Anyone start their own seedlings anymore? [Archive]

KayLR

4-30-22, 12:00am

I have about 12 tomato seedlings going and about 8 milkweed seedlings going. They now all have their "true" leaves on.

I don't usually have much luck with starting seeds. They get leggy. With the tomatoes I can just bury them deeper. The milkweed are a project with the grandson. I'm also going to direct spread some milkweed seeds this weekend. I think our snow is gone for good. It's actually supposed to be close to 80 next week.

rosarugosa

4-30-22, 6:22am

I don't usually do seeds, but this year I've started a bunch of zinnias, sunflowers and sweet peas, and the seedlings all seem to be doing pretty well in DH's weed growing tent in the cellar. I have no idea where I will plant all these . . .

nswef

4-30-22, 9:04am

I started some April 8, cosmos, tall phlox, snapdragons, 2 kinds of zinnias...they sprouted in 2 days! So now are getting true leaves and leggy...we're going away for a week, so I had transplanted them into a window box and have 3 beer bottles filled with water put in upside down to do gravity watering...then I put them in the garage with dimmer light...we'll see. Last year the zinnia and nasturtiums did well. Cosmos, not so much. I won't plant them until about May 15 or so.

happystuff

4-30-22, 10:53am

I've started some, but not sure how viable some are. Only two different varieties of tomato have sprouted. Waiting to see if the beans and peas start.

dado potato

4-30-22, 1:01pm

From seed, growing on the sunporch, I have about 70 marigolds and 40 sunflowers. I plan to grow the marigolds outdoors... and to harvest sunflowers as microgreens to include in the next few salads, along with Lalique lettuce from my hydroponic setup.

pinkytoe

4-30-22, 3:41pm

Except for some tomatoes, I start everything from seed or cuttings. The past two years, I have collected seed from various places (including my yard) in the fall and now have around 200 seedlings going. Mostly natives and perennials (and a few trees) that are hard to find at nurseries and have to be stratified all winter. Veggie wise I have peas, arugula, spinach, bok choy, lettuce and chard going from seed. Only tomato I am doing from seed is the SunGold which does well here. Seed starting has become a passion for me.

iris lilies

5-1-22, 10:02am

Nope. I sometimes sow seeds directly into the garden, and this I year emptied some packets of larkspur and zinnia seeds. I do recognize those in my garden when they come up and so will do my best to avoid Rounduping them.

I am looking for annual poppy seedlings that should be popping up about now. They, also, are unique and so should be safe from the weed spray.

rosarugosa

5-3-22, 8:53am

Dado: I envision your sunporch as a rather wonderful place!

dado potato

5-3-22, 7:32pm

rosarugosa:

I put electric radiant heat ("Warmly Yours") in the floor and installed tile flooring. A wall thermostat maintains the temperature in the floor. I set it for 72F and forget it. There is a ceiling fan which I sometimes switch on if it's colder than -15F outside. Year-round I think you would enjoy bare feet on that floor.

The windows face East, South, and West ... mainly S. I am a booklover, and I read facing East in my reclining chair. It is nice to think about something in a book, looking at the potted plants and the art, or gazing out the windows 4 seasons of the year.

Sometimes I would not read on the sunporch, because there is a Casio keyboard out there, being played by my dear wife or my grandson. (But if they are happy, I am happy.)

rosarugosa

5-4-22, 5:34am

Ah, sounds like I was right!

mschrisgo2

5-12-22, 1:06am

Well, I had lettuce and radishes going from seed. The birds ate all the lettuce- it had leaves 5&6- about 10 days ago. The radishes we’re doing great, getting more and more leaves, growing bigger- went out this morning and every single plant is gone! I suspect the birds again. There has been a raccoon around, but there’s no mess. Raccoons are not stealth eaters, they always leave a mess. I’m bummed. Last year I grew lettuce and spinach. Looks like I got nothing this year.

herbgeek

5-12-22, 5:43am

I have most of my seedlings in the ground at this point, other than some peppers. I was just so eager for this endless winter to be over that I started seeds way earlier than I usually do, and we've had a cold bitter spring. As a result, the perennials that went out have been so stressed and are small and some have purple edges (not being able to uptake potassium I think due to the cold). Not sure it was worth it, if we'd had a normal spring it might have been better. I potted on the tomatoes into larger and larger pots and finally had to put them out (under perforated plastic) becauise they were a foot high and starting to get flowers. Sweet peas did well inside, so I planted them out in March only to have to dig them up and put them in a bucket for a couple of weeks because we had sub freezing temps. They are alive and green, but haven't gotten any taller. So that was a waste - I wouldn't have had to pamper them so much if I'd just started later. We are jumping directly to summer starting today- I'm hoping that since the plants are well established in their root systems by now that they can appreciate the heat.

