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It occurred to me today that the 2010 challenge is really becoming second nature. Quite a bit of my garden is established and returns each year by itself with minimal care.These Amaryllis plants have been in the garden for years. They return to bloom every spring. The bulbs are sending up their bloom shoots now and in several weeks the garden will be covered in their blooms.
The seeds that were started last year are growing fine without the use of chemical fertilizer or pesticides.This one is a Gaillardia Aristata or Blanket flower grown from seed.
I stuck it in an old recycled pot ,added compost from the bin, and added some wire to make it into a hanging basket.
All it gets now is water and an occasional shot of compost tea. It appears happy and is also sending up flower shoots.
Matter of fact for my plant something each week goal I started four more of
the Blanketflower seeds today.By starting seeds each week it gives a continual stream of new plants to put out in the garden.
Since these are perennial wildflowers they should come back for more than one year.
I can then collect and save the seeds and will not have to buy the seed pack again to start new plants.
That is the goal of frugal sustainable gardening.
This is a cutting that came from my Mandevilla vine.
It should give me a new plant for this summer.
It was also put in some compost from the bin and some newspaper mulch added to hold in the moisture.
This week some of my older sprouted seeds went out into the garden on so I could reuse the yogurt cups to replant more seeds.
One of the new plants from seed that went out is this Grampa Ott Morning Glory.
It is a Bavarian type Morning Glory that was brought over from Germany in 1883.
The seeds were given to Diane Wheatly [Ott] in 1972 by her grandfather. Thus the name Grampa Ott.
I planted this one by my old tree stump and hope that it will grow to cover some of the stump.
If it does well I will be able to collect seeds from it . See what I mean about the challenge becoming second nature.
--Sanddune----
I am glad to see you are so successful with seeds. I decided to plant a few flower seeds myself. I directly sowed zinnias, blanket flower, mexican sunflower and allysum. They are all up and growing. I would love it if my blanket flower stays around more than one year. I might try saving some seeds too. Thanks for the inspiration.
ReplyDeleteThe history behind the morning glory was quite interesting. I do hope it grows well in its new home by the stump.
Like the way you take the callalleges! I also just started some blanket flower seeds this past weekend after hearing so many raves about it. Hey, what did you use to make those seed labels? I think I need to make some to mark my seeds as well. I also started some cacti seeds.
ReplyDeleteNanaK,
ReplyDeleteGrowing from seed is great fun at least I think so. Some do great and some don't. But the ones that dont get recycled and replanted with something else so it makes a continuous circle.
I save all the seeds from non hybrid plants to grow more new plants. Fun and free...
Ami,
Good for you for the seed starts! If you check the bottom of my blog page for the tag --- plant markers ---it will show you what I use.
So much fun to anticipate the bloom of amaryllis! I never thought of putting blanketflower in a pot, but I am in love with that plant. My blanketflowers made it through our succession of freezes completely unfazed!
ReplyDeleteFloridagirl,
ReplyDeleteThe Blanketflower was out in the garden but was getting trampled by my dogs. It went in the hanging basket and is pretty neat because I can watch it grow from my porch. I agree it is a tough plant as mine also survived the cold and the dogs. I'm looking forward to it blooming sometime soon.