First Gerbera daisy!

Finally, after months of waiting, and the rabbits eating most of them, I have a flower!  It looks more pink in the picture than it actually is, but it's beautiful. 

There are some other ones on the other two plants in the container and I can't wait to see what color they are. 

I know I promised a list of what did and didn't work with my winter sowing, and I'll get to that soon I hope...

Weeding & planting

Well,the weekend started off with me spending over 90 minuted pulling pickers out of one area of the yard.  Right now, we do NOT have the yard of a master gardener!

Today I planted three different types of Heirloom tomatoes, one grape tomato plant, two red, two green, two chocolate and two jalapeno pepper plants.  I also planted two different types of burpless cucumbers.

The highlight of my shopping today was the purchase of my first  hibiscus plant.  I picked an orange one, but it isn't budding right now so I don't know what color it is - I hope it's no ugly...

A lot of the stuff I winter sowed didn't come up.   I think next year I will just keep everything on the front porch so it's slightly warmer than outside and I can control the water for the plants.  Either that, or I will have to set up lights in the basement so I can grow stuff doen there, but then I will have to harden it.

I think the grasses did ok, and I did get some sunflowers which I transplanted already.    Some of the other flowers did ok, but I didn't get as many as I hoped to.  I'll include a list later of what did & didn't grow.

For now, I'm hoping for ample rain and sunshine for my new acquisitions.

Everything is coming up daisies!

I'm a happy girl!  It's finally starting to feel like spring and the Gerbera daisy seeds I planted and moved inside are coming up.  Of the 50 seeds I planted, I think so far 35 - 40 have sprouted.  The area next to the driveway is going to look amazing this year!

Hopefully the rest of the wintersown stuff will get some warmth and start to sprout soon as well.  I'm hoping to get some stuff worked into the garden in the next few days so that it's ready for planting after Mother's day.  I'm itching for some nice fresh veggies to eat!

Come on Mother Nature, keep up the good work!!

Is spring ever going to come??

Well, today is April 20th, and apparently Mother Nature doesn't know that yet.  I was able to get out and give my plants from last year a haircut and get some of the leaves from fall cleaned up even if it's still below freezing. The sun was nice and warm and that really helped keep me motivated (and warm) while I was working.

There are some little green leaves poking up under the dead leaves and old plant parts and the daffodils are starting to look like daffodils instead of poor frozen half alive plants, and the tulip leaves are looking great.  I am bummed that we normally have lilacs by Mother's Day, and there aren't even leaves on the trees yet and it's three weeks away.

I had to move the Gerbera daisy seeds inside since it just wasn't warming up, and I'm pleased to report that I have some seedlings coming up!  I can't wait to see how many plants I end up with.

Hopefully it warms up soon, I'm itching to get going in the garden - I did take a look at it today and it looks pretty good.  I definitely need to get some stuff in to loosen the dirt up, I'm thinking I'll add some Milorganite.  

I'm hoping to get some stuff in the garden after Mother's Day - that would make me a happy girl :)  

Daisy time!

50 Gerbera daisy seeds planted and waiting to sprout next to Bruce the Colorado spruce who is waiting to be planted.

Come on warm weather!

Gerbera seeds are here!

I'm a happy girl!  50 Gerbera daisy seeds came today.  Gonna start them inside so I have some ready to go whenever spring decides to come.

Gerbera daisy seeds!

I broke down and ordered 50 Gerbera daisy seeds today.  I got free shipping, so it wasn't so bad.  I can't wait for them to get here so I can get them planted.  More Burpee seeds headed my way. 

Looks like we will be getting more snow tomorrow, apparently Mother Nature doesn't know it's supposed to be spring in a few days.

And I planted some more...

I still haven't been able to get my hands on any Gerbera daisy seeds, but I did stop at Fleet Farm and buy some more seeds today.  I did four more jugs and nine more little pots of seeds.  

The four jugs are all perennial ornamental grasses.  Two of the jugs have Little Blue Stem, and the other two are Deschapsia and Coolio.

I did three little pots each of Pyrethrum daisies, Bee Balm and Black Eyed Susan.  I think I'm going to have to break down and pay to have Gerbera daisy seeds shipped.  It's still cheaper than buying the plants and I can get more seeds.

