Newbie WinterSower First Blooms

15 years ago

This was my first year wintersowing. I had direct sown seed before in spring, but I like this method much better. I got lots of seeds from generous people who post here like trudi and bakemom, and had to try just about all of them. Here are some of my wintersown beds and blooms that are popping now.

Mid-May right after planting.
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Same bed now. Alyssum, poppies, and bachelor buttons blooming. Also planted with ten-week stock, several dianthus species, queen anne's lace, tithonia, sunflowers, verbena-on-a-stick,cosmos,and nigella.
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A couple of my poppies and buttons.
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And one of my little friends whose mom somehow found the 4" tall wintersown milkweed seedlings.
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Comments (26)

vera_eastern_wa
15 years ago
Wow! You've done a terrific job!!
I've had Milkweed planted since 2004 and still have yet to get any Monarch and they are 4' tall and about to bloom for the first time LOL! I'm so jealous :)

Really love that first Poppy...that one is just too die for!

Thanks for sharing,

Vera
northerner_on
15 years ago
Congratulations!! What wonderful results you have had. Love those Bachelor Buttons - mine are quite different and not at all striking.

Vera, I sowed Milkweed for the first time last year, and I had caterpillars and Monarchs in droves. They also provided beautiful pink blooms first year. I had a little scare last week with one clump that seemed to be wilting, but I lost two stalks and the others seem fine, ready to bloom. You will love them.
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Moonphase, you have my prayers and sympathies! You know that we would all be there in a heartbeat if we could--maybe you could do a search for other gardeners in your zip code (or nearby zip codes) and ask them for help? Surely they'd be great company, if nothing else!! "If birds of a feather flock together, then gardeners surely know how to dig in each others' dirt." In response to you question, there are a number of things that I didn't get wintersown, and I don't think that they would even qualify at this point--we're due for a week of above freezing temps, and so anything that sprouts now might be too early for my area! We get hard frosts and freezes all the way to the end of May sometimes. Those babies can be started inside, where they can keep you company, and then you can talk to your sprouts, as so many of us do! God bless, and hang in there!
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It was a confusing time for me as well. I had done the Secret Santa Swap and had also sent a few SASBEs to a few others. My son and DIL were here and since they live in Africa, it is a once a year thing. We were all going on a cruise for Christmas so I had a little too much going on. I also sent for some Hot Pepper seeds that had very specific instructions. You needed a bubble envelope, small envelopes inside that were labeled with the variaty you requested, postage, etc. I did all of that and mailed it before we left on the cruise on Dec 21st. It has still not arrived, but it also has not been returned to me. My experience with the post office this year has not been good. In the Santa swap they returned something. Then I got a call that said a package couldn't be delivered because I didn't have a mail receptacle. Then when I went to the PO to get it, they couldn't find it. They also told me there was no such house number on my street. Then they found the package and it was marked with two things, both wrong, but one said "address is a vacant house but they were home". Neither house is vacant, and "hello", if they were home why didn't you leave it. Could it be because you were at the wrong house? My mailbox is in the same place it has been for the past seven years. It is about a block from my house because they don't want to drive down my street since it is in the center of the loop they drive down. Last week I found a neighbors mail on the ground under the mailbox. I have two friends in this town with the same last name but are not related to each other. They live 2 to 3 miles apart, but get each others mail. If we pick up each others mail, or put the ones that are delivered wrong to us, in the right mailbox they ask us if we know that is illegal. I guess when I think of government waste, they are the first ones that come to mind. FedEx can find my house, UPS can find my house. Even Carnival Cruise got me to Cozumel and back befoe the PO can get a package from Oklahoma to Maine. Maybe one of them should carry the mail.
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Poolgoddess, most likely you won't get it all right the first year, so try to relax. Some plants will grow taller, or wider, or slower than you expect or the packets say. In fact I am still working on design in garden beds that are 8 years old now. Fairly well ordered and the bones are in place, but plants die, are eaten by voles, get too big, decline, sun patterns change as trees and shrubs grow, etc. so I am always moving things around and adding new things. I keep an excel sow chart every year, that includes the species/cultivar, date sown, # seeds, date sprouted, etc. In the first year I included sun preference, height, and moisture preference. I used the "wetland indicator" from the USDA plants database, which consists of a range between wetland, facultative, and upland plants (or you could wet-mesic-dry). But after I became more familiar with the plants I dropped those columns from the chart and added notes instead. I haven't ever tilled, just hand dig the gardens. But the first year I would mix in compost and maybe leaves etc. using the shovel or tiller. Once the soil has a good texture, you don't need to turn it every year. After that you can topdress with compost or scratch in some fertilizer each year. Flowers need some nutrients, but generally aren't as nutrient intensive as veggies. Organic matter will attract worms which will also fertliize the soil. But some flowers like it lean - fertilizer makes their growth floppy or too much nitrogen can encourage foliage growth over flowers!
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Audrey - Seeds that need cold strat - perennials and hardy annuals - go out in January - February. Hardy annuals, perennials that don't need cold strat go out in March; tomatoes and peppers get sown in March too. Everything else gets done from March on. This year, I'll be trying more food plants, so I'm figuring on starting beans/peas, spinach, lettuce in March; carrots and other stuff probably in April. Hope it all works. All that being said, I garden on a balcony with a "roof", right outside my windows, so I do have a bit of a micro-climate up here. But I think you can put stuff out at basically the same time I do. PV
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tiffy_z5_6_can
15 years ago
Such wonderful blooms and a baby too!! It's great to see how you've succeeded with winter sowing. Fantastic!
proudgm_03
15 years ago
Beautiful flowers! Congratulations!
bakemom_gw
15 years ago
Good job! Nice cat.
greengardener07
15 years ago
Great job! It looks really nice.

