After Challenge Update: The Seed List

It was a fun 30 days, but I have to admit I am relieved it’s over. My backyard is becoming a bit overgrown and my attention needed to be out there with all the currently growing plants. However, I have quite a lot coming on indoors which tickles me to see. I’m so glad we planted for a solid 30 days!

So here’s the breakdown of what we planted this month….

Cilantro 
For these seeds, we actually used three different sources. The first  was an older packet and they were planted in the north kitchen window. The next was also planted in the north kitchen window, but the seeds used were directly off a flower that had finished blooming. Both of these are growing a bit slow, due to low light conditions. The final seeds were from a free packet we received from Baker Creek Seeds, sown upstairs under grow lights with quite a few other plants. This one is strongest of the bunch, fully caught up and grown taller than the others.

Cilantro sprouts

Catgrass
Over the month I gave a few updates on the cat grass. It’s still growing fine, but may need replanted again soon. The cats are chowing it down at a fairly fast rate. We used the same seeds through the entire challenge and I do highly recommend them. They were from Amazon, specifically Renee’s Garden Cat Grass Mix.

Cat Grass

Forget-Me-Nots
These aren’t doing the greatest in pots. The flowers in the fairy garden were doing better than the ones in an individual pot, until the cats thought the fairy garden was a bed for them. I’ll have to do a bit of work on our fairy garden and hopefully the Forget-Me-Nots will survive. I don’t blame the seeds or the seller, just myself for improper care of seedlings. If you are interested in trying them out, they were Cape Forget-Me-Not (Anchusa capensis) Seeds by Seed Needs

Garlic Bulbs
I have a hell of a time keeping garlic alive, and this one was no different. For this experiment I did not use seeds, but rather scraps that we had from a store-bought garlic clove. It was sprouting just fine when I planted it, but I believe the soil was far too rich and moist to keep it going. I started over with new scraps since I am determined to grow garlic correctly.

Lettuce
I’m happy to report the lettuce is doing just fine in the big indoor box in our south window. The seeds we planted this month are still little sproutlings, yet the lettuce that went in a month ahead is nearly ready to harvest. It’s hard to find the little guys right now, but I assure you there are there and growing. I’m sure they will grow a little better once the big guys are out of the way. If you do purchase Butterhead Buttercrunch Lettuce Seeds from Botanical Interest on Amazon, make sure the seller is No Thyme Productions as we have had no issues with their seeds.

Butterhead Lettuce

Salad Mix
Growing beautifully with a random amaranth under grow lights, the salad mix is getting close to harvest. I can’t wait to mix this with the buttercrunch lettuce! These seeds were purchased last year at Target, so obviously they were Burpee brand.

Catnip
These seeds don’t have the best germination rate (and honestly, I doesn’t matter where you purchase them – catnip just IS hard to germinate from seed), yet we’ve got a few just beginning to sprout.  I see no problems with this plant as the hardest part is over. Now it’s just a matter of keeping it properly watered and growing along side the other two plants.  If you are interested in growing catnip from seed, I highly recommended Organic Catnip Seeds from Ohio Heirloom Seeds on Amazon.

Oregano
Also just beginning to sprout and going strong. The other oregano growing in the house is also doing well, even when I don’t get them watered right away. The oregano actually prefers not to be overwatered. Organic Oregano by All Good Things Organic can be found on Amazon.

Dill
Sprouting like mad, although not nearly fast enough to keep up with the amount of cucumbers we’ve harvested. I had to break down and purchase dill seeds to make pickles. Hopefully we can keep a better stock of both dill and dill seeds in the future. There was enough in the packet we purchased (Botanical Interests Bouquet Dill Seeds) and they germinated perfectly, we just haven’t planted enough. Really these should have gone outside earlier this spring, but too late now. We just have to make due with them indoors.

Dill sprouts

Potatoes
The original bucket of potatoes is still growing strong, with the newer ones just starting to sprout. So far the weather outside has cooperated and given us plenty of rain. When it starts to cool off this fall, both buckets will have a home inside to finish flowering. Thankfully the spot is all set up and currently growing carrots and peas.

