Gardening Adventures from the North...: germinate

Showing posts with label germinate. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

First plant babies of the year...

My first seeds have sprouted - the Candytuft - the package said 10-15 days for germination, and it only took 3. I chose Candytuft because they are drought tolerant, and grow well in less than ideal soil conditions. I plan to put them around the rocks in my perennial gardens which are under fairly large trees that suck up all the water around. They also have sentimental value to me because my mom has them in her garden, and they have always been one of her favourites...so hopefully now I will have a garden full!!

I also started my Black Pansies - but no germination yet, and the Lupines will go in tomorrow.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Back to Biology 190.. (A brief Science Lesson)

In university Biology, most every one I went to school loved the animal and human Biology, and hated the plant Biology. I was the opposite, although I enjoyed the animal stuff, the plant Biology fascinated me. Lately, as I have been growing my seedlings, all these plant Biology words have been popping up in my mind...(such as transpiration and cotyledons and photosynthesis).

What I think is really cool, and that I didn't quite realize from textbook descriptions back when I was in school, is that when seeds germinate the first leaves that pop up actually aren't the true leaves of the plant. (they are called cotyledons or seed leaves). The true leaves, the ones that you would recognize and allow you to identify the plant are the next to develop, but the cotyledons are what nourish and feed the plant as it is germinating - basically they are an energy boost to get the new plant up to the surface so it can start photosynthesizing...

Marigold "Seed Leaves"(Cotyledons):

Marigolds with their first "True Leaves"

So every day as I've been watching my plants I've been counting true leaves, analyzing seed leaves and waiting for the true leaves that look like the plants I'm growing to develop. Maybe long time gardeners are all aware of this, and it is something I missed out on, but I had totally forgotten all about it, and as I've been gardening all this information has jumped back to the front of my mind...

What I am curious about (caution: I am about to get really "sciency") is how come ALL the plants I am growing are dicots (have two seed leaves when they germinate). Are there any regular garden plants/flowers that are monocots (have only one seed leaf when they germinate). Did I just select all dicots at random, or are monocots simply more rare. So, these are some of the things I think about, although I am not sure most gardeners even care. I am a bit of a geek that way and "school-type knowledge" tends to stick in my brain, while I cannot seem to remember what groceries I need to buy when I get into the grocery store.

The Marigolds are Up!

They germinated very quickly. I've grown marigolds before so I new they were easy. Some of the seedlings already have buds for their first true leaves. But there are still a couple rows that haven't germinated at all. Maybe I planted those ones a little deeper? These are the little heros mix marigolds - a dwarf variety. I have raised garden beds around my house and hope to fill them with red geraniums, purple salvia and orange/yellow marigolds.

Marigolds after 1 week:

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Seedling Update: Geraniums and Salvia

My first two batches of seedlings are doing fabuously. I am so impressed with the geranium and salvia seedlings after all my research told me that they could be tricky. But here they are - the geraniums are 5 1/2 weeks after planting, and the salvia are 3 1/2 weeks after planting. Both have been transplanted into 3" jiffy pots because the newspaper pots just fell apart. I don't think I will be using them again. I really like the jiffy pellets, and they take up way less space to start with. I used them for my marigolds, hostas, basil, and scabiosa. The 3" pots may have been a slight oversight as I am quickly running out of space - but I think the geraniums will need them that large, they are growing quite fast and there is still along ways to go until I can plant outside here. Alas, maybe if I quit buying seeds at the grocery store, I would have enough room.

Tray of transplanted Geraniums:

Geranium Seedling:

Tray of transplanted Salvia Seedlings:

Salvia Seedling:

Monday, March 10, 2008

More Seeds?

Well, I thought I was done buying seeds, but I keep seeing things I like. I found Hosta seeds - I had planned to buy some Hostas to plant in my shade gardens this year, and then I saw the seeds - $4.99 for 12 - they better germinate. I planted them right away when I got home, but this time I used the peat pellets. They were kind of cool, so I hope they work. Supposedly, Hostas are slow growing and never turn out with the same markings as the parent plants.

I also bought a package of blue bachelor's buttons. I grew these flowers the summer I got married and included them in the bridesmaid boquets and my hair - so when I saw them it was a somewhat sentimental purchase.