The first batch of seeds have been sown for March! I really wanted to do it differently and have seed trays with one cell per plant that I needed, but, I was almost out of seed-starting mix. I get the big 2 cubic foot bag from Harris Seed (not sponsored!). So I sowed in these smaller individual containers made for the 1020 trays. These are not my favorite, but it’s what I had. It works for now since my space in the grow room is a little limited at the moment anyway. There are 11 seeds for the Kirigami Yellow Columbine in the below ‘container,’ and I will pot them up once they have germinated and grown a little.
Here’s the list of what I sowed on March 3rd. These will stay in the greenhouse.
- Balloon Flower – Fuji Pink / Fuji Blue: These were actually sown in quart-sized containers with potting soil in the bottom 2/3 and seed-starting mix in the top 1/3. Balloon flower (Platycodon) seedling roots are sensitive, so they got sown in larger containers. I am hoping for 5 of each color to add to the back border garden this year.
- Calendula – Alpha: I sowed these in 2.5″ containers so I wouldn’t have to pot these up so quickly either, doing the 2/3 potting soil to 1/3 seed-starting mix on top.
- Columbine – Kirigami Yellow
- Daisy (English) – Bellissima Mix
- Daisy (Shasta) – Alaska
- Larkspur – QIS Carmine: I had these in the refrigerator for about 20 days before sowing. I had sowed some back in January but had forgotten to refrigerator those for at least 7 days, so I didn’t think those would germinate well. The January batch germinated quite nicely, so I really didn’t need to sow these. I will put them somewhere though!
- Milkweed: This is the bright orange variety, and these seeds went into the freezer one day, fridge the next, freezer, and back to fridge, alternating every day for one week. After that, they stayed in the fridge another 10 or so days since I didn’t have the time to sow the seeds. I sowed these in 2.5″ containers per instructions I’ve found for starting these.
- Rudbeckia – Caramel Mix / Prairie Sun: These are replacements for the ones sown in October and lost in January/February due to neglect on my part.
- Yarrow – Love Parade
The next day, on March 4th, I sowed a bunch more seeds.
- Coneflowers – 5 different varieties. This is round 3 of coneflower seeds. The ones I sowed back in August and October germinated well, but I cannot seem to keep them alive. After much research, I am going to keep these in my bathroom under these lights that will be on for 8 hours a day, until they have 7 leaves. I’m sure they will need to be potted up before then.
- From what I’ve read, they need to be under lights for less than 12 hours each day until the 7th leaf. Then you can increase the amount of light. So leaving them in the greenhouse is not an option now because we are already getting 11 1/2 hours of light each day. I am also limiting moisture once they have germinated. Fingers crossed this nets me actual coneflowers I can plant this spring/summer.
Here’s the list of seeds I sowed that will stay in my grow room under a humidity dome for now since relative humidity is fairly low in there at the moment.
- Aster – King Size Apricot
- Begonia – Nonstop Mocca White (I have read bottom heat is recommended, but I’m trying without for now since it’s inside the house.)
- Dahlia – Black Forest Ruby
- Dahlia – seeds collected from my dahlias last year – 16 varieties total; I will need 28 seedlings to plant this year
- Dianthus – Sweet Pink / Sweet Red / Sweet White – I sowed what I had left of these pelleted seeds because the ones I planted out at the beginning of February look rough. I think some will be okay, but I want to make sure I have what I need for their designated space since I plan to let these grow throughout the summer.
- Poppy (California) – Twister Mix: These are technically not poppies at all and do better when started indoors and transplanted out.
- Rose – 4 varieties in which I collected seeds myself. They got natural cold stratification since I did not harvest seeds until February. This is experimental; if I get good germination, I don’t know what I’ll do with all the seedlings!
- Statice – Forever Happy / QIS Pale Blue / QIS Yellow
I snapped the picture below this morning to show the seeds in the grow room and just now realized the statice has already germinated!
A few more seeds that were sown March 4th and will stay in the greenhouse:
- Parsley – Italian Dark Green: I soaked these seeds for 24 hours before sowing.
- Hollyhock – Peaches N Dreams: I soaked these seeds for 24 hours as well before sowing. These were sown in 2.5″ containers with potting soil in the bottom 2/3 of the containers, topped off with the seed starting mix. I had seedlings from seeds sown in September, but I am not sure they are alive anymore. I suspect fungus gnat damage in the greenhouse.
- Salvia – Big Blue / Blue Bedder / Pink Sundae: I am replacing seedlings of the Big Blue and Pink Sundae varieties as I think fungus gnats got them in the greenhouse also. They did really well in the unheated greenhouse, up to a certain point and then started dying off. The Big Blue variety might have been alive and dormant since those were pretty robust plants at one point, but I figured it was best to start over just in case.
- I also direct sowed some Pink Peony breadseed poppy seeds in one of the lower garden beds since these do not transplant well and prefer being direct sown.
I do not need to start any seeds this weekend, so I’ll be doing some more the 15th or 16th.
