Category Archives: Seeds

January 29, 2023 · 6:52 pm

CABBAGE UPDATE

This is the third winter

Of my seed starting education.

I guess if it’s a college course

I’m a Junior!

And honestly, I feel like I’m making progress.

As of today I have 128 cabbage “teenagers”

Since last week they were potted into

A bit bigger pot and seem to love it.

When I began the process

Of popping them out of their toasty cell homes

They were actually root bound.

That has never been the case for me.

I think the credit goes to having the grow lights much closer.

It’s really the only big change this year.

But there are a few tricks I’ve picked up

Over the past few years

That are improving the end result.

For years I had a problem with “damping off”.

It’s a fungus that kills a happy baby plant.

They just lay over and die.

Very disappointing.

While listening to one of the endless gardening

Podcasts or YouTube videos

Someone made the comment that Chamomile tea

Is a natural fungicide.

So now my seedling babies and I enjoy tea together

On a regular basis.

I simply put a tea bag in my wonderful mister

And one in the watering can.

I don’t want to jinx it but so far not a casualty this season.

Another great help are timers.

Since seedlings like about 16 hours of light a day

These are great for turning that off and on.

I also plug a fan into a separate timer

To go off and on every 30 minutes

About 10 hours a day.

The fan also helps with fungal growth

It’s big job is to act as a gentle breeze

Strengthening the stems of the plants.

Everything is watered from the bottom

Once it has sprouted.

I set the pots in everything from old cookie sheets,

To rejected boot bin trays

To saved carry out containers.

Yellow sticky traps come in handy

For all those gnats that will eventually come.

I’m sure there are more tricks to learn.

For me that is the joy of all of this

Picking up tips and tricks

And the continual learning.

You have to be willing to fail a little along the way

But then there is the joy of getting to try again…and again.

Gail

3 Comments

Filed under Cabbage, Seedlings, Winter Gardening, Cool Season Crops, Seeds, Uncategorized

Tagged as Cabbage, Seedlings

January 8, 2023 · 7:21 pm

AND SO IT BEGINS

While our gardens are taking their

Long winter’s nap

Most gardeners are dreaming of spring.

The volume of seed catalogs we receive

Only makes us yearn all the more

For those first few days

When we know winter is fading.

Over the last few years

I’ve been filling this void

With indoor seed starting.

Each year I get a bit better at it

But I still have much to learn.

This year I’m improving the light

Available for seed germination and growing.

Thanks to a generous gift of LED lighting

From my friend Jenny

And a Christmas gift of a seed starting station

From John

I have a new found hope

Of even better results.

The first thing up is always cabbage.

Here in zone 7a cabbage plants need to be out

Between February 15 and March 10.

So last week their tiny seeds

Hit the dirt – so to speak!

It felt good to have my hands in soil again

Even if it came from a bag.

I’ll start Italian Parsley and Basil this week for Faith Farm

And a winter lettuce crop for myself

Since the pre-Christmas -20 wind chill

Took out all that was planted in the ground.

I think of gardening as one grand experiment.

Often pushing the limits

Or defying the “rules”.

I’ve accidentally done that this year

With the fact that the last of the spring flowering bulbs

Are just now going into the ground

Taking full advantage

That is the grace of God’s great earth.

Gail

1 Comment

Filed under Basil, Cabbage, Community Garden, Gardening, Herbs, Lettuce, Oklahoma Gardening, Seed Catalogs, Seeds, Uncategorized, Vegetables, Winter Garden

July 24, 2022 · 3:26 pm

FLUID CRYSTALLIZATION

There is a section of my garden

Where I don’t have many perennials.

I have given it over to self seeding annuals.

Poppies and Larkspur in the spring

Are followed by Cosmos, Cleome, Cockscomb and Zinnias.

This does however result in a few empty spaces.

For years – decades really – I have planted Zinnias in those places.

This happens later in the season.

Usually mid – June through Mid – July.

So when the first round of volunteer Zinnias

Get mildew

And they will.

I have a second fresh crop for fall.

This accidental plan

Has worked great for years and years.

Then comes this summer.

The first round of Zinnia seeds

Planted in mid – June

Have sprouted and started to bloom.

But the second and third rounds

Simply won’t sprout.

I’ve tried different varieties

From different companies

At different times

And zilch!

Then I read this week

That because of this relentless heat

The soil is too hot to germinate seeds.

