I had originally planned to sow some seeds each week in October to space them out, but this past month has been a little all over the place. We have been caring for an 18-year-old cat who won’t eat as much and is in renal failure, and one of our 15-year-old cats is battling large-cell lymphoma right now.
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So I went ahead and sowed all of October’s seeds over the past few days. I also did it a little differently this month. Back in August, I mentioned that I don’t like sowing seeds in individual cells. I normally sow 5-15 seeds per cell and then pot them up after they’ve germinated and grown a little. I decided to do individual cells this time.
Mainly because a lot of seeds were started, and I don’t want to pot them up once they’ve germinated. I would like to use the next couple weeks of warmer weather to get some more areas cleaned up. So each variety I’ve sown, I’ve used the number of cells for the number of plants I have planned to plant. If I needed 3 plants, I might have sown 5 seeds total in those 3 cells – and when they germinate, I will DO MY BEST to just thin out the seedlings. I always want to save all the seedlings, but I am really focusing on growing just what I need for the 2025 season.
Now, for the list of plants and varieties I’ve sown for October.
October 17th
- Pansies – Pandora’s Box, Nature Antique Shades, and Cool Wave Blue (Some of these are getting planted at the end of November with tulip bulbs, so that’s why they are getting started later than others. The Cool Wave Blue was started back in August, but they germinated terribly due to getting old seeds from the seller.)
- Viola – Sorbet XP White
The above pansies and violas should be it for the 2024-2025 season. We’ll see how this later batch does compared to the ones started in August and September.
October 19th
- Alyssum – Wonderland Deep Rose
- Blanket Flower – Burgundy
- Bupleurum – Green Gold (These seeds were in the freezer for 18 days.)
- Calendula – Zeolights
- Chrysanthemum – Snowland
- Clarkia – Elegant Salmon
- Coneflower – Cheyenne Spirit / Feeling Pink (because August’s seedlings did not do well) / Primadonna Deep Rose
- Cress – Persian
- Dianthus – Dart White / RoseQuartz / Sweet Neon Purple / Sweet Pink / Sweet Red / Sweet White
- Feverfew – Chrysanthemum Parthenium
- Lobelia – Riviera Sky Blue
- Oregano (ornamental) – Kirigami
- Rudbeckia – Caramel Mix / Prairie Sun
- Salvia – Big Blue, Pink Sundae
- Snapdragon – Sonnet Crimson
- Sweet Peas – Elegance Watermelon / High Scent (These seeds were soaked for 24 hours prior to sowing.)
I also used an inoculant for the sweet peas this time.
I rinsed the sweet pea seeds in distilled water, added the inoculant to the little portion cups, and shook them up with the lid on to coat the seeds. I used a plastic spoon to scoop them out, and I sowed them about 1/2″ deep.
I ordered these seed-starting trays on Amazon for the sweet peas, since the cells are 3 1/2″ deep.
I’d like to point out that I’m not an expert seed-starter or flower grower, so I am not 100% sure all these seedlings will survive through winter. Some are experiments, and I plan to do followup posts for all the seeds I’ve started. I know we are forecasted for a warmer (and drier) winter here in the southeast, due to La Nina likely forming. Some of the seeds I’ve started, I know they will do fine because I started some of that kind towards the end of last November and transplanted them out in February, and they grew just fine.
After snapping the picture below, I did move all the trays into the greenhouse. We have had about a 7-day spell of really cold nights (32-38 degrees), so the humidity is lower as well.