I'm pretty excited because I think I am going to redo the beds we have at work.  They get absolutely no direct sun and are currently filled with cocoa bean mulch.  The city made us put them in when the building was built and I have no idea why.  They are completely surrounded by concrete and brick, and are under a 10' wide overhang.  Stupid, but that's what Oshkosh does.  I think I am going to plant pachysandra - plain green and variegated to mix it up.  I'm figuring I will need at least 30 plants per bed, but they are pretty hardy and should do ok in the shade.  Now I get to see where I can get the plants the cheapest.

The calendar says 3 weeks to the start of spring, I can't wait!

Foggy frost

This morning we had fog and frost.  It was beautiful!  The top picture is from our Rosa Rugosa bushes.  The rose hips really stand out in the snow.  The other shot is of some trees in the neighborhood.

Almost a week into winter sowing

Well, last Saturday I planted the little seeds and stuck them outside to freeze their little seed butts off.  Mother Nature has been kind enough to cover them with a nice white blanket of snow so they are truly tucked in!  This year I used all Burpee seeds (so far) and Miracle Gro seed/seedling starter for my planting. 

Reflecting on last years mostly failed winter sowing project, this is what I learned.  Don't forget to cut drainage holes in the containers!  I drowned my poor little seeds & seedlings.  Also, if you use a closed top container, be sure to put holes in the top too so you don't bake the poor things.  I'm surprised I got as much as I did last year for as badly as I treated the poor things!

Something I'm looking forward to this year: I dug out all my strawberry plants last spring and planted all new ones (bare root so they were tiny) so I had a year without strawberries  :(  In spite of the drought, I think a few of the plants will be big enough this year that I can get a few to nibble on.  It was fun trying to get the runners of the new plants to go where I wanted them to, and not wherever they felt like going.

I realized that I completely forgot to but Gerbera daisy seeds!  Shame on me!  They are my absolute favorite flower and I totally skipped over them when I was buying seeds.  I'll have to save a few more milk jugs so I can get more sown. I want to have a whole patch of just those this year.

I am getting really ancy and I can't wait to get out there and get some "real" planting done, but sadly I know it's going to be another 10 weeks at minimum before I get to.  *sigh*

Little seeds tucked in for the winter!

14 jugs and 2 trays so far.

Wintersowing 2013

February means it's time to break out the dirt, seeds and containers and do some planting!  For some of you, that may not sound like a big deal, but did I mention I live in Wisconsin?  Yes, planting - outside - in February in Wisconsin.

Interested?  Check out the Wintersown website if you want to learn more.

This year, so far I have 14 milk jugs and 2 trays of fiber pots sitting in the snow waiting to grow.  I ordered the seeds direct from Burpee and got some other Burpee seeds from Fleet Farm.

Here's what I've planted so far:

Vegetables
In the trays

• Sweet peppers - Red Majesty Hybrid, Big Dipper and California Wonder
• Cucumbers - Greencrisp burpless hybrid and Burpless beauty
• Tomatoes - Big Daddy Hybrid, Cherry Punch Hybrid, Polar Star and Polish Dwarf
• Jalepeno pepper

Flowers & plants
In the trays

• Mexican Hat
• Crackerjack Marigold
• Wildflower blend
• Catmint - blue heaven
• Coreopsis - Mardi Gras

In the jugs

• 2 jugs of Blue Fescue grass
• Rudbeckia - Moroccan Sun Mix
• Rudbeckia - Indian Summer
• Shirley Poppy
• Columbine - Harlequin mix
• Painted Daisy - giant mixed colors
• Coneflower blend
• Echinacea -Warm summer mix
• Aztec gold hybrid sunflower
• Chianti sunflower
• Vanilla Ice sunflower
• Autumn beauty mix sunflower
• Italian white sunflower

To be direct sown in the spring

• Heatwave blend lettuce
• Cherry belle radish
• Early perfection pea
• Burpee's tenderpod bush bean
• Gold mine bush bean

We'll see how it goes...I think I learned from last year's mistakes.