Seriously…how can that be.

Think about that for a moment.

It’s a really scarey thought

Since growing food

Requires lots and lots of seed germination.

So, once again, we must adjust our knowledge

Of what works

And what no longer will.

Which brought to mind a book I’m reading.

“From Strength to Strength” by Arthur C Brooks.

In it he talks about the “fluid intelligence” of our 30’s and 40’s

And the “crystallized intelligence” of my stage of life

And ways of sharing our “crystallization” (my word) that will lead to happiness.

So my “crystallized intelligence” of decades in the garden

Needs to become a bit more fluid

To adapt to nature and the changes we are forcing on it.

But that is really how nature works.

Witness the life of poet Mary Oliver

Who walked the woods and shorelines of her home

Writing books and books of poems.

Leaving behind a depth of “crystallized intelligence”

For the world.

Maybe it’s the generations of Presbyterians in me

But I’m thankful I don’t have all the answers.

About gardening

And about life.

There is still space to grow.

Gail

If we don’t change we don’t grow. If we don’t grow we aren’t really living.

Gail Sheehy

2 Comments

Filed under cleome, cockscomb, Cosmos, Garden Planning, Gardening, Larkspur, Nature, Perennials, Poppy, Seeds, self seeding annuals, Timing, Uncategorized, Zinnia

October 17, 2021 · 9:54 pm

THE POWER OF A SEED

My mother loved to garden.

Her only problem was

That for much of her life

She lived in two different towns

At the same time.

Sometimes even two different states!

That made tending a garden

A bit of a challenge for her.

When Daddy finally retired

They added a greenhouse

To the house on the farm.

She would putter there for days.

I watched her tenderly

Prick out baby lettuce plants

And give them their own home.

Knowing that since they lived in the country

Chances were pretty good

That a mouse

Would likely enjoy more lettuce

Than she would.

But she kept at it

Year after year.

She died suddenly one summer

While we were all on vacation together

Leaving everything in her life

And her greenhouse

As something of a still life.

One glorious fall day

I walked into

Her untended playpen

To find it full of vines

Covering floor to ceiling

And loaded with dozens of

Baby Boo Pumpkins.

She had been gone

For over a year.

Yet the power of a seed

Brought her right back

To me and my memories

Of her in this place.

Perhaps that’s why

I have an endlessly

Growing collection

Of seeds.

They connect me to the past

And show me

The hope of the future.

Gail

“A seed neither fears light nor darkness, but uses both to grow.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo

2 Comments

Filed under Fall, Farmers, Gardening, Gardening Mentors, Generations, Oklahoma Gardening, Pumpkins, Seeds, Uncategorized, Wise Women

August 15, 2021 · 4:32 pm

OPTIMISM

You may have noticed

That I haven’t written much

Over the last 18 + months.

I could blame it on the pandemic

But that is really not the case.

On a glorious Sunday

In early February of 2020

I took a nasty fall

From my attic.

Thankfully I bounced off a refrigerator

And a car

Slowing my fall

To the garage floor.

Breaking

Well…a lot.

Don’t worry

With lots of good medical care

And support

I have recovered.

I will admit though, that I have not been

The cheeriest person of late.

Not the full blown depression

I have experienced

And written about

In the past,

But a kind of dullness

That is not me.

This afternoon

As I was planting what will

Hopefully be

A fall crop of peas

There it was

My old friend optimism.

I must be really optimistic

To be planting peas

In Oklahoma

In August.

Then I remembered this picture

That Kristina sent me yesterday.

Last summer

I taught my grandson, Henry

How to save marigold seeds.

He’s a quick study.

What better picture

Of optimism

Than a child

Holding a glass full of seeds.

Gail

“Sometimes when you’re in a dark place you think you’ve been buried,

but you’ve actually been planted.”

Christine Caine

4 Comments

Filed under Children in the Garden, Generations, Grandchildren, Grandchldren Generations, late summer garden, Marigolds, Optimism, Peas, Seeds, Uncategorized

Tagged as Optimism

June 6, 2021 · 7:44 pm

POPPY PLANS

Years ago,

When I designed

And maintained gardens

For other people,

I had a friend with a sandy spot.

We planted purple larkspur

And red poppies.

I have repeated that combination

In my current garden.

They are the star of my late May

And early June garden.

When they finish blooming

Seeds fall.