Bucket Potatoes

Rosemary
These herb sprouts aren’t getting a whole lot of sun right now and are a bit blocked out by the rest of the plants growing in the big south window tub. It’s fine they take their time grown, as I really only planted them as a companion herb for the rest. I don’t cook with it often, so don’t have a clue what to use it for when it matures. Thankfully I still have time to figure it out.

Peas
Since they are just starting to pop out of the dirt, there isn’t much to report on how these are doing inside or how they’ll do this fall when I go to transplant them. I am pleased to see them sprouting inside the big bucket though, as I’m anxious to see if they produce well.

Snow Pea Sprout

Ground Cherries
I couldn’t believe how fast these guys sprouted as they were toward the end of the challenge. Yet there they are, every seed planted is coming up. They’ll be transplanted to the big bin upstairs with the peas as soon as they are big enough.

Onion
Apparently much easier to keep alive than garlic, the onion is sprouting and growing in a bucket outside without trouble. We’ve had some big storms roll through as well that didn’t seem to bother them in the least. In fact, they grew extremely fast and furious in the short time they’ve been sitting in a bucket outside.

Onion Sprouts

Carrots
I was afraid there would be enough light for the Atomic Red Carrots to sprout, but I’m please to see they are sprouting beautifully. It only took them about a week to pop out of the dirt.

Morning Glories
We’ve had a special set of issues with the morning glories. A few nasty storms knocked over the fence and I’m honestly not sure how many are going to survive. Lesson learned – wood posts don’t necessarily stay put in rich soil, especially when massive amounts of vines are weighing them down. We plan to replace the wood posts next year with metal, or at least set up a more sturdy structure for them to climb on.

 

So far, that’s all we’ve got growing. Some of the other seeds will take a good month to even sprout, and some I gave up on completely (like the Lemon Balm – I have been offered cuttings from established plants, so will go that route since the seeds gave me such trouble). All in all though, we’ve added a lot indoors and out, so the challenge was well worth it. 🙂

 

 

Challenge Day 21: Black Eyed Susans

Not normally something that’s planted indoors, Black Eyed Susan flowers grow to be over 3 feet tall. It’s been my personal experience that just about any plant can grow indoors or in a smaller form, so that’s what we set out to do today.

Earlier in the spring, my daughter planted a few Black Eyed Susans and Nasturtiums in her own little space in the backyard. At the time, I had no place outside for the extra Black Eyed Susan seeds in my own gardens. Just the extra nasturtiums were planted around the garden to protect the cucumbers and tomatoes from harmful bugs.

Black Eyed Susan

Left with these seeds, I knew I’d have to do something with them soon. I saved a few to plant outside next year (maybe in the front yard, which is mostly bare), and used a few today for inside.

Last summer I had tossed several random flower seeds I had on hand into a recycled ice cream bucket planter to see what grew. The zinnias have long since bloomed and died, but one flower seems to be constantly reseeding itself. Honestly, I’ve forgotten what this flower is and I don’t have the heart to rip them out.

Mystery flowers. Can you identify them?

I decided to try tossing a few Black Eyed Susan seeds in with them to see what happened. I figured if the zinnia could grow with them in such a small pot, then other flowers probably could as well. They might be smaller and they may not even bloom, but watching flowers like this in different scenarios can be exciting. Nature sometimes does interesting things!

What odd combos or plantings have you done lately?

Challenge Day 20: Update

Today I planted the last round of cilantro for the month, but wanted to give a few update. There are all kinds of fun sprouts popping up from all the seeds and bulbs I’ve planted thus far.

 

Cilantro

If you’ve been following along, you’ll know I’ve planted different cilantro seeds twice before today. The first ones in the window are sprouting, but slower than the planter upstairs under florescent lights. I don’t believe the kitchen window gets nearly enough sun to get herbs started properly, but it’s an alright spot after they are established.

Cilantro Sprouts (grown under florescent lights) 

Catgrass

Have I mentioned how easy it is to grow grass for the cats? Even the seeds I planted a few days ago are sprouting already!

