Beautiful Geraniums and Coleus

I am pleased with the progress of the geraniums and coleus.  They have been relatively easy to grow.

There is a flower bud in the middle of the tray.

I love the variations in coloring: pink, burghundy, yellow and white. 

I transplanted soapwort seedlings into sixteen individual containers. I pulled out two that had "kinked" stems. The stems of the seedlings are very fragile.

Four Syrian eggplants have looked pretty sad the past week.  I threw away the first three and repotted this one into a deeper container. All other varieties look much better although some leaves look pale and stressed.

Before

After

Then I up-potted five Independence Day Tomatoes to six-inch plastic containers. They don't look like they have taken the transplanting very well. Keeping fingers crossed for a potential July 4th tomato!

Postscript #1 - There was germination of a Thai peppers and Tiny Tim tomato. Yahoo!!
Postscript #2 - I added potting soil to the Italian Roma tomato containers to cover more of the stems.

Transplanting More Flower Seedlings

Grecian Rose

Coleus

Chamomile

Chinese Forget-Me-Nots

Flower seedlings yet to be transplanted: bottom to top, portulaca, alyssum royal carpet,
alyssum carpet of snow, potentilla, snapdragons mixed

Following Skippy's Lead

Early this morning I shoveled a path to the hoophouse.  As expected, the door only narrowly opened.  I tried to chip away ice at the base of the door and, unfortunately, made a small cut in the plastic sheeting that will need patching this spring.  With the temperature rising above freezing most of this week, I will practice patience and wait a few days to begin organizing the hoophouse.

Kathy at Skippy's Vegetable Garden is running a little experiment.  She shoveled off snow from one of her raised beds to see if its soil becomes "workable" sooner than an unshoveled bed.  I'm curious, too, and decided to join her!

Now which outdoor raised bed to dig out?? The ones surrounding the hoophouse are definitely out of the question, having at least three feet of drifted snow above them.  The raised bed closest to the shed is a better choice.  As you can see, I will still have my work cut out for me!

The BEFORE

Too much shoveling last month left me with a tender back.  Not wanting to further delay its healing, I only did half of the "big dig" this morning. I will finish the job tomorrow.

Half-way done!

I'd like to start planting "greens" in this outdoor bed as well as in the hoophouse in early April.  If that's the case, I had better to start sowing arugula, lettuce, kale and spinach seeds indoors this week to have transplants ready on time.

UPDATE: I finally finished shoveling off the raised bed on Thursday, March 12th:

The AFTER

The Alliums Get a Haircut

The onion, leek and shallot seedlings had "haircuts" today.  I snipped off the top two inches or so.  While I was working on those containers, I decided to thin out the seedlings as well.  I must remember to sow allium seeds more sparsely next year.  They always have better germination than expected.  Yes, thinning onions in containers is tedious, but it is far less painful than thinning carrots or beets in the garden.

Postscript #1 - There were signs of germination from Wave Petunias (sowed March 2, 7 days), Petunia Mixed Colors (sowed March 2, 7 days), Tetra Ruffled Snapdragons (sowed February 28, 9 days), echinacaea (sowed February 28, 9 days), and coleus (sowed March 4, 5 days).

Always Something To Do

What I love about seed starting is that there is always something to fuss over and tinker with. And what is even better is that there is no urgency with any of these tasks.  There is always some flexibility as to when they need to be done, give or take a few days and sometimes a few weeks. The tasks can be squeezed in here or there, dedicating 15 minutes or up to a couple of hours depending on whatever else is on the day's agend. Today I woke up at 6:00 am eager to fit in two hours of transplanting seedlings and sowing more flower seeds.

Today's projects:

• Transplanted geraniums from 4-packs to their own 3" pots. I will give them a day's reprieve from growlights to adjust to the transplant. 

• Transplanted Sweet Williams to twenty-five 2" pots; will not put under lights today to allow recovery from the transplant.  The remaining Sweet William seedlings (7) have been potted in two 3" pots to grow on as extras. 

• It was also time to give the rosemary seedlings more "leg room", splitting up the seedlings into their own cells. 

• Eight seedlings from the pansy container sown on February 3 were ready to be transplanted into two 4-packs.  I thought I would l leave the remaining seedlings in the 4"x8" container for a few more weeks but instead transplanted them into a 6-pack.  Similarly, I won't put the pansies back under growlights until tomorrow.

• I have had difficulty in past years germinating lavender seeds.  This year I ran an experiment to see which of three methods (traditional, pre-chilling, pressing seeds into mix) would yield the greatest number of seedlings. As of this date, the most effective was the traditional planting of seeds sown 1/4" deep.  I transplanted those eight seedlings from container #1 and one seedling from container #2 into a 3" pot, leaving the remaining seedlings to grow on.  The winner will be declared in a few weeks. 

• The delphiniums looks a bit ill with blotchy leaves that are slightly yellowing.  I hesitate to transplant them in this condition but decided a bit of "tough love" was in order.  I moved the six largest seedlings to their own 3" pots and the remaining seedlings will carry on in the original container for a few more weeks. 

The following seeds were sowed today:

Coleus (Rainbow Mix): Livingston Seeds, 2014.  Planted seeds 1/4" deep in one 4"x8" container. Expected germination time, 7-14 days.  Characteristics: annual, shade, 12-18" tall, blooms in summer. Used as a backdrop or centerpiece in pots or in a mass.  Shades of kelly green, royal burgundy and lemon yellow.  For bushier growth, pinch center stem when plants are 4" to 6" tall.
See: http://www.outsidepride.com/seed/flower-seed/coleus/coleus-rainbow-mix.html

Impatiens (Flavours Hybrid Mix): Burpee, 2015. Sowed seeds in 4"x8" container shallowly. Expected germination date: 18-28 days. Days to maturity, 55-60.  Characteristics: annual, large 2" flowers, white, red, pink, lavender, 8" tall. Space 10" apart.
See: http://www.almanac.com/plant/impatiens

Lupines (Russell's Prize Mix, Lupinus polyphyllus): Livingston Seeds, 2014. Expected germination time, 25-30 days. I did not soak the seeds overnight as recommended on the packet. Planted seeds 1/4" deep in one 4"x8" container. Characteristics: Perennial, sun, 2' to 4' tall, tall stalks bearing large flowers in shades of pink, yellow, rose, red and blue, use as cut flowers or in garden bed, low maintenance, mulch summer and winter.
See: http://www.burpee.com/perennials/lupine/lupine-russell-hybrid-mixed-colors-prod000077.html

Potentilla (Trailing Cinquefoil, tonguei): Harvested, 2014. The seeds were originally received through a seed swap, 2009.  Planted seeds 1/8" deep in one 4"x8" container. Not 100% sure of variety, but most resembles a tonguei by Internet search.  One of my favorite perennial flowers. Over the past five years there has been a decline in the number of plants in the perennial bed.  I hope to add dozen or so more plants to the garden. Characteristics:  perennial, full sun, hybrid, low clump-forming for edging or massing as ground cover. trailing stems, 4-6" tall, small, single apricot-yellow buttercup flowers, bright-red eye, blooms all summer, pinch back spent blooms.
See: http://www.perennials.com/plants/potentilla-tonguei.html

Postscript #1 - Salvia, Scarlett has germinated (seeds sowed February 25, 7 days).
Postscript #2 - I am stratifying Bouncing Bet/Saponaria officinalis seeds for one week in the refrigerator. They will be ready to sow on or after March 11.