This pattern has repeated itself

Each year in this garden.

But…

One day I was walking the neighborhood

And saw a PURPLE poppy.

The generous neighbor gave me seeds

Then I ordered a few more packets of

Lauren’s Grape poppy.

This year

For the first time

I have PURPLE poppies.

They are divine.

Now I’m trying my best

To keep the red ones in the “red bed”

And creating an area just for the purple ones.

I know…I know

It’s an attempt to manipulate nature.

Not a smart idea.

After all birds and winds and who knows what else

Move these tiny seeds around the garden.

The organizer in me just has to give this a try.

I’m marking the color of wayward plants

With pink tape

Hoping to get them back into their assigned seat.

If Mother Nature will indulge me

This one tiny bit of control.

I promise after this

I’ll surrender!

Gail

2 Comments

Filed under Garden Photography, Garden Planning, Gardening, Gardening Friends, Larkspur, Nature, Oklahoma Gardening, Poppy, Seeds, self seeding annuals, Uncategorized

Tagged as Gardening, Larkspur, Poppy

September 22, 2019 · 7:46 pm

Love Zinnias…Mildew and All

One of the main goals

Of my garden

Is to have cutting flowers

All season long.

IMG_2685(Edited)

And because the foundation

Of my garden

Is perennials

I rely on self seeding annuals

To fill in the gaps between

Perennial bloom cycles.

It starts in the spring

With Poppies and Larkspur

Then comes the heroes of summer

Cleome and Zinnias.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Poppies, Larkspur and Cleome

All manage to return on their own.

They just show up and bloom their hearts out.

Zinnias return on their own

But to a lesser degree.

So I have to plant Zinnia seeds each year.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The good thing about that

Is that I can time them…a bit.

I want zinnias blooming in the fall

Just as the Monarchs migrate to Mexico.

Photo Credit “Devra” Mitchell

So I don’t plant the seeds

Until June.

I pull up the Poppies and Larkspur

After they go to seed

And plant Zinnias in their place.

DSCN0274

In my neck of the woods

I have until July 4th

To accomplish this.

Zinnias do have one bad characteristic.

They are prone to mildew.

Which is another reason

Not to plant them too early.

Spring rains will do a number on them for sure.

Since summer is the dry season around here

It’s perfect for growing zinnias.

We’ve had 7 1/2 ” of rain

In the last 3 weeks!

Mildew has arrived.

The plants are really ugly

But the flowers are the same

Sunny happy faces that I love.

They are perfect cutting flowers

Playing nice with all kinds of other blooms.

It’s another life lesson of nature.

A crusty outside

Often accompanies

A loving heart.

Gail

2 Comments

Filed under Bouquets, cleome, Fall, Garden Planning, Gardening, Gardening;Perennials, Larkspur, late summer garden, Poppy, Seed Catalogs, Seeds, self seeding annuals, Uncategorized, Zinnia

February 2, 2019 · 8:24 pm

WHERE DO GARDENERS GO IN WINTER?

Usually by the time of the first killing freeze

I’m ready to hang up my pruners.

I’m fortunate to live in a place

With a long growing season.

But I do appreciate the break winter brings to me.

First freeze is normally followed by

A flurry of holiday activity.

So by the time we ring in the New Year

I’m ready to settle in with a good book

And the multitude skeins of yarn I plan to whip

Into something fun for H & H.

Along about now I begin to get itchy.

I’ll step into the garden on a sunny afternoon.

Looking for the first bud on the Hellebores.

DSCN0574

Or I’ll take a slow walk around the garden looking for

Daffodil and Tulip noses peeking out through the frozen earth.

Last weekend I found both.

I instructed them to retreat

Knowing the “polar vortex” was coming.

Fortunately, I’m far enough south that they will survive.

So far during this colder than usual winter

I’ve been able to dump bagged leaves into a compost area.

Organize my endless supply of deadheads and saved seeds.

And, of course, order more.

Seeds that is.

I’m planning to try some new annuals to add to my standards.

China Aster is the one I’m most excited about.

We’ll see if those big fluffy blooms are in my future.

So where do gardeners go in the winter?

Mostly inside their heads

With the help of endless seed catalogs.

And flower farmers Instagram feeds.

It’s a busy season.

