Garden thread

wendymoreland3796 wrote: »

Do the quality of the seeds matter? Do people have recommendations on where they buy seeds?

I've had great luck with 25¢ seeds from Dollar Tree. I'm not trying to grow huge prize winning produce and things like squash and beans seem to be able to thrive no matter what. I also sometimes save seeds from grocery store produce and kitchen scraps and have had good results there. I've found growing peppers from seed - no matter the seed price - to be the most challenging.

wendymoreland3796 wrote: »

I have always started my garden from plants, but this year I want to try from seeds. Do the quality of the seeds matter? Do people have recommendations on where they buy seeds?

It depends on where you garden, but IMO some things are better from plants, others from seeds. (Whether garden centers sell them as plants is not a good guide. They sell quite a few things here as plants that grow well from seeds, and have a reputation for not liking to be transplanted.)

I tried growing tomatoes, peppers, and their kin from seeds. Here (at the time zone 5b), one has to start them indoors. I was never able to get the conditions right to produce as robust, sturdy plants as I could get from a good garden center or the farmers market. I think light was the problem. I don't have a greenhouse or even a good South window exposure, and even growing under grow lights and on heat mats didn't equal the quality of plants I could get in small pots.

OTOH, even the long-ish season vine-y things (Winter squash, for example) did fine from seed, though I hilled them and used Hotkaps or similar to get a small jump start. The brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts) have been variable for me. Some of the smaller leafy things in that genus did fine from seed (mustard greens, bok choy, etc.). Some of the heading types (cabbage, broccoli) did better from purchased plants. YMMV for sure.

There are some herbs I wouldn't grow from seed. Oregano has a reputation for not coming true from seed in flavor, even seed from good plants. I prefer to buy a plant so I can at least smell it. Mints are also unpredictable from seed, IME.

For sure, I'd grow annual herbs from seed. I especially see people buying basil plants and wonder why: They don't take long to mature from seed, and I want more than a couple of dinky plants. I liked to plant my tomatoes (caged) in 3-foot square spaces, right in the middle. Then I would plant basil in a band all around the edge. By the time the tomatoes started wanting all their space in mid-summer, the basil was ready to go. I'd cut most of it (other than a bit planted on its own at intervals for later use) and make vast amounts of pesto or even just olive oil/basil paste to freeze in jam-sized canning jars. (Frozen pesto is a nice Christmas present for foodie friends.)

The quality of the seeds isn't a big deal in terms of germination, usually, unless they've been handled badly (stored in a hot location, for example). I think that was the issue with the chives and garlic chives I mentioned.

That said, I do prefer to order seeds from a home garden specialist retailer online. Admittedly, they're more expensive, but OK with me given the amount of effort and money I'll invest overall. For some reason, many of the seed varieties in garden centers are varieties that would be commercially grown. Often, their breeding is optimized for appearance and shipping qualities, maybe simultaneous ripening, other things commercial growers prize.

There are specialty seed sources that focus more on home or farmers garden type varieties. They're more likely to be bred for flavor, disease resistance, possibly for particular regions, and that sort of thing.

For me, gardening in Michigan, Johnny's Selected Seeds in Albion, Maine was my main go-to, because they specialize in Northern gardens. They also have the most informative descriptions I've ever seen. Many vendors will be all glow-y prose about how wonderful every variety they sell is. That's dumb. Johnny's will be very explicit about tradeoffs (this bean is earliest, that most prolific, another more disease resistant, etc.). They also provide more detailed culture information than others on their web site. Love them.

There are others that have that kind of home grower specialization, too. It's been too long since I've veggie gardened much, so I don't have many specifics. I think Renee's Garden is one that's still in business. I'm sure there are others. Some of the biggies (Burpee, Ferry Morse, etc.) sell online, but mostly sell the same varieties you can get in packets at a decent garden center. Some good garden centers these days will carry a seed line that's more home garden oriented, though.

I got my other two fig trees pruned up today. Pulling on the saw, it was very obvious to me I was at the gym yesterday. Not painful, just could tell that I'd been using those muscles. It's some of my weaker muscles, so I'll be happy if I increase their strength. I filled the Green Waste Cart. It gets emptied tomorrow, so I can move on to whatever is next. Now all I have left is two pear trees (Bartlett and Chojuro), a cherry tree (plus a flowering cherry if I decide it needs some work), a plum tree, the grapes, the raspberries, the blueberries, and I guess the red currant and gooseberry if I decide to do them. There's some other things too, but that's all the fruit. I don't mind pruning some of the other things any time of the year unless it affects the flowering. I did a walk around, and I don't think there's a whole lot that needs much work. There's some shrubs I may get to in spring after they flower.

