These are my first seeds planted this year! They are in seed cells inside under lights. Its 83 days (11 weeks) before my last spring frost.
List:
Echinacea (enormous purple cone flowers hand collected)
Lavender augustifolia
Celeriac, Brilliant
Onion, Frontier
Onion, Ailsa Craig
Onion, Yellow Sweet Spanish
Onion, Rossa Lunga di Firenze
Onion, Ruby Ring
Onion, White Portugal
I am also collecting plastic gallon milk bottles as I'd like to set out a few types of wild flowers and perennial flowers for winter sowing soon.
Sowing 2009
Sowing 2008
10 comments:
Very cool...spring is definitely on its way!
I've already sown broccoli in the milk jugs and they've done amazingly well, despite the ice storm we had last week. I'll definitely be sowing more this way.
http://watsourced.blogspot.com
Great! I never thought to do broccoli outside. Its a very good way to grow seedlings.
What on earth does one family do with all those onions?
Let's see, we eat about 3 medium sized onions/week I would guess. Either sliced in salads, or sauteed in sauces, casseroles or just about anything. That's about 150 onions per year. And onions are great keepers, so I could probably grow our year's supply, if I could grow enough. I have never been able to grow more than we can eat. I end up with about 2 months worth and run out around December.
My guess is I raised about 30 each of six types last year and gave 1/4 to my parents, 1/4 to my brother. I think that left me with about 150 or so plants. But then I didn't get that many onions. I think I planted them too close to the peppers and tomatoes and they got too shaded.
This year I will try to grow more. I am also going to label the varieties to see which do best as I mixed everything up last year and have no idea what was what.
I've got a family of two, and I bet we go through 4-5 onions a week. Especially in the winter when we're making soups and stews all the time. Grow on!
On a somewhat related note, how successful were your milk jug green houses last year? Did they take to the ground okay after you transplanted them?
The plants from the milk jugs had trouble after I opened them up because the soil didn't drain well.
I am going to start up a few bottle soon again this year and I will see what I can do in the spring to get better drainage. Maybe I will cut big whole in the bottle before planting? Or cut wholes when I open up the bottles? Or transplant the seedlings when I open the bottles. (Opening the bottles lets then get a lot more water into the soil.) ANy suggestions?
This year will be my first year experimenting with the milk jugs, so I'm in the dark! But based on the information on wintersown.org (thanks for the link, btw!), it looks as though breaking off chunks and transplanting right away might be the best bet. I'm thinking about putting makeshift cardboard dividers into the bottom of the jug so lifting out hunks will be easier. Guess we'll see!
OK I will plan to transplant when I open the jugs. As I remember, the seedlings lift out and break up easily.
Kathy, I envy your discipline! I haven't even placed a seed order yet!
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