Happy garden dreams,

Gail

1 Comment

Filed under Daffodils, Hellebores, Seed Catalogs, Seeds, Uncategorized, Winter Garden

July 24, 2017 · 5:44 pm

THE GARDENERS

One of the thing that intrigued me

About Monet’s garden

Was how you keep it looking so good

For 500,000 visitors a season.

A challenge to say the least.

So I was curious about the gardeners.

Normally in this situation I would simply

Sic Debra on them.

After all she is a most curious person

And has a way of interrogation that is

Gentle and charming.

But we had a couple of problems,

One, the gardeners were at work.

And we were there during their busy hours.

So we were asked not to bother them.

Then there was the fact

That they spoke French

And I don’t.

But you can learn a lot

By observing from afar.

One question was about poppies.

They pulled them up

By the root

Just as the last bloom wilted

Before the seeds had matured.

FullSizeRender (15)

Yet they look like

They have self-seeded.

So the unanswered questions was

How?

Do they dry the green pods

And save the seeds

To sprinkle in the snow?

My suspicion is that they return

To the garden

Via compost.

I never got the answer.

But sometimes mystery

And unanswered questions

Are just as much fun!

So since I wasn’t sure

Of the fate of these green pods

Packed with seeds of a color of poppy

I had never seen before.

A few seemed to find their way

Into my pocket.

Couldn’t wait to get them home

And dried

And sprinkled

Into my own garden.

But….the last night

Someone commented about how fast customs moves

With the use of drug dogs.

And since these are the very variety

Of poppies that the USDA has banned in quantity.

We decided to leave them behind.

Kristina really wanted to see her children again.

_DSC9067

And not get caught up

In a gardening tour

Drug bust!

You would think that pulling all these poppies.

Would leave giant gaps in the color.

But as soon as one plant was pulled

Someone else came along

With a plant just as tall in hand

And planted them in the empty space.

While we were there

They replaced the poppies

With Cosmos.

Three foot tall cosmos.

Which took me to

Wander through shall we say

The “guts” of the place.

The greenhouses.

And cold frames

Where they are grown.

They were filled with plants

Ready for the big show.

I found the yellow wheelbarrows

I had noticed throughout the garden

Brimming with plants

Headed to the compost pile.

They were stacked against the fence

Just like mine at home.

For me

Seeing the process

Was just as interesting

As the finished product.

I think it was there

That I found

My gardening Monet muse.

Gail

“It’s on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly.”

Claude Monet

2 Comments

Filed under Compost, Cosmos, Garden Photography, Gardening, Gardening Mentors, Monet's Garden, Garden Travel, Trip of a Lifetime, Elizabeth Murray, Nature, Poppy, Seeds, self seeding annuals, Uncategorized

October 16, 2016 · 2:12 am

BACK IN THE GARDEN

I’ve been gone the last two weekends

Which meant

No time in the garden.

It takes a lot to get me out of the garden

Two fall weekends in a row.

But a visit with Harper & Henry

And the out-of-state wedding

Of a dear friend’s son.

Collided

Leaving me out of the garden.

While we were gone

We got a big rain

Six inches of rain

To be exact.

So the ground is just right

For fall rituals.

Moving things

Pulling up spent Cockscomb

And just generally puttering around.

This is the time of year

Where the present

And the future meet.

In the garden.

Spring flowering bulbs

Have started to arrive.

Though the soil isn’t quite cool enough

To bury them yet.

My potting bench is covered with

Little containers of seeds.

Glimpses of things to come.

And the Dahlias hit their stride.

But the action isn’t all outside

Normally this time of the year I’m making pesto.

But our hot summer

Combined with my negligence in keeping the basil from bolting

Landed me with tons of bitter basil.

So there’s no pesto this year.

Instead I’m planning to freeze

Cubes of herb butter

For winter cooking.

And the kitchen windowsill is filled with

Tomatoes in different stages of ripening.

It’s a defensive move

Against whatever four-legged devil

Is dining on my almost ripe tomatoes

Every night.

They get them just before they ripen on the vine.

So I’ve figured out just how long I can leave them

Then pick them before they are stolen.

Now I don’t mind sharing a few

But they are taking more than their fair share.

October

You just can’t beat it

For perfect days in the garden

For relishing in a season well spent

And planning for the future

Gail

2 Comments

Filed under Bees, cockscomb, Dahlias, Fall, Herbs, Seeds, Tomato, Uncategorized, Zinnia

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