A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2006 Indoor Seeding to Date

Yesterday, I got another buncha' seeds . . . Canadian Tire had them on at 39 cents a pack!

Here's what I've seeded indoors to date:

Seeded

Jan 15th

Green pepper
Orange School Stuff
Broccoli
Parsnip
Peas
Cucumber
Zuccini

Jan 27th

Cosmos
Nasturtium
spring onion
snapdragon (they
take 3 weeks or more)
radish

Feb 2nd

forget-me-nots
basil
squash

Feb 5th

Carrots, pepper
& Sunflowers

Feb 6th

Asters &
Bachelor buttons

Feb 10th

Cut flower Mix
Cockscombe
Garden Beans - 2 kinds

Feb 11th

Gypsophilia
Clarkia

Feb 12th

Poppy
Pink Dianthus
(put in one of the
big coleus pots)

A couple more
pots got filled
with

lavatera
allysum
candy tuft
marigold

Enjoying myself? You bet!

Carly..it's not too early for some of these vegetables? I'm in Ontario as well..I'd love to start some now but I think it's too early..tell me I'm wrong so I can start too.

Christina

hey carly! sounds like you've got a TON done so far! may I ask what orange school stuff is? I've never heard of that

Oh . . . ha ha!

I forgot about that - there were some orange flowers growing in the square planters outside the school - I clipped off some of the dried stuff.

I don't think it will work, but I put it in with something else.

None of the seeds have been planted outside - they are in boxes on the window sill in the office.

Outside? Ha! Even the cat stays indoors most of the day right now. And Skitter is usually out there and at 'em from 8 in the morning till her curfew at 4 in the afternoon.

Right now she goes out at sunrise, scoots off 'god-knows-where' then returns to the door about ten minutes later. That act is repeated about 4 times during the day.

Come spring she'll be out there at all times and after curfew she'll be at the window snarling at me if I'm outside and she's not.

Hi Carly..you didn't really answer my question. How are you going to keep them strong and healthy until u get them outside? You must have high pressure sodium lights.

Fluorescent in the office and from previous experience the window in there is good for growing seeds.

It won't be long till the whole shootin' match gets carried outside to the picnic table outside our apartment window.

That reminds me - I have some pictures to download . . . I'll show them soon.

Here are the peas and broccoli pot around the last week of January.



Here they are now . . .

The Peas



Oops! I don't think I took a pic of the broccoli pot - it's still in the window.

I can't do any more seeds right now anyway - no room. Besides I'm going out to the west coast soon, so I can't leave too much for Jeff to tend to while I'm gone.

There's a few that can go outdoors now - parsnips - if we have a mild day soon, I'll put them out there.

Here's the Cosmos and Radish . . .



I think radish can go outside too - with the parsnips.

The cosmos . . . hmmm . . . not for a while. Looks like they'll be slow anyway.

Looks good Carly.
So you've started seeds this early before and you it all went well for you?

Not really - last year I only got a few plants using seeds I saved in the fall.

We'll see what happens - like I say, I'm not starting them all - I don't have room for it anyway.

I figure I can start putting some things outdoors at the end of March.

Some things will have to be hardened off and some will have to wait till last frost which is May 9th here.

What do you do?

I wont be starting anything until mid March..last year that even seemed too early 'cuz as you know...we had a cold spring! I didn't get anything planted outside until June. I don't start hardening off 'til temps are about 15C..and still bring them back in during the night until it's warm enough 24 hours a day.
I have four 4 foot fluorescents and two 2 foot fluorescents. That was just enough last year...may hafta' invest in more this year. I've never used a sunny window..I've put some herbs that don't need full sun in the window but other than that, I always use the lights.
What plants do you plan to put out at the end of March?

Carrots, allysum, poppy, spring onions . . .

I might have some more than go out that early - not sure.

I'm just gonna' sow my carrots and onions directly in the ground..I'm not gonna' bother startin' them in the house...no need really. I don't think I'm gonna' start any flowers inside this year. I just have no idea what I want. One of these days (when it's warmer)...I just hafta' pull a chair up infront of my house and sit there and try to visualize what I would like to see in the yard. So far, all I keep seeing is daisies..and I have plenty of them!! Maybe a couple more plants wouldn't hurt.

Oh, I probably won't do half the things I say I'm going to do. Most likely I'll just end up putting everything out on the picnic table as soon as it's warm in April, cover 'em up if it gets cold.

We have a big lot (apartment building) and it's enough to just get it all cleaned up. There's pine cones to be gathered, sticks to be picked up, pine needles and left over leaves to rake away. Not to mention the gawd-fearin' grass.

I'm usually on weeds for about three weeks. Just clearing weeds out of the grass. I'll have mums to uncover, thin out if they are still alive.

March is going to be given over to my trip to the west anyway, so April will probably be dedicated to the cleaning - I'll be nowhere near the point where I'll start putting seeds in.

I'll probably just settle for the few things I've started up indoors, have Jeff keep them moist while I'm away and hope for the best.

Vegetables will have to be put into large containers - we don't really have the kind of soil or terraine for those.

I don't really know where I think I'm going to put this broccoli - it grows two feet I hear - ha ha!

Here are the seed packets I still have left:

Endive
Tomato
Petunia
Sweet William
Pansies - 3 packs
Purple wildflowers
Allysum - 2 packs
Gypsophilia
Thunbergia vine
Evening Primrose - 2
Morning glory
Chives
Sweet Pea
Yellow peppers
Sunflower
Beans

So if the ones growing in the office aren't successful, I'll have all those.

Where in Ontario do you live, Christina?

I'm in Sarnia...'bout 300km SW of you.

Ahhhhhhh! A stone's throw.

Yep..a hop, skip and a jump.

Hi Carly,

i am going to go check out canadian tire, i have gotten alot of my seeds from wal-mart but i had totally forgotten about canadian tire.
thanks again for the reminder.
happy gardening...
penny

I don't know if the sale is still on, Penny - better get up there immediately.

Hi Carly,


i did make it there and they had lots, i am not sure if they arent selling that fast because of all of our snow up here, but i splurged and got 40-45 packs of just about everything that i wanted.
thanks again....
penny

Good stuff - I still have a few packages to plant, but I won't - I'm going away to the west coast on March 4th, so I won't be here to supervise 'em.

And there's no more window sill space!

:-0

carly,

thanks for the tip,i didn t know canadian tire had their seeds for sale so early,i ll go see tomorrow.

Franny

I've already seen some of them pop, so they must be ok - we'll see if they become actual plants and if they don't we'll be buying our seeds elsewhere next year.

I don't know what I think I'm gonna' do with all these seeds anyway - ha ha! I don't really have time to fussbudget with all the stuff I've got now.