Cat grass is growing beautifully!

 

Forget-Me-Nots

I wasn’t sure how these were going to get along inside, but so far they are looking pretty good. Both containers we planted these seeds in are sprouting. Really can’t wait to see how these flowers look in the fairy garden.

Forget-Me-Not sprouts

 

Garlic Bulb

We planted this guy 2 weeks ago and he’s still going strong. I honestly think I should have used a slightly better draining and lighter soil, although I have resisted the urge to over water it. My other attempts at growing garlic outside have not worked out well, I suspect due to our backyard soil being too heavy and rich.

Garlic Bulb Sprouting

Salad Mix

Another set of easy growing seeds that have exploded in sprouts. SUPER excited about this one, since these little salad sprouts are right on track with the lettuce planted a month ahead. They should all be ready to eat at the same time.

Mesclun Salad Mix

 

 

Lettuce

The seeds that were planted this month probably won’t go with the salad mix, but are sprouting just the same. They should be starting to mature after the first round of lettuce is done. We’ll be sure to plant the salad mix again soon to go with this batch.

Little Lettuce Sprouts

 

 

Tiny Sprouts

Oregano, roman chamomile, and catnip have all just barely come up. The oregano and catnip  sprouted just fine under florescent lights (daylight spectrum bulbs, not generic fluorescent bulbs). The roman chamomile, which I was most concerned with in the fairy garden, is just barely peeking out through the soil.

Some of the trickier seeds haven’t come up, although I didn’t fully expect them to just yet. Some will take nearly a month to sprout and some haven’t even finished the stratification process. When they do, I’ll be sure to post updates of them as well!

Challenge Day 19: Hosta Starts

Hosta might not be a seed, but it’s a plant nonetheless. Most will recommend you transplant hosta in the spring and from the bulb, yet we wanted to get this project out of the way so have done it a bit differently.

After seeing yet another neighbor spraying chemicals on his lawn, I decided it was time to put in a buffer and pull my garden back from the property line. I was actually quite surprised this neighbor used chemical lawn services, since he has a lovely little backyard garden himself. I thought I only had to worry about our other side, where the neighbor likes his emerald green weed-and-clover-free yard with a minimal amount of flowers in pots. We had already put in the morning glory fence to serve as a buffer on that side, so thought the hosta would be a nice buffer against the back. Luckily the third side of our backyard is blocked by the garage, so we don’t worry about what those neighbors are doing.

Last week I thought I would try sticking a few hosta leaves in water to see if they took root. They really didn’t, so I’m thinking this was an unnecessary step. I had figured it was worth a shot, especially since I was breaking all the hosta transplant rules by using only leaves (no bulbs or roots) and doing it at the wrong time of year (in the middle of summer instead of spring or fall). I did at least keep the leaves alive until I got around to sticking them in the ground.

Hosta leaves in jar for about a week or two.

Since this was exactly the wrong way to transplant or take starts of hosta, I also uprooted a few starts that did have roots/bulbs on the ends. I had an area that needed thinned a bit, so it’s no big deal if they don’t survive.

Freshly yanked out hosta plants.

After tilling the area, we dropped all the plants (both leaves and rooted plants) in the ground. I don’t expect these to fully root and grow again until next spring, but when they do, they’ll be a fabulous buffer between us and the chemlawn behind us. With the fence there, it’s only a small strip at the bottom that we need to block out.

Transplanted Hosta

There’s still a lot of clean up to do and I’m planning to extend the row on each side so it takes up the entire backyard, but need to wait for fall when the tomatoes are done and I can pull the whole garden bed forward. At least one piece is done and we have a clearer picture of the layout!

Challenge Day 16: Echinacea

Echinacea is not a recommended indoor plant. All the more reason for me to try and grow it indoors. Who doesn’t like a challenge?

First, I had to plan where these guys would eventually be growing. Since it’s too late in the season to plant them outside (or too early, depending on which end of the season you are planting them), I had to find a large space with a large container.

