Starting Flowers from Seed

Earlier this week, I started a bunch of flowers in flats in the greenhouse.   Most of them are flowers that are beneficial to a vegetable garden: sunflowers, marigolds, nasturtiums.  And I also started some cosmos, just because I think they are pretty.  Unfortunately, I neglected to get more cosmos seeds, and had very few left.  I can't be bothered to buy more now, so I'll have to make do with what I have.

I started 3 different types of marigolds.  If you don't grow marigolds from seed yourself, you might be surprised by what the seeds look like.  Not very seed-like ... they kind of look like toothpicks.

My hand looks really weird?

But they grow fast ... here they are after 6 days.

And for contrast, here are nasturtium seeds.  Because they are so large, it takes extra time to break down the "shell", so there are no signs of them yet.  But it shouldn't be much longer.  Nasturtiums grow quite quickly.

I also started some "Kong" sunflowers.  I've grown them in previous years and they never quite get to the 14 foot description - more like 9-10 feet so still pretty cool.  As usual, I started them too soon.  They grow quickly (again, this is 6 days):

I'll usually buy some pansies or petunias - I've never tried them from seed before but they are pretty cheap to buy locally.  In the meantime, I've got a few perennial flowers popping up around the yard (grape hyacinth, two pics of daffodils, crocus).

Happy Summer Solstice ... umm, yesterday

Summer has arrived!  And so has the longest day of the year (already come and passed actually - I was supposed to post this yesterday but got home too late).  It is a great time to celebrate and enjoy the bounties of the season ... which some friends and I did last night!  I have lots of my own home grown veggies and fruits (check in on Mondays for what I have harvested lately as part of Daphne's Dandelions Harvest Monday blog postings) but here I wanted to show some of the flowers that I found yesterday morning during my garden watering session ...

I'll start off with this: my first squash blossom of the season.  What a difference from last year when I already had a fully productive plant with an actual zucchini to harvest (and made Jamie Oliver's Beautiful Zucchini Carbonara with it), so I guess I got a late start this year.

The wild flowers I have growing here are mostly very common but that doesn't take away from how pretty they are:

And just a few of my own, starting with the sage flowers - I have been growing sage for many years and have never had flowers, but my sage is currently covered with them.  It doesn't seem to make the sage tough the way chive or basil flowers do to those plants so I guess I'll just leave them (unless someone tells me otherwise???).

And borage flowers:

And some of my own potted flowers:

And some of the first nasturtiums of the year ... these are interplanted among the vegetables along with marigolds to attract pollinators.

 

Sunflowers have a way to go before blooming as do the African Marigolds and Cosmos so I'll share pics of those another time.

Flower Seedling Update

I have never been much into growing flowers until the last year or two when I have realized the importance in planting certain types (nasturtiums, marigolds, sunflowers) among vegetables.  Some flowers can deter pests or attract them away from vegetable plants to keep the veggies healthy and pest-free.  I'm still learning about how all this works, but in the meantime, here is an update on the flowers I have on the go right now ...



Marigolds planted April 6th so three weeks long - in a flat alongside cosmos and still under fluorescent lighting.

Nasturtiums planted April 6th - also three weeks old.  About 9-10 inches tall and kept in natural light in the solarium.  Seeded in a flat alongside Kong Sunflower.









 

And here are the Kong Sunflower seeded with the nasties - about a foot tall already.  I may need to transplant as it is far too early to get them into the ground??












I have also newly planted in the past few days another batch of Kong sunflowers (I'm very excited about these super tall ones), some African Tall Marigold (equally excited) and more nasturtiums.

And I have a few that are just for looks including cosmos, delphinium, asters and hollyhock.

Cosmos: planted in same tray as marigolds above so 3 weeks along and still under fluorescent lighting.















Asters - whew, these are tough to germinate but I have more than a handful underway - these are a month old.












 

I tried to grow hollyhock's straight from seed into the ground last year with no luck.  But I've had no problems germinating these for the past month.