And I also noticed that I no longer have to worry about those sprouted acorns I was going to plant. I checked to see if they survived all the ice. I can't say whether they did. None of them had grown upwards yet - just roots. Well, I checked on them again today. They have "flown away." Either a scrub jay or a squirrel I presume. I bet it was a scrub jay. Grrrr. If I go back out to that trail, maybe I'll bring a plastic bag and small trowel and see about collecting some more. I think it must be a mast year.

I need to get out to one of the independent garden centers north of town that has a bonsai section. I need a big bag of potting mix; I think I need to repot all of the surviving bonsai this year. I won't need any for those oak trees... But I do have some other trees that are ready for bonsai pots. Two incense-cedars and two Port Orford-cedars.

The bad news is that I live in US Zone 6b and it will be 2-3 months before I can even think of moving them outside.

Even here in Michigan, we're seeing some of the Spring bulbs and early-flowering plants start earlier than average.

I had my first snowdrops (Galanthus sp.) in early January. Then, it was just one clump behind the garage that's always earlier than the others, but now many are starting to pop out, too. The earlier Hellebores (usually the ones with some H. niger in their lineage) are in full bud, and even some of the H. orientalis hybrids are showing a tiny bit of bud color. It'll be a while, though. (Shown: The early Galanthus clump on January 2, and H. niger on December 30 (buds are plumper now, and yes, they're semi-evergreen all Winter here).)

Hi, I haven’t gardened in probably six or seven years but I’m working from home and ready to try my hand at it again. I have three 4’x8’ raised beds that I used to use for square foot gardening. In the past, I was successful starting snap peas by Valentines Day, with turnips to follow by March. My summer veggies included cucumbers (grown upwards on trellises), tomatoes, zucchini, and peppers.

My beds are terribly overgrown. Does anyone have suggestions for how I can start to get them ready now, without completely breaking my back with the weeding?

I noticed the first daffodil in my yard yesterday. Also the first couple hyacinth. Way too early. I made a note, but I still need to add those to my phenology.

I cut one tiny hyacinth and brought it inside to smell.

I wish I knew what was eating all the buds though. Most of them will have few or no flowers because they've all been munched.

I should take advantage of the good weather to mow the lawn again, but I can wait until the weekend when trails are busy. I might go to do a long hike in a state park tomorrow that has ten large waterfalls. It's about an hour's drive. I have an annual parking pass this year, so I plan to go several times. It's less crowded in the winter. It's less crowded on week days. The creeks are more exciting this time of year. It's been warm enough that even though it's higher elevation, the trails should be ice-free.

kshama2001 wrote: »

This resonates. Right now, though, it's aphids (all over my calla, currently in indoor over-Winter life), spider mites (in the orchids), and it seems to be the start of brown marmorated stink bug season (they don't bother the plants, but they're not good housemates for me). It's always something. Since it's indoors, it's insecticidal soap and yellow sticky traps for the aphids, mostly humidity for the spider mites. If the BMSB reach sufficient volume indoors, I'll set up a trap (desk lamp above a bowl of water with dish soap).

As long as I'm here: It's pseudo-hot here, 70F (21C) at 1PM. The record high for this day was 64F in 1867. All the early Spring bulbs are popping fast, and won't last. There are Tommie Crocus (Crocus Tommasinianus) all over in the garden beds and lawn, way beyond where I ever planted any. They're even invading the North neighbor' lawn. (I don't think they mind.)

<peers sadly at you all over the top of the windrows the city left everywhere from plowing the 20+ cm snow dump a couple of days ago> 😢

I brought in some small branches from my flowering cherry tree a week or so ago and put them in water in a couple places.

The flowers opened yesterday. We're still a month away from the tree really going. I'll bring in more branches soon for the next forced bloom. But not right now. I know it's just weather, but I don't want to be looking up into the canopy with that mix of rain and snow that's coming down now.

The puddle is in my neighbor's yard. I thought I was getting some Japanese iris from a woman in my gardening group. These have high water requirements, so I thought they'd be perfect in a new bed on my side of the fence. While I was digging up the last clump of iris, she said they were actually Siberian iris. I love those, but I already have them, and would not have put them here. (They need half the water.) But I got them and already broke ground, so will proceed.

Normally I'd dig out all the grass, but I was waffling, both because they will use some water plus it's a lot for my back. The iris would eventually eat the grass. I'd have to cut it by hand or my boyfriend's head will explode. Or maybe I can just put wood mulch over the grass...

Suggestions welcome!