Well, we still have some time before we move our seedlings into the garden here in the Twin Cities. We had frost on our yard furniture yesterday morning. DOH!
I am way too anxious to get everything going. I planted seeds in buckets from previously purchased plants and set them out around the raised garden two days ago. I hope the seeds faired well enough through the minor frost to sprout at least ONE seed! I planted at least 9 of each seed: Marigolds, Painted Daisy, Pink/Red Daisy, Alyssum, Columbine, and a couple Sunflowers that reach over 7 foot. I'll post photos on that if any come up, of course.
So the photos today are of my seedlings that I constantly trail back and forth from under the lights in the house to the sun and back again at night - “hardening off”. I will continue this process until it's time to plant them in the garden. It's going to be more work than I thought it might be. I'm already having ideas for a cold frame and a $400 greenhouse from a local hardware shop. I think that's the key to raising beautiful seedlings, really.
So the following photo is my Wallflower Siberian seedlings. These are going to be beautiful soft orange (like the meat of a Mango) in color – and delicate in appearance, much like a pansy. They are perennials. I have already replanted them in large pots because they were getting extremely leggy and falling over. I didn't want them to die. This is my second year trying to grow them from seed. I topped the pots off with moss to prevent root rot - “dampening off”. I hope I am successful with this and I hope I don't suffocate the seedling. I'll soon find out. So far, it doesn't seem like they've grown since the transfer.
The Marigolds look like they are thriving. Not too much to say there other than I wish they weren't so tall.
Lupine are next. I read that Wild Lupine is a host plant to the Karner Blue butterfly caterpillar, which is an endangered species in Minnesota. I see a couple butterflies each summer, but that's because my neighbor has Wild Lupine in her deciduous shade garden. I hope my Lupine become a host plant. The seedlings look to be doing very well.
My basil is doing wonderfully! I actually planted 12 seeds. Six are in soil which contains compost and the last six are in a soil mix of: perlite, vermiculite, and peat moss. The basil I planted in compost mix sprouted almost immediately. The other seeds sprouted some time after, but caught up quickly. I hope to give basil plants to friends and family, if they want some. I'm going to have so many plants that I won't know what to do with them!
All right, time to go pick up some straw for the garden with my mom. Sweetie and I are taking a short break from the garden fence, but all the vertical posts are up now. We have to mid to late May. That leaves me time to plan for cold frames and greenhouses next year! :)
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