| Copyright Pending 2007, The Casual Gardener, Inc., All Rights Reserved Privacy Policy By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Service. |
| Plan Your New Garden Off-Season ------ Annuals from Seed – Get the Party Started Now!! - - - - - - - - - Dear Casual Gardener, I’d like to save money this year and grow my own annuals. I normally spend $300 a season in petunias and impatiens alone and think there must be a better way. I am wondering how soon I start growing the seedlings and if you have any recommendations to get stronger plants? Signed, Seed Starter = = = = = = = = = = = = = Dear Seed Starter, This is the best time of year to order seeds of all kinds! Most annuals take at least six weeks to get started indoors before they can be transplanted. I usually take the winter season to scour over all my favorite catalogs, plan my color schemes and order my favorites. For beautiful annual seeds, I’d recommend shopping online. Here are some of my favorite online spots and most have guarantees on all their products. Hardware and home centers are also setting their seeds out now. Remember seeds are time-dated and may not germinate if they are too old in the package, so be sure to check dates upon purchase. Burpee – www.burpee.com Harris Seeds - http://gardeners.harrisseeds.com Park Seed - www.parkseed.com Renee’s Garden – www.reneesgarden.com Stokes Seeds - www.stokesseeds.com Seeds of Change Organic - www.seedsofchange.com Thompson & Morgan - www.tmseeds.com Tomato Growers – www.tomatogrowers.com Once you get your seeds, it is now time to get the party started! The large home centers of the world are bringing out their seed starting systems right now. Usually a reusable seed starting system consists of a plastic bottom tray, growing cells, growing cubes or dirt and a clear tray cover to keep moisture in. I find these easy to use and inexpensive, however, you can use old plastic trays or whatever you have at home to plant in as well. An alternative to this is using compressed peat disks. If you have a tray, place the peat disks in it, water heavily until all the peat disks expand, then place one seed inside each peat disk: instant pot! There are biodegradable peat pots you can fill yourself and plant right into the ground. I’ve had less success with these as sometimes the pots don’t biodegrade in time to allow for root expansion. If I utilize peat pots, I usually split the bottoms out before I plant them in the ground. Making your own pots from newspaper is the least expensive and “greenest” solution and gives you the freedom of selecting the dirt mix you would prefer. The “PotMaker” is a cool wooden mold you use to make your own biodegradable seed starting pots from newspapers. I’ve seen this on the Burpee website and also on Ebay. From this point, all you need for basic growth is a sunny window or a wide-spectrum fluorescent light bulb. Place your seed system of choice in front of the window, water regularly once planted and rotate trays to keep regular light on all the plants. If you have no windows and are doing this in your garage or basement, studies have found that there is more success with wide-spectrum fluorescent light bulbs if you place them within two inches over the plants. Heat does speed germination. A warm room or even a special seedling heating mat will encourage stronger growth. Happy seed growing! Please send your gardening questions for Shawna Coronado, The Casual Gardener to dearshawna@thecasualgardener.com or The Casual Gardener, P.O. Box 358, Warrenville, IL 60555 |
| Copyright 2007 and 2008, The Casual Gardener, Inc., All Rights Reserved Privacy Policy By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Service. |
| The Casual Gardener.com |
| The Casual Gardener Column |