Rooting (and seeding) around in the basement

Every evening afternoon will find me in the basement, furiously working on raising seeds and rooting plants. All of my rooted plants are doing well. I am coming up on the 28th day of rooting the plants from the workshop I attended in February. All of the plants look so great! I am beginning to give them more sun each day and on the 28th day, either this Friday or Saturday, I will give them some extra water, fertilize them and then go to the next step. I just know I must not become too eager to root them because I want them to be well established.

I have also rooted two tea plants, camellia senensis, and in another container I am rooting some blueberries. This weekend I will be going to my mother-in-laws and gather more plants to root. It is very exciting when they begin to sprout out. The tea plants above are just beginning to look like they will bud pretty soon. They are about 3 days later in the cycle than the other plants. Time will tell if they will be successful.

But, Oh my goodness! I have so many plants all over my basement! Above are re potted plants in newspaper pots I have placed on trays and even trash can lids to easily move them around on days we have sun. I have also been rotating things under my one grow light. You have to use what you have!

Some of the plants still have scrawny stems and are really in need of sun. The dill above, the cilantro below and the onions are kind of scraggly.

I also believe the allysum on the lower right hand corner of the photo (and in the shadow) must really need more warmth than my basement can provide. I need to be happy that they are holding steady and looking green. Placing them out in the sun for longer periods will come by this weekend or next week, I think.

I am beginning to get a number of tomato seeds, growing into nice plants. Above are organic Sweetie tomatoes. Right now, they are leggy but the grow lights should help give them strength and sturdy stems.

I have dozens of tomato plants in various stages of growth above. Tomatoes are very easy to start indoors if you have heat and light. They make starting your own seeds very rewarding.

It really looks kind of silly (and messy) to me because I have every kind of plastic tray that I could find to hold tomatoes. I particularly like the red silverware trays because I can separate varieties much more easily. If they are right under the grow lights, they get plenty of sun and I think they will be ready to plant as soon as the danger of frost is past.

The peppers in the top left hand corner look wonderful but they are slower than the tomatoes. I have never had jalapenos that looked as good as these peppers look. I must admit I love growing plants from seed.

I could hardly Bee--lieve it!

Last Friday was my birthday and my husband and sister surprised me with a bee jacket and a few other bee supplies. I was SO surprised.

You can't just go to your local five and dime and pick out things like these. In fact, they went to Buster's Bees in Jonesboro to pick out just the right fashion accessories I will need when our new hive of bees is available for pick up from the same place.

When my husband asked what I wanted for my birthday I said, "It's not what I want but what I need. I really need some bee supplies." And that is how it started. They made a bee-line to the bee store to buy some lovely bee-wear!

The estimated date we will have our bees is the second week of April and we will again make the trek to Jonesboro to pick up our new-bees.

I am thinking I need some light-colored pants and shoes, maybe white or pale yellow. I don't know if the bees will care what I wear but I think I will be quite a funny sight when I suit up to check on our bees.

I bee-lieve that is all, so I will bee-gone!

An Update

There is still blizzard conditions in parts of the mid-and northeastern U.S. this week but here in Georgia, we are beginning to sense that spring is around the corner. I think I can hear it in the birdsong which has increased the past week or so but then maybe it's just because I have been starting seeds at breakneck speed in the hopes that I can soon plant something in our garden.

Above, the cilantro plants are beginning to show their lacy-edged leaves.

My English Munstead lavender now has five or six leaves on each plant.

And the Dukat dill is beginning to look like a pretty fern as it grows taller.

 Every evening, after work I have been laboriously transplanting young and tender plants into newspaper pots filled with potting mix and sitting them all around in the basement. It looks kind of like a plant bargain basement downstairs and I am in hopes that I can plant them outside pretty soon.

Above on the left is pink and white allysum, center back--jalapenos, basil and German chamomile and in the right front, Chianti Rose (from Renee's Seeds) tomatoes.

Above is a boring photo of dirt and peat pots but under the dirt, from the left are Pablo Ancho peppers, Chianti Rose (Charlotte Nelson) tomatoes, Dr. Wyche--yellow heirloom tomatoes and green zebra tomatoes.

And above, another view inside my mini-greenhouse rooting environment. My rooting stock in beginning to sprout nicely and we are almost at the two week mark. The little plants at the bottom are my tea plants, camellia senensis plants. Things are looking good to me. I hope roots are growing!

That's my update as I furiously get ready for spring--which I think is almost here.

25th Annual Southeastern Flower Show

On March 15, 16 and 17, the 25th Annual Southeastern Flower Show will be held at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.

I am really excited about attending, especially since it was cancelled last year, supposedly because they wanted to make this year's 25th anniversary show bigger and better than ever. I don't know if it should have taken two years to plan this event, but I am hopeful the wait will be worth it.

It had gotten smaller each year and had taken a big hit because of the economy but I think it will be even better this year. I will admit that even though it had dwindled, I still really enjoyed it each time I attended.

I love the individual flower exhibits. I like to go early in a show to see the flowers at their best.

One of my favorites were the front door competition by area Garden Clubs in Atlanta.

I hope there will be tons of vendors. It is really nice to see the garden-related items for sale. They aren't cheap but there are times you see such unique items it is helpful, even if you don't buy.

There are always plenty of beautiful flowers in inspiring arrangements.

And such creative ideas.

It is fun to see the new flowers and old flowers in new colors presented by gardening companies and Southern Living.

Of course I love the vegetable gardening exhibits.