Is it too late to sow (direct sow or summer sow) milkweed?
netwiz
15 years ago
Holy cow! Your WS babies look fantastic! This leaves me with hope that mine will start taking off sometime soon. Great job!

Joanne
greengardener07
15 years ago
Joanne,

Ours can't be far behind with all the heat they are expecting around here the next couple of days. I just make sure the ones I have planted out are well watered before the sun really kicks in.
aliska12000
15 years ago
I'm impressed with all of it, but especially with that purple poppy, think I like it better than mine, but maybe it is my soil which I amended, and other things in there are growing like gangbusters.

About how tall is the bloom would you say? If mine are an inch, I'd be pushing it. I wanted great big ones only that color and single.
molanic
Original Author
15 years ago
The heat has definitely increased the growth rate here. A very cold spring with frost warnings quickly switched in early June to humid 80s. For the first few weeks after planting there was very little growth, then it just exploded with the heat. The only thing that hasn't grown at all since planting over a month ago is baptista australis.

I still haven't seen any monarchs here yet, just went out to weed one day a few weeks ago and there were 2 caterpillars on the tiny milkweeds. I'm going to try starting some more milkweeds from seed because I don't think they all need cold stratification.

The purple poppy was unexpected. The majority of the blooms have been red, but I did have a couple of purple ones and some mauve ones. The sizes vary a lot. That purple one was probably 2.5"-3", but many are only 1". The seeds were just labeled Papaver spp. My first time with poppies so I don't know much about them.

Anyone happen to know what this insect is....some kind of bee? They were all over the alyssum in particular. They are really tiny like mosquitoes and look orangish when buzzing around.
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kqcrna
15 years ago
Very pretty!

Karen
duane456
15 years ago
The first poppy looks like it might be "Lauren's Grape".
Duane
christieb199
15 years ago
Great results in your garden!

Just wondering what kind of camera do you have?
molanic
Original Author
15 years ago
That poppy mix is getting more diverse by the day. Today I went out and saw several of the lavender peony type poppies but with the same foliage. Still stuck on what those bugs are though.

My camera is a Canon PowerShot S3 IS and I love it. I had an earlier model (S1) for years that worked great too. Then the images were messed up looking and I found out there was a recall on the sensor, and they would fix it for free. Instead of repairing mine Canon sent me back a refurbished S3 that was like new which was super sweet!
vera_eastern_wa
15 years ago
Your insect is an adult Hoverfly (Allograpta obliqua) of the family Syrphidae!!
If there is a large gap between the eyes that is a female...eyes nearly touching would be male. That is an identifying characteristic for all flies (order Diptera):)

Here is a link that might be useful: Allograpta obliqua
mnwsgal
15 years ago
Great blooms. Also love that deep purple poppy. Hope it is a Lauren's Grape as I have some planted and seed for another year.

What a beautiful fly.
lblack61
15 years ago
Love that dark purple Poppy!
And I can't believe I'm saying this, but that's a pretty bug! Your camera really got a good picture of it...nice colors.

Linda
molanic
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks so much vera! I couldn't even see the markings on its back end because the wings were covering it. I'm glad I have so many of these hoverflies now, because I see that the larvae eat aphids! All these extra wintersown plants are attracting more insects that are as interesting to look at as the flowers.
tiffy_z5_6_can
15 years ago
Molanic,

Gosh, I am so happy to hear you say that about the bugs! They are very interesting.

Up until a few years ago I would squash every bug I saw. Now I look to see if I can bring more in - especially the beneficials.

Just the other night we rescued a Luna Moth caught in a bucket. What a beautiful sight! Here's a picture of one.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:396521}}
loveofmylife680
15 years ago
You have done a great job!
Jill
burry
15 years ago
Your plants are growing so well. Did you plant them in an existing bed or make that one? If you just made it, how did you do it.
Gina
bonnys
15 years ago
Awesome....it is so much fun to isn't it? Your results are wonderful and your pictures are so great too! I love the poppies and the cat.

Bonny
lblack61
15 years ago
Tiffy,
--Luna Moths! I love those!
Every once and a while, we'll get an invasion of them in the Spring/early Summer. It's weird...they'll be everywhere for about two weeks (even some inside the house).
Hasn't happened the last two years, though. Not sure what makes them choose or not choose our area to breed/hatch--
But they sure are stunning!

Linda
terrene
15 years ago
Molanic, your blooms are very pretty and it's clear that the winter-sown babies have grown very robustly! Looks like your first year winter-sowing has been very successful.

And ditto the sentiments about the insects! I now enjoy watching the pollinators, spiders, dragonflies, and other insects that are attracted to the gardens almost as much as the flowers. One benefit to attracting insects is that they will attract birds, since insects are a primary food source for birds during the growing season. I think it's a natural response to be creeped out by them, but if you can get past that they're fascinating.
molanic
Original Author
15 years ago
burry,
That bed was one made sort of "lasagna style" over turf grass just to have someplace to put wintersown stuff. I needed a bed quick and I took some shortcuts due to lack of materials. I edged the bed with a shovel then loosened the soil deeply a bit by rocking a big fork in it. I laid down newspaper, then leaves, a bag of coffee grounds from Starbucks, topped it with a couple of inches of my own old compost, and planted later that week. Then I weeded, weeded, and weeded some more. Apparently my newspaper was not thick enough and my compost was loaded with weed seeds! Lesson learned.

I'm so glad there are so many other insect watchers on here. I know a lot of gardeners are more interested in killing bugs than attracting them. I figure there are no truly bad bugs and so I try to only kill in self-defense :)
sopamanda
15 years ago
I was searching to try to find answers to my newbie questions and am super impressed. That ROCKS!!!

Newbie WinterSower First Blooms

Comments (26)

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