rosarugosa

5-12-22, 5:53am

I have a lot of annual seedlings: zinnias, sunflowers, tithonia, sweet peas, & cosmos. I think I started some of them too early; I have flower buds on some of my zinnias. I'm a little fuzzy on the hardening off process, other than knowing I need to do it. If I put them outside for a couple of days in a sheltered location, should that do the trick? I could put them in the gazebo or under the hammock where they would be shaded.

herbgeek

5-12-22, 8:28am

Hardening off involves getting the plants used to temperature variations, wind and sun. I typically put them out for a couple of hours at first, then over several days to a week, extending that time. And then there's the times that I rush that process, and wind up with sunburnt plants or ones that are highly stressed, and take a while to recover. Like last week when I was getting impatient and decided to put all the plants out all day, and now my marigolds are sun burnt (leaves turned white).

happystuff

5-12-22, 9:11am

My radishes are coming up, some carrots. So far no lettuce, but I think it is still early. The peas and tomatoes I put out last week are still hanging in there!

KayLR

5-12-22, 3:18pm

I set out my milkweed starts the other day after a time of hardening them off. I also started some by direct seeding the same day. Just as an experiment.

lmerullo

5-12-22, 9:22pm

I had radishes disappear, too !

I grew disappearing radishes, bolting lettuce and one sorry tomato plant that I might pull out. Not worth going to any effort for one plant.

So this year is a bust for me.

pinkytoe

5-12-22, 10:23pm

I am still waiting to put most seedlings in the ground. Over a month now of ceaseless wind, high temps, drought and now fires. The wind alone would flatten everything.

KayLR

5-13-22, 8:59am

Ordering garlic today. Last year I got shut out.

Simplemind

5-13-22, 8:13pm

I have all my cool crops in by seed with the exception of the sugar snap peas. My solar shed is full of my warm crops just waiting for the soil to get above 50 degrees so I can get them in the ground. I'm biding my time this year since last year was record warm and this year has been record cold/wet.

happystuff

6-19-22, 3:02pm

I hope I'm not jinxing myself, but these are the peas I started from seeds. There are a couple of flowers starting to show up.

4539

rosarugosa

6-19-22, 3:41pm

I hope I'm not jinxing myself, but these are the peas I started from seeds. There are a couple of flowers starting to show up.

4539

They look great! These are peas for eating, not floral sweet peas, right?

iris lilies

6-19-22, 3:54pm

I have flowering sweet peas as volunteers in my Hermann garden every year. They are such an old fashion flower, you seldom see them in the manicured lawns of suburbia.

I guess they come up from seed each year? Do you all know? My garden they always seem to come up around about the same place so I haven’t really explored where they’re coming from. There is a mother lode planting of sweet peas about half a mile away And I assume my sweet pea patch came from the mother lode.

pinkytoe

6-19-22, 4:08pm

I believe there are perennial sweet peas.

herbgeek

6-19-22, 4:13pm

I believe there are perennial sweet peas.
There are! I have them, but they don't have the fragrance of the annual type. Their flowers also don't have that etheral, watercolor look of annual sweet peas.

iris lilies

6-19-22, 7:40pm

There are! I have them, but they don't have the fragrance of the annual type. Their flowers also don't have that etheral, watercolor look of annual sweet peas.
Now that you two mention it, I remember seeing and probably planting annual sweet peas in different colors…pinks lavenders, blues. Pinkytoe is probably right that mine is a perennial.

rosarugosa

6-20-22, 6:05am

I started some from seed this year, annuals, because I want to smell them. My plants are alive and well, but no sign of flowers.

KayLR

6-20-22, 1:28pm

My sweet peas are JUST starting to flower. But we've had the coldest, wettest, un-sunshiniest June in memory.

Rogar

6-20-22, 2:36pm

I plant all of my spring greens from seed in the early spring time. Kale, spinach, etc. Squash and cucumbers direct sow from seed. This year I made a small trellis and planted Scarlett Runner beans as an experiment. The seeds are supposedly from an ancient heirloom variety from central America. Humble opinion is that a person needs some basic inexpensive grow lights and possibly a tray warmer to do well starting seedling indoors. I've tried it with just the basic box store starter tray with several cells for seedlings plus some window sunlight and it worked, but the survival rate from seed to flourishing plant was pretty low. I was doing mostly perennials and tomatoes, but might have better luck with others.

pinkytoe

6-20-22, 5:17pm

I tried scarlet runner beans from seed a few years back. The intense UV light here burnt them to a crisp so they might do best in a spot that gets a little relief from the sun. Getting ready to plant bush green bean seeds in a few spots. I also started lemon cukes from seed and they are doing great.

happystuff

6-20-22, 6:21pm

They look great! These are peas for eating, not floral sweet peas, right?

Yes, peas for eating.

