Zinnias

Our seedlings are coming right along.  We are doing lots of gardening in our very own front room. Which helps in dealing with all the snow we have been getting. I wonder if I will ever garden outside again. 

Today I transplanted Zinnias they are getting very large and look like real plants.  I thought that along with growing seeds I would start to research the plants we are planting. Find out where the best place to plant them, how tall they are going to get, and any other helpful facts. During my research I have already found one or two things that we have done wrong.  

I'm not going to beat myself up this is all a learning process and half the fun is doing it better next year.

We started the following seeds February 27, 2009

The package said that they would take 7-10 days for the seedlings to emerge.  It took about 5.

Today the plants look this

Hi gals, you are looking beautiful

Sorry about the transplanting I didn't know you didn't like that.  Please don't die and I promise some yummy fertilizer soon.

In case your interested here is what I found out during my research, more then you ever thought you wanted to know.

Zinnias are popular garden flowers. They are easy to start from seed, grow quickly and adapt well to many gardening situations. Zinnias seem especially favored by butterflies, and many gardeners add zinnias specifically to attract them.

Zinnias are one of the easier annuals to start from seeds. Seed can be started indoors and seedlings can be transplanted easily outside for earlier bloom. Sow seeds indoors six weeks before the last frost and plant outdoors after frost danger is past as young plants are susceptible to cold. Sow the taller varieties in 3-inch peat pots because they resent transplanting. They will not grow substantially until temperatures are above 50 degrees.

Alternatively, seeds can be sown directly outdoors when the soil has warmed sufficiently. Germination is not as good in cold soil. Pinch the tops out of young plants when they are 4-6 inches high to make them bushy. Remove faded blossoms to keep them producing.

Plant spacing should allow for air circulation, and bottom watering will circumvent mildew problems. Plans should be spaced 4 to 12 inches apart according to variety.

The best way to prevent insect problems is to use other plants that attract beneficial insects that will feed on the pests, such as companion planting.

40 Days Until Planting Day

Growing up I lived in a house that sat on a quarter acre of property. My parents loved gardening, yard work, and creating a beautiful yard. I hated gardening, yard work, and anything that made me be outside.

Outside was yucky, being outside in the summer makes you sweat. I hated getting my hands dirty, gardening makes your hands dirty. I hated weeding, mowing the lawn, planting flowers, all of it in my book was the pits.

Every spring and summer my parents and I had a deal. Saturday when they headed outside to work in the yard I stayed inside and worked. I thought it was a sweet deal. I thought they were all suckers. Sweating, dirty hands, grass clippings. Yuck, yuck, and more yuck!

Now that I'm all grown up I have had an obvious change of heart. Housework equals yuck, yuck and more yuck. Give me the garden, sun, sweat, and summer any day. Let the sun kiss my face, let heat warm the winter right out of me, let the garden renew my spirit.

There are times when I am with my mom and dad and we are talking about gardening or exercise or the fact I teach swim lessons that I see a dumb founded expression cross over their faces. The kind of look that says, "Who are you and what did you do with our daughter?"

It is kind of interesting, this getting older business, I look in the mirror and see the wrinkles starting to form, the grey hair at my temples, and I just cringe. When did that happen? Then I go out into my garden and see the flowers popping up and smile.

Ahh, the reason for the wrinkles.

Smiling.

Anyway if any of you have an explanation for the obvious change of heart feel free to hypothesise. Meanwhile I have some flowers that need transplanting. Hope you enjoy the flowers progress. My front room is turning into a jungle.

53 Days until Planting Day

The weather has been absolutely beautiful. It really makes you feel like summer is coming. I can't tell you how excited that makes me. 

Our seedlings are growing and growing. We have even moved some into their own little pots. Last year our biggest problems occurred when we moved the seedlings into their own pots.  We are waiting a little bit longer and hoping that the more established roots will help in the transplanting. Have I mentioned what armatures we are when it comes to gardening.

These are Cosmos I have a feeling that they don't like being started indoors.  We found this out last year with Sunflowers. When we started them indoors they never reached their full height.  They were also smaller and didn't quite get as hardy as the ones we started outside.  We are watching the Cosmos but I have a suspicion that next year we will be starting them outdoors.

These crazy little plants my youngest daughter picked out. They are coming up just like grass how weird is that? They are about two weeks ahead of schedule so they must like the environment.  



The first plants to be transplanted, Morning Glory and Zinnias.

We are learning and if everything keeps growing I will be planting all season long.

H.H. is getting very impatient to start the vegies.  He keeps reading the back of the packets and hoping that today is the day he can plant.  We all know the information on the back of the seeds changes magically in the middle of the night.

I'm kidding, I know that he is really excited to get started.  I am too. I love being out in the yard working in the garden. Watching all these flowers grow is just making me itch more and more to get outside.

Cleaning Up!

I guess there are worse things then cleaning up the yard after winter. It would be one thing if everything froze off and died all at once.  Then you could get out there clean it up and be done with it. Unfortunately, it doesn't really work that way.  There is always something in the process of dying while something else is the process of growing. Makes it impossible to jump in there clean everything out.

However, even if cleaning up isn't so great, seeing all the new green poking its way into the world makes one feel wonderful. Not to mention that after getting everything cleaned up it looks so great you forget all about the dirt under you nails.

(I can't quite remember what I planted here? It is a mystery)

Well not completely about all the dirt under you nails.

Where is that lotion?

When the Handy Hubby gets home I'm going to have him measure the beds so I can get to planning.  I have a ton of ideas bubbling around in my head.

What do you think of corn and sunflowers growing together?

I think it might look cool. 

(The Larkspur sprouted today, smiles)