What Else To Do But Plan

Since there's really nothing to do now except Winter Sowing (which I've left alone for now due to temps) I plan, then double check the plan.

Although I do overly plan, I love to play with this cool tool - Grow Guide, spring (or fall)vegetable garden planning. There's nothing like software telling you what it is you're suppose to be doing today!

There's also Weekend Gardener's vegetable seed facts pages, which are definitely worth a look. Especially if you have unlabeled seeds. Lots of useful info. Pick a veg - let's try cabbage:


About This Plant...
Family: Brassicaceae
Genus and species: Brassica oleracea var. capitata
Growing Season: spring and fall

Indoor Sowing...
Time needed to reach transplant size: 6-8 weeks
When to transplant to garden: 5 weeks before to 2 weeks after last spring frost date

Outdoor Sowing...
When to sow outdoors: week of last spring frost

Other Sowing Guidelines...
Approx. germination time: 4-14 days
Germination temp.: 45-95 degrees F.
Sowing depth: 1/4 inch
Days to maturity: 50-100 days from transplant

Transplanting Guidelines...
Spacing between plants: 12-24 inches
Spacing between rows: 24-36 inches

Growing On...
Pests: imported cabbageworms, cabbage loopers, aphids, flea beetles, cabbage root maggots
Diseases: clubroot, black rot, downy mildew, white mold
Harvest: harvest when heads are firm and softball size
Growing tips: best flavor is achieved when heads mature in cool weather

Nifty and handy!
:)

Buddleia - It Worked!

I figured that since I was pretty bored with my clematis experiment (Yeah, I know, sometimes it can take years, but why do they have to be so darn slooooow?) that I'd do a bit of messing around with my buddleia davidii seeds to see what color I'll eventually get.

Holy crap! All I can say is - it worked. Maybe too well as I now have hundreds of sprouts, and 144 going strong in peat pellets.

I thought I'd give it a few different treatments to see which worked best, so I WSed some (outside now), put some on moist seed starter in a sealed container in the fridge (following the chill for 4 weeks method), and the third was to plop some on a moist coffee filter in a baggie and leave them alone at room temp (they only got the least bit of natural light as I wasn't expecting much).

I won't know about the WSed ones, of course, until spring.

The '4 week chill' came out of the fridge on the 30th. No signs of germ as of today.

The coffee filter experiment was started on December 30th, and there were sprouts as of the 5th of January. (I should say I noticed germ on the 5th) I couldn't believe it! It only took 6 days for them to germinate - probably less as I hadn't checked them and they were quite a ways along when I finally did, so I'm saying 5.

5 days! Unbelievable! (I should specify that all the information I've read has stated 20 to 30 days or more)

Guess which method I recommend to the impatient among us? Though it is a bit of a pain to transfer them to soil, it wasn't all that bad as they didn't really stick to the filter and just sort of 'slid' off with a tease from the tweezers and some extra water added.

It's so wonderful to see something new and green at this time of year! :)

Safe Seed 2007

Has the seed company you buy from signed the pledge? Does it matter if you use GE seed or not?

"Agriculture and seeds provide the basis upon which our lives depend. We must protect this foundation as a safe and genetically stable source for future generations.
For the benefit of all farmers, gardeners and consumers who want an alternative,
We pledge that we do not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants.
The mechanical transfer of genetic material outside of natural reproductive methods and between genera, families or kingdoms, poses great biological risks as well as economic, political, and cultural threats. We feel that genetically engineered varieties have been insufficiently tested prior to public release. More research and testing is necessary to further assess the potential risks of genetically engineered seeds. Further, we wish to support agricultural progress that leads to healthier soils, genetically diverse agricultural ecosystems and ultimately healthy people and communities."

Safe Seed Sourcebook

It's a hot topic, so better to keep my opinion to myself, I think.

You Stole My Garden Design!

'The Irish High Court will be asked to settle a dispute between Andy Sturgeon and Diarmuid Gavin and to decide whether a gold medal-winning garden design at last year’s Chelsea Flower Show was an original or a copy. '

Though I was a bit astonished by this news on GardenMags, I couldn't help but chuckle.
Sorry guys, but it seems (quite clearly) to me that either one or the other of you is a total wanker.

Speaking Of Silly Tools...

I hesitate to post this, since, I, in no way, want to give them any publicity, but am curious as to how many people would actually buy something like this.

Year Round Tomato

I'm sure you've seen other ads from the same company (Telebrands), including 'Grease Bullet', 'StickUp Bulb', etc. Unless you live in a cave somewhere, it's pretty hard to avoid them.

I can only imagine what frail, spindly plants you'd end up with. I've even tried a few (tomatos) in the pond - not a very successful experiment to say the least, though many people have had great results doing it that way.

I imagine to a new gardener, or someone who doesn't want to go through the whole dirt thing, this would look rather appealing. Besides, how awesome are fresh tomatos in winter?

I would never buy one, just wondered what you thought of the whole idea and components. I'm sure it wouldn't take much imagination to craft your own - and there's probably someone out there that already has something rigged just like it. I'll bet they ain't too happy.