I also love the garden table settings. There is just too much to tell about or describe.

Just go here and learn about all the speakers and exhibitors. I know you will love it. See you there!

Growing seeds on a budget

This week my basement is turning into a little oasis! I've been starting seeds in my little seed trays on their cozy little heating mat for about three weeks now--maybe three and a half, and the results are astounding. With that little heat mat, the seeds are sprouting like crazy.  I have then been putting them under lights to grow and green up. They are actually looking pretty good, especially the organic cilantro above.

The organic Golden Acre Cabbages are not looking quite as green but I have gotten to step number three of seed starting: Transferring the seedlings to larger containers. There is no way I have enough containers so I have taken the hint I learned at my seed starting class in January from Mike Cunningham at Country Garden Farms.

I am making little "pots" from newspaper and tape and transferring my seedlings into them. This is making my seeds very happy. I still am watering and misting them, as needed and I am keeping them under lights, but they were just not doing as well in the original containers after a couple of weeks.

The pots are easy to make. I rip a section of newspaper pages, vertically into three strips, then take two layers of newspaper and wrap them around a "mould," in my case, a small paint can.

I tape the side and the fold in the bottom and tape the bottom and I have formed a newspaper pot.

All I need to do then is fill them with potting mix and insert the plant. It is working quite well. I was concerned that the newspaper wouldn't hold together after spritzing and watering, but they are holding up really well.

When the weather is good enough, I will take them to the garden and dig a hole, through in some fertilizer, take off the tape (and maybe the bottom of the little pots) and plant them in the garden. They will need a good watering but the newspaper will just disintegrate and I will have cheaper seedlings that I feel very good about--not to mention that they will be organic!

So far I have cilantro, cabbage, lavender, chamomile, dill, allysum, onions and I am seeding tomatoes and peppers.

I really need to go and water my little plants. Just hope I can keep them going until we have spring weather. Keeping up with the plants is now the chore.

Propagating (rooting) plants

This past weekend I took a class on propagating at the Coweta County greenhouse behind the Coweta Extension Office just outside of Newnan. I must admit that I was SO impressed. I paid $15 and went home with a mini-greenhouse filled with fifteen rooting plants. My job is to nourish them until they are ready to pot and then I will be able to plant them in my landscape.

When we arrived at the greenhouse, we were surrounded by plants the Coweta Master Gardeners were growing for their upcoming plant sale in April. Sitting before me were all the items needed for propagating a variety of softwood cuttings. The plastic pots were sitting in front of me all filled with moist potting mix (soil, peat and vermiculite) though the potting mix really didn't matter, the rooting process needs sterile soil but not necessarily rich soil with fertilizer.

Also a dibble, pruning scissors, practice branches (privet limbs) and rooting hormone were all sitting there, waiting for us to learn to root new plants from cuttings.

We learned that there were several kinds of plants to root but we would concentrating on dormant softwood cuttings and began practicing making diagonal cuts, heel cuts and mallet cuts on different kinds of plants. We learned to cut below. We used forsythia (yellow bells), butterfly roses and two kinds of hydrangeas. We then learned to score (scar or wound) the bottom of the plant, dip it in root hormone and push it into the hole in the soil, created by our dibbles.

We then placed our potentially rooted plants into a mini greenhouse--in this case a clear plastic container but other things like a plastic bag or a milk jug would work, too. We were given explicit instructions to leave the mini-greenhouse in indirect sun light for two weeks and mist the plants daily. The lid should remain on during this time except for misting.

On the 3rd and 4th weeks I will be misting every other day and increase the indirect sunlight to 5 hours a day. On the 28th day I will put an inch of water in my green house for a quarter minute and then remove the plants, pour out the water, replace the plants and the lid and continue the every other day misting.

On the 5th and 6th weeks I will mist twice a week and increase the temperature of my greenhouse. On day 42 I will fertilize with a 10% fertilizer solution and on week 6 take off the lid and give the plants one to three hours of sunlight per day. Misting should continue every other day.
If, after 6 weeks, you see root growth out of the bottom of the plastic planters, the plant is ready to pot. The suggested size is a 1 gallon pot using potting mix. The plants can be set out the following spring.

I am very excited. I have never rooted anything except Solomon's Seal and who could have problems with that?

Some important things to remember: It is good to use a temperature gauge so the plants will not get too warm or cold. Always label the plants and date them and keep the cuttings in water and root them as soon as possible. Use at least two nodes on the stem, one above the diagonal cut and a straight cut above the top node. Heavier branches root better. The white centers do not develop roots. It is the thin green cambium layer that grows the roots so try not to scrape off that layer.

Seed starting success

Last month I went to a seed starting class and this month I am really having success with my seeds.

I shouldn't be surprised since I got some great tips from an expert (Mike Cunningham at Country Gardens Farms). I don't think I have it down perfectly but the first two trays are looking great and I am growing them at a much faster pace than in the past.

Above is a photo of the two trays, at left--cabbage, onions, cilantro and lavender and at right dill, chamomile and basil.

I will soon have to repot my first tray and I really don't think the cabbage is perfect. It's much too leggy but the light is doing a great job on all of it and when I repot it to a better pot, I think the stems will be sturdier.

My second tray is barely showing but I have them up enough to go under the lights and to start another tray.

I love my heat mat. I already know I will be ordering another for next year and I can't wait to start on some flowers and vegetable seed.

I would recommend to everyone to take a class on seed starting if at all possible.