You gonna start something?

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bob

Administrator
Staff member
Spring is here, or it's close anyway. That means it will be planting time soon.

Do you start your plants indoors? If you do, what plants do you start and how do you start them? What methods do you use to "harden off" your plants when you make the transition outside?
 

lynpenny

Super Moderator
Staff member
I used to start indoors but since we moved to Austin from Ks. I just buy the stuff they have at the home centers. There are several really good places to buy plants here in Austin. I have bought lots of native plants from the Wildflower Center. I am trying to grow some flowers from seed but only a few pots came up. May have to get some plants to replace them.
 

Gardengoddess

Active Member
When I did start, I did mostly annuals. I would start in my basement with fluorescent lights.

I did few perennials. One that turned out to be a favorite is agastache Rupenstens. Hummingbirds loved it and the leaves smelled like root beer. I had a protected spot that I would harden off. However, still lost a lot to the Iowa wind. Not sure if I’ll continue starting seeds in my new place.
 

bob

Administrator
Staff member
One that turned out to be a favorite is agastache Rupenstens.

Sounds like a Disney Villain

Hummingbirds loved it and the leaves smelled like root beer

Wow, that's cool. So I googled it and it looks really cool. I was interested until I got to the "low water" part. That leaves my yard out... It's more of a seasonal bog.
 

bob

Administrator
Staff member
I just buy the stuff they have at the home centers.

You know, we were just talking about Courtney, and that brings up a memory of one of his sayings. He grew plants commercially, and he said he loved home stores. "They sell people the same plants twice, once early in the season, and then a second one after the late frost kills off the first one!"
 

Gardengoddess

Active Member
Sounds like a Disney Villain



Wow, that's cool. So I googled it and it looks really cool. I was interested until I got to the "low water" part. That leaves my yard out... It's more of a seasonal bog.
Yeah, location, location, location right? My old spread was an acre of prairie so it was great there as irrigation was tough. I tried to keep the more high maintenance plants close to the water source while the outer gardens had to be more self sustaining.
 

Gardengoddess

Active Member
Sounds like a Disney Villain



Wow, that's cool. So I googled it and it looks really cool. I was interested until I got to the "low water" part. That leaves my yard out... It's more of a seasonal bog.
I have a boggy spot to play with this time. I'm looking at ligularia, clethra, Japanese anemones...oh and trollius (globe flower).

I always try to find a place for trollius and Jacob's Ladder for my youngest. His name is Jacob, hence Jacob's Ladder). When he was little, the kids would play Three Billy Goats Gruff. One day I heard his voice from under the back stairs "who's that trapping on my bridge". Yep, he was cast as the troll of the story...thus the nickname troll and why trollius is one of his plants in my garden.
 

Gloria

Super Moderator
Staff member
I did start something early and I'm going to spill the beans on him. I planted tomato seeds inside the first week of February. It was an experiment for me, just a box with soil, set up with good drainage under a light. Anyway, the middle of March the plants were beautiful and about 5 inches tall. I figured they'd be perfect in time for April planting to transplant to the garden outside. I had even taken them outside on warm, sunny days a few times. Hubby decided that they were getting too tall for the box container and not warm enough to transplant outside so while I was away one day, he transplants every one of them (about 45 plants) into tall plastic cups. The next day they were all flopped over and didn't recover. I feel like he put something in the dirt, maybe fertilizer but he has pleaded the fifth on that one. Some people do not have a green thumb and his is not! And some people need to leave stuff that is not theirs.. alone, don't you think?
 

Gardengoddess

Active Member
The next day they were all flopped over and didn't recover. I feel like he put something in the dirt, maybe fertilizer but he has pleaded the fifth on that one. Some people do not have a green thumb and his is not! And some people need to leave stuff that is not theirs.. alone, don't you think?
Oh no’s! I haven’t lost at transplant. I have lost my fair share while hardening off though.

Dora
 

lynpenny

Super Moderator
Staff member
When I was younger I could kill anything but my thumb is getting greener all the time. I have also learned to plant some native plants so they are used to the soil in the area. Now if I could get my oak back to good health. It had leaf spot on it while I was sick. Hubby asked "experts" what to do and did what they said but it still looked bad. This year I sprayed it with copper sulfate to kill the leaf spot and we have put some fertilizer on the grass and she looks so much better. I may keep this tree after all.
 


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