sowing. My information says that they can take 14 to 28 days to germinate and that they need darkness but warmth to germinate. For three weeks, my verbena seeds have stayed in the darkness of the basement on a heating mat, first covered with newspaper, then with the plastic cover of the flat covered by a towel. I would say that maybe a third or fewer have germinated and while I've not brought it into the light, I think it's time to start thinking about doing that. I haven't seen anything new germinate in recent days to make me think that any more are going to.

It's funny that the verbena is being so picky. For many people, it's almost considered a weed as it reseeds so freely. I've never found a self-sown seedling in my garden, either because it's too cold or maybe because I'm too quick with weeding (although that seems unlikely with my less-than-stellar weeding habits). Still, my dreams of a tray of verbena seem to be fading.

What did you grow from seed this year and how's it going?

FIRST PLANTS IN, MORE SEEDS TO COME

It was a great weekend in the garden: two marathon days that left the garden in pretty good shape and my body in pretty bad shape. There is something so satisfying about the pain one feels after long days in the garden.

I put some row cover over the peas and lettuce seed, if only to protect them a bit from the torrential rains predicted for this week.

A highlight of my work in the garden this weekend was planting my first veggies in the garden. Kale, lettuce, peas and onion seedlings (purchased) all went in this weekend. Some of the kale and the peas were among the seedlings I started inside.

By and large, the seeds have been doing well. Everything germinated and grew very well. As seedlings got their first sets of true leaves, I pulled out or snipped off all but the strongest seedling in each plug of basil and kale. I let the bunching onions get bunchy and I had already thinly sowed the nasturtiums.

On Friday I potted up the basil into 3-inch pots. They have a long way to go before I'll plant them outside. In a normal year I wouldn't plant basil outside until the last week in May at the very earliest. With the way the weather is going this year, it could be a couple weeks into June before it is warm enough for them. Most of the pots are back inside and will be moved to the mini greenhouse (essentially a cold frame) when it gets a little warmer. A few pots didn't fit in the tray, so they are outside in pots protected by row cover fending for themselves as a bit of an experiment.

I've been hardening off the kale for the last week or more and planted out the plugs directly into the garden on Sunday. I also planted some kale seeds as well. I will plant more kale in coming weeks as well.

The bunching onions aren't doing much. They seem to be stalled in their growth. I may harden them off and move them out hoping to spark some growth.

The nasturtiums are growing really well. In fact, when I picked up the tray the other day, I noticed roots were jumping out the bottom, so I also potted them up in 4-inch pots, two plants per pot, on Friday. I pinched them back at the same time, hoping to encourage nice bushy growth.

The roots of the peas were already coming out the bottom of the biodegradable pots.

Peas planted in their pots in the garden.

I read that while peas like cool weather to grow, they germinate best at 70 degrees, so I sowed some snap peas in a cardboard seed tray. They germinated quickly and I immediately started hardening them off. Sunday, I planted out the trays intact into a corner of the garden where they will quickly disintegrate (the roots were already coming through the bottom). I hope to have a better pea harvest than most years, as I'm using first planting seeds outside at this point.

The biggest challenge so far has been keeping the cat away from the seedlings.

With some room in the seed trays and under the grow light, I was able to sow a few more seeds.

I planted an entire tray of kale. Yep, more kale. I intend to plant most of these in the ornamental gardens where they will be beautiful foliage (that we'll nibble on when we're too lazy to walk to the veggie garden). Once those germinate (i.e. move off the heat mat), I think I'll start some zinnias and some more nasturtiums, or perhaps some parsley. I'm so impressed with how the basil is doing (it's already at the size I have purchased plants at in the past) that I'm inspired to give parsley (which I never have enough of) a try.

Some ciopollini onion seedlings also went in and plenty close as they stay small. Also, you're getting a sneak peek at another project I'm working on in the background.

How is your seed growing going? Did you get to plant anything in the garden this weekend?

It's starting to come together

I think there are few things better than an insanely productive spring weekend. As I mentioned on Friday, this was a weekend for me to just kick it in the garden. And kick it I did.

I got up and out there early both days and just kept pushing it. I got the largest garden (the "original" one off the patio) weeded and top-dressed with compost, did a bit of edging, planted oodles of plants and patched about a billion holes in our pathetic lawn.

I'm happy with how the terraced garden off the deck is coming in its "leap" year. The fringe tree in the center is just starting to show leaf buds so it's a bit sad looking right now. I'm very happy with how the Orangeola Japanese maple on the left is doing. I think it must be 7 or 8 years old now.

The "meatball" boxwood in the corner of the garden has really grown but I'm waiting for several more weeks before I prune it back into shape so that all the new growth has a chance to flush out. It half swallowed a large rock we had there so we levered the rock over a bit and added another smaller stone we had kicking around the garden. I also put in a few plants for a mini rock garden. Although this over-exposed picture was taken Sunday evening and is a bit glary, I'm really happy with how that corner looks. Sometimes I think it's best to break garden beds into their own areas and plant "mini-rooms." 

I love this new basil I planted by the tomatoes. It's called 'Crimson King' and it looks just like a regular sweet basil but it has this great color, which is supposed to stay throughout rather than turning green like some purple basils. Do you see all that powder on the leaves? That is all some of the crazy amounts of tree pollen that have been blowing all over the place for the last week. Our deck is actually yellow most mornings with pollen.

I also whipped up some homemade deer repellent, which is on the patio cooking in the sun to get extra funky. The funkier the better when it comes to repelling deer and bunnies.

And after all that hard work in the garden, I snapped this photo of maybe my most favorite part of our property: The American beech trees. No matter how much we do, Mother Nature always seems to do it better, doesn't she?