Wordless Wednesday. Geranium Seedlings

 As always, click on photos to get the best view. . .

A Tuesday Chuckle Courtesy Of Marty's Musings

It's been busy around here for the last week or so. I've got big plans up my sleeve and I'm hard at work on them.

It's very exciting. Especially now that I have some expert help! Google Apps will meet their match!

And then there's this Spring's plant sale. Which I had decided to skip this year.

 Because that's the sensible thing to do.

Henry was going to be sooo proud.

While our friend Teresa was over one evening, I mentioned my sensible decision.

Henry's reaction was . . . unexpected . . .

"What?!! But you have to have a plant sale!. I've been telling people about it and they're excited."

"You want me to have a plant sale?? A sale that will make lots of extra work for you, and likely interrupt the steady flow of homemade bread you've been enjoying?!"

"Well, yeah. Just keep it small so it won't be so much work."

Keep it small??

It's been 28 years. You think he'd know me by now . . .

I started the first batch of seeds today Thirteen different flowers. Annuals and perennials. After I stop at Apache Seeds tomorrow I will have fifteen.

Keep it small.

What was he thinking???

Does anyone have favorites that they plant every year? Any requests, if you live here in town? Let me know. I would be happy to add to the list . . .

Keep it small . . . ha!

The Tuesday chuckle?

I found this post through Donna at Funky Junk's Facebook page

Hop over to Marty's Musing's and check it out . . .

How to Survive a Blogging Spouse

1)   Buy the very best computer you can’t possibly afford and then don’t even tell her how to turn it on.  I’m serious!  If you help on that very first night, you have become her Internet Technology Specialist.  And you will rue that day.  Our weapon of choice is a 27” iMac.  With reading glasses on, this thing looks like a roadside billboard.  It has yet to blink, even with 30 trillion pictures on it already

*excerpt reprinted with permission. Click on Marty's Musings link for the full post.

And We Have. . . .

Germination!!!

Whoo Hoo!
Another excellent cure for the winter blues.
And considering the estimated 10 centimeters of snow headed our way this weekend, a desperately needed one!
(Still working on the book pile though.)

It is Spring!

The sun is shining, I'm in my t-shirt and jeans and. . .

I'm in the greenhouse!

Bliss.

And a good time was had by all. . .

Turn out was small for our seed party last Friday.

For those of us who were able to be there though, there were many seeds just waiting to go home with someone new.

Munchies, good company and talk about gardening.

We had a lovely time.

Apple blossoms

My apple tree was in full bloom by last week.

There is nothing prettier than apple blossoms in the spring!

Unless it's tulips, daffodils, the flowers on my mayday tree, or crocuses.

And don't forget about pulsatilla and glory in the snow.

Lilacs. . .

Or bleeding hearts. . .

Who am I kidding?

I love them all!

My apple tree is very pretty though!

My daughter Holly thinks the back garden has a bit of an Asian feel at the moment and I think she's right.

It always fills me with wonder to watch a garden change from one week to the next.

As you can see, I still haven't had time to plant anything yet. These are all the plants I either started from seed, or grew from the cuttings my sister Tamara and her husband brought when they were visiting earlier in the year.

I've also got bunch of perennials I started, visiting over at my friend Ev's house.

She was kind enough to take them in when I began running out of room.

I promise I'll be by to get them soon Ev!

In the mean time, while I wait for a few spare moments to work in the garden, I'll enjoy the changes happening out front.

Here is just one of about eighty alliums I planted two years ago in the fall.

I love gardening. . .

Seedling update

Since I didn't post yesterday (something I didn't realize until I was in bed last night!) I thought I'd throw in an extra one today.

So. . . without further ado. . .


Let's see what's happening to all the plants at my house. . .





As you can see my second amaryllis is growing like crazy. It should start blooming soon.

The amaryllis that Jesse bought me has sent out a third stem! Please don't look too closely at the way I rigged up support for the stems. It's looking very Christmasy I know, but I couldn't find my bamboo stakes and Henry refused to stay and hold them until they had finished flowering. (Inconsiderate of him wasn't it?)

Now here's a nice surprise! It looks like my cuttings decide to be nice to me and grow some new roots. Let's hope I can get them planted before they tangle together again.

Here we have plants under the domes as we wait for germination.

Sucess in tray one! The pansies are up. How about tray two. . .?

Not much happening here. It looks like the rudbeckia 'Goldsterm' may very well have been old seed as Tamara had mentioned in the comments. I know the echinecia 'Luster hybrids' were old seed. . .

But a few are starting to pop up. Yeah!

Here are the little seedlings that were up earlier. Coming right along.

It may be winter outside, but the promise of spring is growing in here!

Starting plants from seed.

