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Sunday, February 13, 2011

Seeds: Sweet Jesus, What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

I received my first two seed catalogs in the last week.  First two catalogs...ever.  One from Burpee and one from Johnny's Seeds.  There are really 13 types of carrots?  Really?  Not just "orange"?  Oy, what have I embarked into?  Well, we've made our first attempts.


First tray.  Ever.  There are 8 sections.  Three of the sections contain catmint (27 plants, hopefully), two sections of Snapdragons (18 plants), one of English Daisy (9 plants), one of Forget-Me-Knots (9 plants) and one of Foxgloves (9 plants).

The catmint goes back to our plan post for the east side of the backyard.  (Look, a link!!)  I need 14 plants, so I roughly doubled it with the 27.  We have plenty of spots should any survive above 14.

The remainder of the plants will go by the front door and around the small vegetable garden we're putting in.  I'm drawing the plan up for that one, and should have that in a near future post.

Those of you who know these things are probably saying, "but, Turling, those plants all have different germination times."  Yes, they do.  I planned for that.  Because, I'm now a planner.  Didn't you see the binder?  I'm a planner now.  It's actually come in handy, as I had no idea how many types of seeds I planted until I went and consulted the journal.  I then noticed I had written everything down and typed in that I had planted a total of seven sections.  But, as you can see from the picture, I planted eight.  Thank God for markers.  Let's just go with I "plan".

Anyway, germination.  The Catmint and Forget-Me-Knot packages state they germinate in 10-14 days.  The others in 7-14 days.  So, in my infinite wisdom, I planted those two three days sooner then the others.  That way, they should all start about the same time and I can move them to sun at the same time.

Well, slap my ass and call me Fannie, if those damn catmint didn't pop up after four days.  And, the English Daisies...two!  I'm sure there's some, "the English are always early" joke, but I don't know what it is.  Make up your own.  I'm bitter about my seeds timing, right now.

The tray I purchased from the local garden center came with a plastic dome.  You can sort of see it propped up in the back of the picture.  It said to crack the dome open when the first seedlings (that's what they're called, right?) appear.  So, that's where we're at.  After the other pop up, I'll move them to our south facing bay window in the kitchen, and trim all but the strongest looking from each section while removing the plastic dome and leaving them uncovered.  I don't think I'm going to wait more than a couple of days, though.  It seems to me that they will grow just fine without the dome in the sun, so I don't want to lose the one's that have started waiting on the others.  We'll see how that goes.  I'll write it all down in the journal.  Well, 7/8's of it, at least.

SPURS UPDATE:  Big win against Sunderland yesterday at the Stadium of Light.  Three wins in a row now, even with a mass of injuries and we're back in fourth pending the outcome of Chelsea's game Monday.  Champion's League Round of 16 Tuesday against AC Milan in Italy.  I'll be taking the day off of work in order to enjoy the game from the comfort of my couch.  Now, go plant something.

8 comments:

  1. The English? Premature? Wars have been fought over less, my dear.

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  2. Seed catalogs multiply so be careful!

    Hope everything grows and you have more than you need.

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  3. Fannie, I wonder if I'll ever get as excited about seeds as everyone else seems to be. I'm a 'ready made plant' sorta girl. Glad to see you so excited though lol.

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  4. VB, I meant early for dinner, what were you thinking?

    Thanks for the motivation, Sherlock. I have two more catalogs on the way, so I'm thinking you're right.

    Kyna, I didn't think I would be until my son saw the tiny green specs popping up after they germinated. He checks them every day now and gives me an updated count. His excitement is contagious.

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  5. yep... veg seed varieties is overwhelming at times... who knew there was 76 types of green lettuce.

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  6. Johnny's and Burpee? Wait until you add Baker Creek, Seed Saver's and Territorial Seed Company catalogs to your collection...your head might explode! Mine does almost every time I'm thumbing through them trying to decide what to plant!

    Looks like your seeds are off to a great start, and I'm relieved to see you didn't go for those peat pellet or jiffy pot doo-dads. I'm sure IG could go on about those ;) I never used to start much from seed, but now I think I need to join seed starters anonymous or something. Great thing is, a few seeds are cheaper than 27 plants at $8.99 a gallon...you'll save a fortune!

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  7. I am one of those who bought some Jiffy pots (i.e., "Tomato Greenhouses" with trays & plastic covers) from Lowe's last month and planted a bunch of tomato, eggplant, pepper, cantaloupe, sugar snap peas and tomatillo seeds in them. I wasn't expecting much germination action due to our recent cold weather, but lo and behold every freaking seed sprouted in less than a week! I split them all up into separate containers today and am hoping they will all survive until it's warm enough to put them into the ground outdoors. Regardless, nothing beats homegrown.

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  8. Most of those seeds are flowers, you freak!

    Have some dignity, man! Grow some bloody veg!

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