Comments on: Baby Plant Pitfalls

By: christineramsey

christineramsey — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 03:17:03 +0000

So interesting that you can grow Cleome and Nicotiana. Both thrive in our hot, humid summers. Nicotiana is related to the smoking tobacco that once made many NC farmers very rich. It likes everything about this climate.

We grow sweet peas as winter annuals. I often plant seeds in fall and pull them out after blooming in May. Larkspur and annual poppies need to be replaced about that time also. And foxgloves which are so lovely and wild there must be pulled out too in NC. Glad they seed around my woods.

I have foxgove envy.

The lights are a good investment. You can rig up a work light on chains with s hooks if you have the space. I did that for years before I traded up to table lights.

And I would love to trade plants, but they have laws against it. We will have to trade photos instead.

Thanks for the great comment. So cool to hear what you are doing in London. I really enjoy your blog– Christine

By: christineramsey

christineramsey — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 03:02:09 +0000

I would fertilize every time with a very WEAK mixture of the plant food you got from Gardener’s Supply. They are a great company and sell great products. Try giving them 2 or 3 more hours of light from timer. And can you move them upstairs? Mine are in a warm south facing room, beautifully remodled by your husband, by the way.
All that said, shorter plants have their advantages. Too tall and leggy is bad news…I’d rather have short and stocky.

By: Gerri

Gerri — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 20:51:53 +0000

I’m with Melissa … the greenest thing growing here now is me! My seedlings look fine but not nearly as nice as yours! Germination soil mix – check, lights (1 cool, 1 regular bulb)/ ~ 14 hours – check, fan – check, heating pad (mine are in the basement) – check, fertilizer – check. However, I’m using a seedling fertilizer that I got from Gardener’s Supply (6-12-6) and only once a week. Water it down and do it daily or get some like yours (By the way, where did you buy it?)… what do ya’ think?

Plant list: zinnias, basil, cilantro, parsley, dill … going to turn over one of my raised beds to annual herbs.

By: outofmyshed

outofmyshed — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 19:02:12 +0000

Hi Christine, I’ve also got tomato seedlings growing (medium sized ones and some tasty mini-plums too) and also flowers: sweet peas, Cleomes and Nicotiana sylvestris as nice tall summer bedding for clients, to fill in any gaps in their garden borders (and mine too!). I’ve been given a couple of cuttings of non-hardy plants which I’m nurturing at the same time: a Plectranthus and a Eupatorium sordidum.
Never grown these last 2 before, so eager to see how they develop from cuttings this year.
Not an owner of a greenhouse or grow lights (yet!), so my seeedlings hang out by the back door windows-can get a bit leggy at times, but it’s the best I’ve got for now.
Would love to swap, if only we lived a tad nearer….Naomi