Erasmus, looks like Almost Heaven Roses has been closed since 2013. That's too bad. The rose grower I loved to buy from was Pickering in Canada and they closed years ago too. I thought the plant material they offered was exceptional, and I miss them. Looks like you had the same resource near you. Do you still buy new roses and do you have a new 'go to' grower? Beautiful roses, hope you enjoy them and the weather offers them a great season this year.

I'll look for Tractor Supply.and see if I can't get an experiment going w the chicken grit.

Even with the best of the best soils I have here, and some of it is pretty darn good loamy peaty stuff, I've only had success with using about a 1/4 ratio added to the ProMix. It makes the mix a bit less quick to dry out .... though, adding any much more and my containers become too heavy and have had issues with too much moisture retention.

Thanks FBudd, that is helpful. I'll try a pot with that ratio. What fertilizer do you use, if you don't mind my asking?

Thanks, Prairiemoon. Yes, Vernon died years ago. I have not been buying as many roses the last few years. I have between 350 and 400 of them and not a huge property.

I like to grow other things as well. Have gone clematis crazy and I grow a lot of plants from seed. I used to love Pickering as well. I find Palatine Roses to be a great rose company...their plants do well for me. Since I like them grafted on multiflora I also tried Hortico a few years ago. They sent the plants kind of late...sometime in April...and they were much smaller than Palatine's but they took hold and did wonderfully well. I was not planning to buy any roses at all this year. I am cultivating, or thought I was cultivating a sense of " enoughness". But once I started looking at various rose offerings I ended up ordering 18 of them this spring! Gosh. It has caused me to overhaul my garden, get rid of some declining plants or ones I don't like enough. I ordered some from DA Roses and my husband bought me four from Palatine. Have 9 coming in from Hortico some time this month.

I like Roses Unlimited a lot and Burlington Roses. Have bought some from High Country . Used to buy from Vintage and Countryside Roses in MS.

Erasmus, that is outstanding, that you grow that many roses…!! Lol I have a small property too - 1/4 of an acre, but we have a lot of mature trees around the property and limited sun, or I’d probably have a lot more iroses. I can see how easy it is to end up with a lot.

Clematis, huh? I’ll have to remember you’re the go to person to ask about Clematis. I have a few and I just don’t find them easy. I just don’t have enough vertical support for them. And we just had a new fence installed and I had to move just about all of those I had growing there on a trellis. Now I have potted growing Clematis, and no trellis to put them on yet. So that’s a big priority this spring. They are wonderful plants and I have not had any disease or insect issues with any of them.

The last 5 roses I bought came from Palatine. Good quality. I do prefer to buy bare root but I seem to miss their ordering window. And this year, they decided to surprise everyone with what date they would be opening and then everything I might have wanted, was out of stock very quickly. It wasn’t a priority for me this year to get new roses, I’m still moving around those I have. [g] But maybe next year.

LOL You ordered 18 more this spring? Well you can’t expect to look at the catalog and not get drawn in, I guess…lol. I get it.

I’m going to have to spend more time in the rose forum this season.

Thank you!

Hi Prairie Moon!

I relate to your question because I've been doing a lot more container gardening for the same reasons as you. I love our mature beds but they don't sustain nearly as many flowering plants as they used to. Plus, I love the quest for the perfect pot(s) and then trying various flowers, herbs, veggies each year.

From the responses it looks like lot of different approaches can work - which is reassuring. I'm a fan of coco coir, and it works well for me. I buy big compressed blocks of it which expand hugely when soaked in water. Then I mix it into potting mix and raised beds. I also buy potting mix with coco coir, and got a big bale of Sunshine pro mix with coco coir last year which should last me for awhile.

When potting up, I mix granular organic fertilizer (Happy Frog or similar) into the soil, then use Osmacote at planting time, then liquid fertilizer boosts starting in mid/late summer.

I empty the pots in the late fall and save the soil for re-use the following season.

In the fall it's sad to say goodbye to the containers, so I move the best ones into the greenhouse for some extended enjoyment. When winter is closing in for real, I take geraniums, roses, saliva, and whatever else out of the pots and into the ground beds in the greenhouse. For the most part they survive the winter and now they are all waking up and ready to be put into pots again.

I also really love to make arrangements of pots, like a mini garden, and growing container plants from seed. Super satisfying!

Prairiemoon, I tend to use an array of fertilizers. When plugs and seedlings are first set out, I go with diluted liquid feedings at every watering. Later, I scratch in a granular for a prolonged boost that gives me a break from mixing up a concentrate. I feed generously, though with caution not to get carried away.