Well I'm finally posting about my seed starting efforts.

It's going to be a long one folks!

Lots of pictures.

Here we go.... (And keep in mind... this is how I start my seed... It's not necessarily the right way, just what works for me.)

First... a peek at which seeds I've started.

This shelf will now hold all my new seedlings.

What's this?... Soil behind my chair?? Well it is a good out of the way place to thaw.( I store it outside the rest of the year.)

Now let's get things moving!!

I saved these cell packs from last year. They will need to be disinfected.

A good scrub is the best way to start. If you are washing a bunch of pots they can go in a sinkful of water.

If you don't have any used pots new ones can be bought. They do not require cleaning. ( I'm always so excited when I get to buy new ones!)

Anything used before must also be bleached. I'm not always picky about doing things perfectly so I just add a couple of capfuls to a sink of water and let the pots soak for a bit before I leave them to air dry. This is usually done before planting day.

Now for the fun part! Fill your tray (or big bowl etc.) with potting soil. I like to use soil specifically for starting seeds but you can use whatever is available as long as it is soilless mix.


Fill your pot.

Tamp down so that the soil is packed in firmly

Sprinkle in seed. Unless the seed I'm using is very expensive, I put two per cell so that I am most likely to have germination in every cell. If seed is expensive you can sow it thinly in one large shallow pot and prick them out once they have all come up and are big enough to transplant. We'll save that for another time. I don't do this often as I find that I'm usually too busy to actually do it once it's time for transplanting. I have lost entire plantings this way!

If your seed requires darkness to germinate ( that information is found on the back of the seed package), sprinkle a light layer of soil on it and press down firmly.

An important step is labeling. Label each pot individually. You think you will remember, but there will come a time, when the pots have been moved around, that you will look at the pot, scratch you head and say " Now what was in here?"

Make sure all the information is on the tag.

I always water from the bottom. I put my pots in a tray like this and add warm water. Once you can see that the soil is wet at the top, remove the pots to a dry tray. I let them sit overnight and then cover them with a clear plastic dome. The dome helps to keep moisture in.

Here's a handy germination aid. The heat mat. If your seed requires warm tempertures to germinate (check the seed package), bottom heat helps to speed things along. You used to be able to put it on top of the fridge because it would be nice and warm there, but, that doesn't work with most fridges today. I purchased this from Lee Valley Tools. Check out their garden stuff here: http://www.leevalley.com/garden/index.aspx?c=1

Plants who need warmth and light go here on my plant stand.

This batch of seed requires cool tempertures and light to germinate so they have gone downstairs where it's much cooler.

Oh... What's this??? Seedlings! And after just a few days... My dianthus seed, which I saved from the garden last fall, is the first to come up.

Whoo Hoo! Cheap, free seed wins again!

Too bad it's the only cheap free seed I have!

Shameful Confession

Okay... brace yourselves!

I have a shameful confession to make.

I... have... not... yet... planted... my... seeds.

Whew!! That was hard to say, but now that I've said it I feel much better!

I meant to plant them, I made plans to plant them, but life kept getting in the way.

The first obstacle was how gloomy it's been most of the week. I want to take pictures of the process so I can share it with you. When it's gloomy the pictures don't come out as nice. There was one beautiful day, but that was also the day I had to run around with Morgan trying to find him a new car now that his old car has been declared a write off by the insurance company ( a story in itself, which I will share at a later date.)

Add in, house cleaning, bus driving, groceries, etc. etc....

Still no seeding done!

I did get this far however...

It was not too cold when I decide to go out to get my planting supplies

Here's my work area. I love my work area! I had picked this spot for a work area the day we moved in, but due to the raspberry bushes, gigantic weeds, split bags of horse feed(?) and work on the rest of the garden it had to wait. But now... a spot all my own!

Now... here it is... my very own shed... Henry made it for me by reusing the kids playhouse and adding on to it, figuring it out as he went along. It only took one entire growing season.

Oh wait... what's this? Bikes? Nope...it's not totally my own shed... grrrr... Henry's garage is way bigger than my shed! It makes much more sense to store them in there. Really. He doesn't have that much stuff in there. Really. Sigh... okay, I admit it. The garage is very full right now.

Wow! Look at all the cool stuff in here! Doesn't it make you want to go out and dig right now?

So... Let's see what we have in here...

Hmmm... Someone was very organized last fall... But then, that's just the way I am... Really.

This is as far as I've gotten. These pots have made it in the house, where they wait impatiently to be filled. Maybe tomorrow...

Got to go now, I have kids from grades one to nine anxiously waiting to go skating on the big frozen lake (man made) at Hawrelak park. It's only -9C so it should be fun.

And I promise... you will see my seeding efforts soon...