Tybee

6-22-22, 7:06am

Volunteer sweet peas?? So cool. I started a lot of them this year and they are about an inch high. It is real cold here, was 45 the last two mornings. Not real sunny yet, either.

rosarugosa

10-3-22, 9:11am

Lessons learned from 2022 seed planting:
Mexican Sunflowers (Tithonia) were the best thing ever! Easy to germinate, loads of flowers, plants taller than me, pollinator magnets, and they are still covered with flowers. Definitely will grow again next year.
I had no luck with sunflower "Royal Flush," my seedlings died off shortly after transplanting into the ground.
Also not much luck with Early Sunflower (Heliopsis), but might have done OK in a sunnier spot.
Sweet peas - I finally got fragrant blossoms very late in the summer, but only white ones. I'll try again next year with some of the colored varieties. They do indeed have a delightful fragrance.
Zinnias - these did quite well in the ground and not so well in containers. I liked the 'Benary's Giant Mix' and didn't much like 'Cupcake Mix.' Another pollinator magnet.
Cosmos - I would have done better to direct sow these since they don't like to be moved. I loved the 'Sunset Orange Mix.' the 'Sunshine Mix' all got munched by resident herbivores. My orange ones did well in a large container (shared with the sweet peas) and I think that's what kept them from getting eaten; they were a bit high off the ground.
It's funny to me that orange, which is my least favorite color, has become one of my favorite colors in the garden. I loved my tithonias, butterfly weed, firecracker plants, orange lantanas and orange cosmos. It's a color that does great against a backdrop of greenery and works nicely with our dark brown house with cream trim. Live and learn!

nswef

10-3-22, 10:25am

rosa, Our experiences are similar. Only one or two of the Tithonia took, but what a great flower!! I will order more of those seeds. My sunflowers just don't make it. Sweet peas were full of leaves and not a single bloom. I had read that heat causes that problem...I think I'll trim them next year if they get too leafy and see if that forces them to bloom. You might like nasturtium.Ours were very leafy, something ate the tops and the blooms began wildly! They've provided color since August. I, too, am enjoying the orange colors. Not my favorite color at all...I tend toward pinks and blues. But the way they attract butterflies, bees, goldfinches, hummingbirds and their contrast with greens has changed my preference. I'll still love heliotrope, larkspur, flax for the lovely blues. 4 o clocks are fun, too. I'm in Maryland Piedmont area. Zone 5-6.

iris lilies

10-3-22, 11:43am

Excited to finally, next year, direct sow cosmos, tithonia, zinnias.

from decades ago I remember growing sunflowers and yes they were successful, so successful that they dropped their seeds into the ground. And the following year the old species sunflower emerged from the ground, far removed from the interesting hybrid I had purchased. And those damn sunflower seeds hung out in the ground for a couple years after.

rosarugosa

10-3-22, 1:26pm

NSWEF: Isn't it funny that we both feel the same way about orange? I too prefer pastels, but I'm realizing that different colors have their place, and just because I would never want an orange dress doesn't mean I don't love tithonia! I tried nasturtiums a very long time ago, and they were a real aphid magnet, but I should give them another shot. I had two sets of "surrogate grandparents" on my street growing up, and I remember loving Ernest and Lisa's nasturtiums so much. In fact, these 4 grandparent figures really did a lot to encourage my love of birds and gardening. I'm north of Boston, but we are also in zone 6.
IL: sunflowers are much beloved by our resident herbivores, so I've had limited success ever bringing them to maturity. I have a rusty metal sunflower sculpture in my front garden that does very well though!

pinkytoe

10-3-22, 4:37pm

I was just out cleaning up my forest of cosmos. I did not plant them but every year they come back thicker and thicker all along the driveway. A riot of mostly pink and white which clashes with my rusty brick house but the bees love them. I have been working on a rock garden where the spruce trees fell this past winter so planted a lot of the natives I grew from seed in that area. So many veggies did not even do their thing until August this year. DH says I move plants around like furniture which I am certainly doing as time goes by and I learn more about what actually grows here. I envy this of you who have rain.

lmerullo

10-3-22, 9:00pm

I did end up pulling the tomato. Once it started faltering, I never saw another flower let alone fruit.

My zinnia were from plants and they seem to have self seeded even though I don't think it's end of season.

I planted some sunflower seeds and when about six inches high transplanted into the ground. They all failed.

Dill also came up and the died.

Such

KayLR

10-5-22, 2:45pm

My zinnia are still going strong. I go out weekly and prune them down and they keep rewarding me with more flowers.

I grew Mexican sunflowers for the first time, too. I loved them, but they seemed a bit pokey. Right when I was about to give up on them, they bloomed!

I had gargantuan sunflowers. One we called Jack's Beanstalk had a huge stalk; I couldn't reach grip around it. My favorite flower of the season was definitely Icelandic Poppies (Papaver nudicaule). So cheerful swaying in the breeze, and the colors are so soft.

My only flower failure: milkweed. I don't know why I cannot seem to get it to grow. I'm gonna keep trying.