Seedy Little Seedling

Just a quick little update on my sowing adventures.  The last time I wrote of the seeds I had a couple Lupins sprouting.  That quickly turned to six sprouts.  Yesterday I mixed some garden soil with Keefer's Soil Energizer and filled Six small pots I had under the back stairs.

  I used a pen to loosen the soil and remove the sprouts from their original pot and into their new individual ones.

Some of the sprouts where up to two inches tall and the all had much longer roots already.  

Here they are all in row.

Last time I mentioned I started some seeds in re-used cardboard egg cartons, but the cardboard was absorbing all the water from the soil.  I have since place both of them onto a cookie sheet.  I will now pour water into the pan and keep the egg cartons nice and wet so the seeds will get the water that they need as well.

I'm not growing Pimps, its sort form for Pink Impatiens 

Yesterday I made a brief visit to VanDusen for Seedy Saturday.  Lots of local seed gatherers selling their wares, including VanDusen themselves.  I was on my own and had a sleepy two year old in tow, plus we only had a short time before we had to meet with Suzanne.  I rushed around the very crowded Floral Room and managed to get out with only four seed packs from two venders.  In short I pick up some Red Columbine (Aquilegia Formosa), and Chocolate Fritillary (Fritillaria lanceolata) from Twining Vine Gardens and from Crafty Gardener I got Strawberry Foxglove (Digitalis Mertonensis) and Allium Ivory Queen.

Today I planted them in row in a shallow pan 3/4 with straight Keefer's soil energizer, labeling each row on the pan.  The Columbine and Foxglove I pressed into the soil leaving them exposed to the light needed for germination.  The Fritillary I sunk into the soil about a 1/4 inch and the Allium I have put into a dish to soak for 24 hours and will add them to the pan.  The pan sits with the others sprouts in the kitchen window.

Now I am experimenting with rose seeds.  I've been hesitant to move ahead with this project as I understand it can be a lot of work.  I have been following another blogger and she had a blog last week called "The Great Pea Rebellion."  Although hers was a story of adventurous pea planting it inspired me to go ahead with my roses.

Earlier in the week I removed two hips from a rose bush in my backyard.  Today I cut open the hips and removed the seeds.

I planted the seeds in a shallow pan in a grid pattern about 2 inches apart.  I will keep them in a dark place for one month and then move them into the south facing kitchen window.

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.