 

And I wish I had known delphinium took up to 30 days to germinate or I might have started them sooner.  As it is, they are the only and last batch on the heat mat (I also have a small batch of lettuce - no idea why I tried that) and I would love to shut that down soon.  These are mostly germinated now and today is day 16 but they are pretty tiny still.

And although Borage is classified as a herb, I'm mainly growing it as a flower to attract bees to the garden. 









I think if you see this through facebook, the profile shot is this borage plant (I don't check that facebook page much) from a few years back ...

Flowers!

I've never been much of a flower gardener ... in my early gardening life, my tiny apartment balconies were dedicated to what little food could be grown (tomatoes, basil, sweet peppers).  When I first had a large yard with a lot of space, I was so new to gardening, I couldn't help but continue the focus on edibles.  There were a couple of recent years when I could have expanded my novice skills in flower gardening, but then someone else was there to do it for me.  So this first year at my new property, with so many other new things to deal with, I will dedicate equal time to the challenge of growing flowers!!  And it's not even all about growing.  It's also about maintaining, and let's be honest, even identifying, what flowers are already planted here.

WHAT ARE THESE?

From what I can tell, the flowers are generally limited to three small bordered garden areas at the front of the house.  I have performed (very) limited maintenance at this point, simply because I'm not sure what plants should be cut back or left as is.
 

 

Actually, other than the 3 main bordered gardens, there are some flowers scattered elsehwere, including these daffodils, and these "I-have-no-ideas":

WHAT AM I GOING TO BE?

In the meantime, I have plans for many more flowers. There are SO many options:  perennials vs. annuals, tall vs. short, hanging pots, containers, ground cover ... and the colours!  Variations are endless.  Although I haven't finalized all of my ideas, here are a few things on the go (plans and comments are mainly based on internet searches and information on the flower packs: please tell me if I'm out of my mind).

Already on the way:

• Nasturtiums (annual): Edible flowers (high in vitamin C)!  They can grow tall, but I purchased a "dwarf" variety, so should only get to a foot or so.  They can be grown in the ground or in hanging planters and also deter some veggie pests, so I'll mix it up between planters and around plants;
• Marigolds (annual): Awesome for deterring pests around many vegetable plants, so I'll be using these as a standard border plant;
• Cosmos (annual):Cosmos grow to 3-4 feet; these might work well near west wall of the garage, which is too wet in early spring for any perennials;
• Mammoth Russian sunflowers: they get HUGE!  I'm going to grow them near a patch of pumpkins/squash, as they seem to be good companion plants;
• Asters - again, container most likely;

Clockwise: Marigolds, Nasties, Mammoth Russian Sunflower, Cosmos

Asters

 So those have been seeded so far!

I had also ordered a ridiculous amount of other seeds (annual, unless otherwise noted), most of which I have not yet planted:

• Ballerina Mix Poppies - probably destined for a container;
• Sunflower mix - shorter variety, container or border plant;
• Geraniums - I started these from seed in early winter; they are now 4 inches high; container for sure, would be great if I could overwinter them, but not sure if all varieties work that way;
• Hollyhock (perennial): I plan to put these along the back (west) wall of the house;
• Lupins (perennial): I'm just going to dig a new plot somewhere in the middle of the backyard;

And very recent purchases at the local store when I decided to go crazy with more container plants:

• Snapdragon (mini mix - technically a perennial, but not in northern climates);
• Zinnia Pumila Mixture (great for cut flowers, container style);
• Morning Glory (vining plant, I need to find something for it grow against!);
• Sweet Pea (same as Morning Glory, need something to help it grow upwards);
• Phlox (another dwarf mix for containers);
• Nemophilla (sounds dirty, doesn't it?  These "penny black" variety are black with a white edge; again, containers).

So lots of planting left to do and I'll see how my gardening ability extends to flowers this year.  I'll happily (well, maybe unhappily) point out any failures in the hopes of learning from the experience.

SO MUCH TO LEARN!