Germinating Seed Starts. 1.27.22

 So far, so good.  Most of the seeds are germinating.

All of the eggplant varieties have germinated.  So have the basil, yellow hybrid onion, Red Wethersfield historic (non hybrid) onion (seeds two years old), Chinese leek (Chinese Chive, Garlic Chive), Cheyenne Spirit Echinacea (not stratified), and most of the peppers.   The Tigridia have not germinated, but at a close look, one seed might be starting.  The Thai peppers were slow but a few are starting to emerge.  So far, the only peppers with zero growth so far, are Arapaho and all of the Yellow Banana Peppers, from any packet / source.

I thought that none if the Thai peppers were going to germinate, so I used some dried pepper pods still on the plants that I'm trying to overwinter, and collected some seeds to start.

I also collected some seeds from dried Pasilla-ancho peppers, from the grocery store.

Those don't look promising, but I planted them today, anyway.

That got me thinking, I might like to try growing some other varieties, including Anchos, somI ordered some more seeds :-)

More Seeds To Start Now, And First Ones To Emerge. 1.12.23

 I know it's early, but I started most of  these early before and they grew and produced nicely.

The first Cheyenne Spirit Echinacea emerged, without stratification.

No idea what to expect with the tigridia seeds, or if they last a few years.  Those were saved from corm-grown plants in 2020.  Chives may only last a year, also onions.  I don't know about the basil either.

The first onion has emerged, a yellow hybrid.

Still  long way to go.  It gives me something to obsess over.

The temperature on the heating mats is about 5F lower on the soil surface than at the bottom of the cells.

Starting Onion And Garlic Chive Seeds. 1.8.22

 I always start onion seeds early.  They can be planted out earlier than most seedlings, clearing the way for more tender plants.

Last year's onions didn't do well, so this year I'm trying hybrids.  I really think it was  my growth conditions and not the varieties, but I want to try the new varieties for their hybrid vigor.

I also bought seeds for Chinese Chives (Chinese Leeks) to see if they do better than my 22 year old plants.

The hybrids are long-day (fir this Northern latitude), Red (Red Carpet) and yellow (Frontier).  

I planted the onion seeds and Chinese Leek seeds in the green reusable silicone seed starting trays.  

I also have some heirloom red onion bulbs planted in the garden to see if I can get seeds from them this summer.  My experience is that home saved seeds sometimes do better than bought seeds.  Also  I'd like to continue to gain seed independence, by saving more varieties.

Starting Chili Pepper and Sweet Pepper Seeds. 1.8.22

 Today I sowed seeds for most of the hot peppers and some sweet peppers.

Some of the seeds are old.  I don't know how they will do.  I sowed a lot of the Thai peppers because the label showed poor germination in 2018, and they are much older now.   Of course, there are the overwintering plants too.

I have some more to plant.  This should be a good start.  I start peppers early because they take SO much time to get growing.

This time I'm using re-usable seedling starters that can be washed in the dishwasher to sterilize (after washing to remove grit etc).  In theory, these can be re-used many times over the years.  They are larger than the usual six-pack seedling starters, which I think is better.

They are on seedling warming mats now.  I need to get a new thermometer, which I ordered today.

The green seed starters are silicone trays, also reusable.  I used them at least twice in last year 's seed starting, washing in dishwasher to sterilize before re-using.  Those contain the Echinacea and onion seedlings.

Stratifying Perennial Seeds. 1.8.22

 This year I want to grow Echinacea "Cherokee Spirit".  The colors are very nice, and the plants are more compact and bushy, compared to species Echinacea.  They are expensive, so I ordered seeds.  Species Echinacea seed requires cold stratification.   The seed packet did not mention that, so I'm stratifying half and starting the other half directly.  I don't know, but maybe early starts will give first year flowers.  With species Echinacea, I don't get flowers until the second year.

I use the same method that usually works for me - place the seeds on a moistened paper towel, place that into a zipper sandwich bag, and place that in the refrigerator for two months.

I'm also starting some Goldenrod.  Same method.

As an experiment, I also sowed half of the Echinacea seeds in a six-pack, which will be on a seedling warming mat. 

Then I opened a paper bag of Rudbeckia seed heads, that I collected in the fall and stored in the pantry.

A lot of seeds had already fallen into the bag (which I missed when preparing to stratify).  I brushed seed heads with my fingers, to harvest seeds. 

Then I treated some of those, same method as the Echinacea.

We'll see hoe they do.