There is Life Out There!

The front of my house has brick about five feet up the wall, and with a southern exposure, it gets really warm out there. These little cuties popped up about a week ago, and started flowering about three days after that.

I also got around to doing some winter-sowing. It's not really winter anymore (although it kind of feels like it), so clearly I'm behind schedule. I did a few things like tomatoes, eggplant and peppers to keep in the house until it warms up a bit. I've heard that you can do them outside, but I wanted to guarantee germination. I'm trying to germinate some Hawaiian Chili Peppers - I started some a couple of weeks ago, and so far - nothing. I tried some more using the milk cartons - let's hope these take!

And I'm happy to report that my Hope for Humanity rose appears to have made it through winter. I do love this rose. It's not terribly fragrant, but it's a lovely color and seems to be a reliable bloomer in other people's gardens (I only planted it late last year, so can't really comment on how it does in my garden). If it proves to be a good performer, I'm considering getting another one to put on the other side of the front steps.

Winter Sowing: Part 4

There's a little more snow on the ground than last time I posted pictures - actually, I'm not sure there's more snow, but there's definitely been some much needed moisture.

Rudbeckia - Cherry Brandy: I winter-sowed some of these last year. They seemed more cherry-cola colored than cherry-brandy, but I thought I'd give them another shot and see if I like them more this year.

Bachelor Buttons - Black Magic and Tall Blend

Zinnia - Pastel Sunset and Giant Fantasy: I tried to winter sow these last year without success.

Zinnia - Fruit Smoothie: I successfully winter sowed these last year and quite liked them. They were over 3 feet tall. I only got orange and purple flowers, but that suited me just fine.

Scabiosa - Burgundy and Vanilla & Giant Imperial: I've never grown these before. In fact, I'm not sure I've even seen them growing anywhere, but they looked interesting on the package. Now that I think about it, I've probably seen them but just taken no notice. That may not bode well.

Aubrieta - Whitewell Gem: I've never grown this either, but I needed something to add to the rock garden area on the side of the house. We'll see how these do.

Agastache - Lavender Hyssop: These are new to me, too, but I've seen it in other people's gardens and thought they were interesting looking.

Winter Sowing: Part 3

The Pot Farm has only grown by three this week: 

Red Leaf Lettuce

Bull's Blood Beets

Cleome - the seeds were generously donated to the cause by a friend who has gorgeous cleome growing in her purple-themed garden.

And in a totally different kind of winter sowing, these are fenugreek sprouts! I was rumbling through the spice drawer one night this week, looking for the ground cumin, and came across a little bag full of fenugreek. Fenugreek is a bit of a mystery to me, but I bought them to make this Georgian Pork Stew (as in the Republic of Georgia, not the State of Georgia). It was yummy, in case you were wondering.

Fenugreek seeds are hard and sort of triangular-shaped. And they have the faint odor of maple syrup. Or carmel. Or something sweet. Seriously. Fenugreek is used to make fragrances and a processing plant in New Jersey had everyone smelling maple syrup. 

Back to the little bag of fenugreek in my spice drawer ... 

Seeing the seeds made me wonder what kind of plant they came from. I dug around on the web and learned that not only are the seeds used for cooking, but the greens are also an important part of Indian cuisine (called Methi). It's a pretty plant. And a member of the legume family, so it's a nitrogen-fixer and an excellent soil conditioner.

I started wondering how I could get my hands on some seeds to try to grow in the garden. And then I realized I might already have them in my hands. Many spices are irradiated before being sold at retail, so I wasn't sure the ones in my spice drawer were viable. So before placing an online order for new seeds, I did a little sprouting experiment. I just put a couple dozen seeds in a wet paper towel in a plastic bag and let it sit on the counter. Two days later, I could tell they were starting to sprout! The picture above is after 4-5 days. Very exciting. I haven't tasted them yet, but I've read that they are often sprouted right along with mung bean and other sprouts for fresh eating.

Winter Sowing: Part 2

The winter sowing continues...

Today's additions include:

Poppy - Mission Bells and Pizzicato

Lupine - Dwarf Minarette and Tutti Frutti

Carrot - Royal Chanteney - I'm not sure why I did these as there should be no trouble direct sowing them early in the spring. Oh well ... I'll just consider it an experiment.

Monarda - Some of my neighbor's Monarda was creeping through the fence last year, so I dug it and transplanted it to a more favorable location. I didn't think it would transplant very well, but it did just fine. I'm hoping for several patches of it this year in various places around the garden. If the winter sown doesn't take, I'm sure there will be more creeping through the fence this year, too.

Sea Holly - I think I tried to winter sow these last year, too. I don't remember planting any of them, so I'm guessing it was a failed experiment last year. Here's hoping for better luck in 2012.

The Winter Sowing Has Begun!

I've only managed nine containers so far, but I plan on doing about this many each week until I get through all of them.

This batch includes:

Penstemon - Chocolate Drop

Lead Plant - I tried - unsuccessfully - to wintersow this one last year.

Lupine - Wuthering Heights - I'm determined to get lupine to grow in my yard! I did have a few that seemed to survive the summer last year (no blossoms, though), so I'm curious to see if they come back this spring. And hopefully this batch will take. I have seed for two additional kinds of lupine - maybe one will be more successful than the rest.

Poppy - Shirley 

Poppy - Venus

Poppy - Giant Peony

I have some Oriental poppies that are doing marvelously well, so hope I can get a stand of different types going. I think they are my favorite flowers.

Arctic Iris - I got these seeds in Alaska a couple of years ago. I think they are some type of Siberian iris.

Fireweed - I also picked up these seeds in Alaska. They haven't been treated very well, so I'm not even sure if they're viable.

Dinosaur Kale - I have a large stand of Red Russian Kale and only a few of the Dinosaurs. I think it's lovely, so I will probably plant this amongst the flowers.