no pix.. its hard to believe the story.. lol...

pics of what - packets of seed, yet to arrive? Honestly Ken...Mr Controversial

I got hit with a 50% off email this week from a preferred seed vendor and, of course, had to start planning for next year. Order already placed.

Very impressive. I bet there are still people... somewhat innocent people who just got caught up in a bunch of other stuff... who haven't planted the seeds they got last winter, and you're already setting up the next round!

Urospermum dalechampii, just googled it, what a beauty, almost looks like cream colored calendula.

I have an inbox filled with seed sale emails. I've been trying to avoid them but don't quite want to delete them lol. Part of me thinking, I've already spent too much money this spring. The other part thinking, well, you KNOW you are going to buy more seeds in the fall - why not get them on sale now?

My enthusiasm for new seeds is also somewhat dampened by the fact that I spent the last week wandering aimlessly around my yard looking for spots to plant out my thousands of wintersown seedlings. I just MUST learn not to sow so much. Do I really need 90 tomato seedlings? 40 seedlings each of 12 different varieties of cosmos? 50 each of ten different zinnias? But when I'm actually sowing I'm terrified of not having enough seeds germinate, so hence all the seeds sown, and then I usually get at least 80% germination. Must have more faith....

:)

Dee

Well, Dee, the obvious answer is to throw away the unwanted seedlings...if you can do it. There's something about trashing a seedling that hurts right down into the heart of the soul. I'd rather plant it, neglect it, and have it die by Mother Nature's hand. I guess that means i'd rather commit manslaughter than murder in the plant world.

I am resisting the lure of the seeds for now (at least), though I am anticipating some natives for fall/winter stratification.

I did go buy a number of very tiny natives (seedlings) Friday though....too tiny to plant, gonna be holding all of them over till fall.

Where are the seed sales, I should get a few...

I Knew about uruspermum because I recall Christopher Lloyd writing about it. What mostly stuck in my mind was the obvious similarity to dandelions...which, however useful, are no-one's favourite plant and can be a nuisance, so the idea of adding one to my garden never gained much traction...until seeing one in reality, grown well, in circumstances which are very easy for me to replicate (it was in the mediterranean garden, in lean, calcareous soil). Same with fibigia...which I knew was a short blooming brassica (and I have loads of those). So, my memory being unreliable, it is usually best to take action at once, striking while the iron is hot, as it were. And Plantworld seeds stock both of them, so even better.

I still oversow seeds, Dee, but have gotten a lot better at accepting the limitations on space...and I have never had any problems consigning seedlings to the compost pile...it all cycles round as biomass so I feel all that has been wasted is my time. Plus, fails and attrition can be brutal - I sowed around 20 or so callirhoe but am now down to 4 or 5 viable plantlets...and they are still only 2 inches tall.

PM, Renee’s is 50% off. That’s the only one I know. of.

Rosaprimula, I order Pride of Gibraltar Cerinthe for the first time. It’s apparently supposed to be more popular on your shore. It seems to be very beautiful. Do you have any experience/thoughts?

Lol deanna I practically gasped out loud at your comment!! "Obvious"? "Throw away"??? Haha no way, I just can't do it. I do what you do. Find a spot, any spot (and by the end those spots are usually pretty bad lol) and hope for the best. Rosaprimula you have more gumption than I do lol!

Just for kicks I just took a quick look at my wintersowing spreadsheet for this year. A quick count shows I sowed 522 zinnia seeds (12 varieties) and 724 cosmos seeds (15 varieties). That is just way too much. Even some of the "singles" (one variety of one plant) I sowed, like calendula, dianthus or didiscus, I did 36, 50, and 75, respectively. Why didn't I just do a dozen of each? That would likely have left me with at least 8 of each plant. Yikes.

PM2 I just glanced at my inbox and the sales were at Park Seed, Harris Seed, Ferry Morse, and Pinetree Seeds. I seem to remember emails from Johnny's and John Scheepers (Kitchen Garden Seeds) but not sure if those were sale emails or newsletters. And except for Ferry Morse, I'm honestly not sure the sales are still happening but could be worth a look.

:)

Dee

Good grief Dee!. I probably threw a few hundred zinnia around because I had a huge bag of seeds and I always sow zinnia direct but I know I pricked out about 40 different cosmos and put half of them into a bed and gave the other half to my eldest. I have done for many more plants than I have eventually planted...probably by a factor of at least 10 so yeah, I regard extra seedlings the same as weeds. I used to be more kindly.

Cerinthe is a lovely and unusual annual, Deanna, which will persist, year on year. The seeds are huge and will easily overwinter to grow again the following year, with no effort on your part. There is a red and yellow honeywort which is not nearly as nice as the lovely purple (and the pale, glaucous leaves are always a plus). I probably did my initial sowing during the first year of my allotment and have done nothing in the last 20 years or so...but a patch of cerinthe returns every year. Because the seeds are large, it does not seem to stray around the plot but stays close to the mother plants. The seedlings are up early and very recognisable, so easily avoided by an enthusiastic hoe. Enjoy.

Well, rosaprimula, you just got me really really excited! Sounds perfect, as long as slugs don’t prefer it. Thanks for the feedback!

I never do anything about slugs and snails at the allotment and the cerinthe is always reliable and quite fast growing...so even if molluscs go on the attack (I never notice) the plants easily outgrow predation. Hope you enjoy this really attractive plant.