We’d already been building a tub with rock, dirt, and a bit of compost, and planned to put it upstairs under grow lights. Originally I thought this tub would be great for a small indoor tree, and it still might be. It’s wide enough it will probably fit a small fruit tree alongside Echinacea and other smaller plants.

It will be awhile before we’ll need to transplant, though, as today I only started the stratification process. I took 4 seeds and placed them in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel, stashing them in the fridge in the same place as other seeds and sprouts (garlic, onion, and cherry seeds). From what I’ve read, these seeds need a good month or two of cold before they will properly germinate, and then another month or two in a starter tray before making it to their final home. I did save additional seeds to plant outside this fall, where the natural stratification process can take place over winter.

I don’t know how these guys will do indoors over the winter, but I’m sure we’ll manage to set them up well enough to at least grow. At the very least, we can try again this fall or even next spring with the leftover seeds.

What outdoor plants have you brought inside? Did they survive?

Challenge Day 15: Morning Glories

Even though it’s a bit late to be planting morning glories, I had to fill in a few spaces where the bunnies have been snacking. Just when I think I outsmart them, they eat something else unexpectedly. This time it was just one end of my Morning Glory fence, so I replanted where necessary. That’s okay, because we still have leftovers from the 3,000 Morning Glory Seeds from The Dirty Gardener we purchased a few months ago.

Morning Glory in the kitchen window.

Part of this was my fault. In the beginning, I had multiple milk jugs over top many of the plants that protected them from rabbit attacks. Yet when I saw some plants with yellowing leaves, I pulled all the covers off so no more would get damaged. The younger plants that I planted later than the rest probably would have been fine, or at least, not eaten by the critters!

Morning Glory eaten by bunny.

I don’t expect the morning glories just planted to bloom much and most likely won’t readily reseed, but I do hope the foliage will fill in the gaps of the fence. Our main purpose was to add a barrier between our edible backyard the neighbor who loves to sprays chemicals and keep a pristine green yard. The two don’t exactly mix, thus the reason for our morning glory buffer.

Morning Glory fence, growing end.

Some see morning glories as a weed, some see them as an important garden flower. Which side of the fence are you on?

Challenge Day 3: Forget-Me-Not Flowers

Today I decided to plant something a little less useful but a lot more beautiful: Forget-Me-Not. We had actually purchased these seeds to plant outside, but sadly they never sprouted. I decided to give them one more chance by starting them inside.

I have never grown Forget-Me-Not before, so my own inexperience may have been the cause of the failure outside. It happens, especially when you have little training in gardening and are fumbling around on your own. Sometimes it does take a little more than just dirt, water, and sun.

The seeds we purchased came from Amazon, Forget-Me-Not Seeds by Seed Needs. They have decent reviews on all their products, so I didn’t think the Forget-Me-Not seeds that we purchased would have any problems. I still believe they will sprout fine inside and that our lack of sprouts outside is more my own fault. But we’ll see.

Since these are perennials, I decided to plant them both in more permanent pots than most of my indoor experiments. My hope is that they will not only grow, but reseed in the pot I plant them in. I picked two spots with two different containers.

Forget-Me-Not seeds and a small pot.

The first place we planted them was in our work-in-progress fairy garden. On a whim we made this from an old shoe box and other recycled items. So far we’ve only added two plants and made an attempt at growing moss. The plants are thriving (a miniature jalapeno plant kept in a small pot for nearly a year and a propagated mint sprout), but the moss is struggling. I had hoped that the moss would fill in the rest of the gaps, but since that isn’t happening, we’ll add some Forget-Me-Not seeds to one side and see what happens.

Fairy garden with freshly planted Forget-Me-Not seeds.

The other place I decided to plant them is in a small clay pot that will stay upstairs under the grow lights. We’ve had success growing lots of different herbs and vegetables in this spot, so a flower should be no different. Once growing, I may move the little guy downstairs to the kitchen window so everyone can enjoy the blooms.

I really do hope these will grow indoors and that it was just my own inexperience that prevented them from growing outside.