Seedling

My son Cillian at The Royal Botanical Gardens, Oct 2008

I have very little experience with growing from seeds, so I am trying a couple different things.  I picked up some seeds from the gift store at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton Ontario.(www.rbg.ca)  That collection of seeds is made up of Red Corn Poppy, Shasta Daisy, Lavatera 'Mallow,' and Forget-me-nots, all taller plants of 30" plus.  I randomly scattered those seeds along the back row of my side garden on the weekend of February 8.  I know this is a risky move as another frost could potentially wipe those seeds out, but I couldn't wait any longer to get them going.  If they do tough it through, I look forward to seeing how the mixture comes together.  I'll keep you informed.

That same weekend I made my first ever visit to David Hunter Garden Center in Vancouver at Broadway and Arbutus, www.davidhuntergardencenters.com, where I picked up packages of Lupins, Nemophila and two different types of Impatiens.  These seeds I started indoors and will move outside later.  I used two egg cartons for the first batch, planting two or three seeds in each egg cup.  I used a sharpie to labeled which seeds are in which cup.  I also planted a group of the Lupins in a 4 inch pot in a grid formation of about 3/4 of an inch apart.  I placed all three in the kitchen's south facing window. 

The egg cartons I used where of the cardboard variety which I worried may not withstand the effects of watering, but I didn't intend to overwater so I didn't think it would be a problem.  That turned out not to be a problem at all, the problem is that cardboard is soaking up all the water from the soil then drying out in the sun.  I will give these one more week before either transplanting them, or trying a different watering approach.

Lupin Sprouts Feb 16, 2009

The 4 inch pot is a different story.  In one week there are four Lupins sprouting there little green heads out of the soil and reaching for the sunlight.  These I will let grow until they are around 3 inches high.  I will then transplant them into individual pots where they will continue to wait in the window until they are ready to go outside.

The ultimate goal for all of these seedlings is to collect the seeds they will produce in the fall and start the process all over again.  Yesterday afternoon I also found two seed heads on a rose bush so I will attempt to harvest those seeds and get them growing as well.