As has been stated, try several different things to decide what works best for you. My containers are primarily set upon the back deck, we can get a lot of severe thunderstorms and often I'm quickly tossing some pots under the protection of the eaves or even into the entryway of the house, thus I don't want anything overly heavy backbreaking. Oh, yes, well decomposed compost is great additive as well and I should give coca coir a try!

Karin, you'd be welcome to do up some containers for me, the one you show is glorious!

I found the container gardening forum a bit high and mighty also.

Prairiemoon, I am not any kind of go-to person for clematis advice. I've only been clematis crazy for four or five years and am still in the experimental stage. I did jump in to the deep end right off the bat because I know they take time to mature and I wanted to get going. I add to my collection every year and am really happy to be growing them. I don't have the best supports....often it's a 6' bamboo tripod. This year I'm spiraling old grape vine around the tripods for a bit more support. Also use birch branches and I have some big wooden arbors that we attached some wire fencing to. Also some climb roses or strings. Some are in small obelisks. I like to grow them on in pots till they have pretty hefty roots before planting in the ground.

Karin, you'd be welcome to do up some containers for me, the one you show is glorious!

DItto @FrozeBudd_z3/4! Incredible @karin_mt. Dont misinterpret this comment but I like that beautiful green container almost as much as the contents. That is the one component of container gardening that gives me some angst ie the actual pot. I want 'nicer' pots but they are pricey...the ones I want anyways.

Thank you FrozeBudd and Rouge! That particular location and pot is almost always a winner.

I agree fully, Rouge, the pot is a big part of the whole effect. When Covid hit, I started buying the occasional "splurge" pot to give myself something nice to think about. But I didn't want to spend tons of money on annuals, so I got cracking with growing nearly all the container plants from seed. I guess the whole thing has scaled up each year and now it's one of my main highlights of the garden season. I've also started scouring craigslist for used pots and gotten a couple of nice ones for super cheap.

Sometimes in the winter I go down to the basement just to visit the pots and dream of the coming summer. But today I carried two of them upstairs and will put overwintered roses in them tomorrow. So excited!

Rosaprimula - I am going to have to look for horticultural grit. I’m unfamiliar with it and do not see it available in garden centers here. But I have a few ideas where I can look. It will be interesting to try adding some of that too.

It’s great that you grow so much from seed. I buy a lot of seed and then use a fraction of it. [g] I find it hard to find the time and energy to get that done. I have containers of old seed in my refrigerator that I was just sorting through yesterday and so disappointing how old the seed is getting. I still have some from 2007!

I’m always involved in some project that takes more of a priority.

Yes, I used to experiment more and I need to get back to it. Gardening is a LOT of work and the older I get the harder it gets, but even the work is fun…lol.

Hi Karin!! So nice to see you posting more often.

That is such a pretty pot! And the setting on top of a stone wall…one of my favorite displays for pots. Looks like ceramic? I love ceramic and I used to buy a lot of them, but they are now so expensive. And the large sizes that I want can get so heavy. They have a lot of new materials in pots that allow you to leave them out in the cold weather, but those have become as expensive as ceramic.

Yes, seems like a lot of approaches can work. I bought one of those coir ‘bricks’ last year. I still have a large bag of peat to use up before I try the coir. I like that coir is environmentally friendlier and if we could stop needing to dig up all the peat it would be great. And coir from coconut shells, right? Talk about recycling. [g]

I looked up the Happy Frog fertilizer - 6-4 -5. I’d never heard of the brand. I’m going to have to experiment a lot this year.

I emptied all my pots onto the top of a vegetable bed last Fall, so I have a good base to use up and to experiment with this year with different additions and ratios.

Later in the season, I think we should start a thread showing everyone’s pots and pot communities. That would be fun, once the plants get a chance to fill out the containers.

Karin, what have you started from seed in your pots, that you had the best success with?

Craigslist is a great idea!

More very pretty pots, and I see you have Cattle panels behind them. What do you use them for? I have a trellis in the vegetable bed that I’m going to try to repurpose this year, now that I am dismantling the raised veg beds.

FrozeBudd, I haven’t tried granular fertilizers yet, Last year was the first time in a decade that I had a lot of pots to take care of outside, and I can see fertilizing them all, mixing up a liquid would add a lot of time and effort. I’m going to have to try granular to see if that cuts back on how much time is spent on fertilizing.

I’m very conscious of how heavy the pots are too. Last year I had a large ceramic pot, that seriously, I could barely even push it into a new position. I have retired that pot and it is now the base of a bird bath…lol

Erasmus - 4-5 years of growing and experimenting with Clematis is valuable experience. Don’t sell yourself short! [g] It’s very interesting to hear from someone who is intensely gardening like you are. Lots of people here on GW I’d have to say are intensive gardeners and that is part of what makes it special here.

Smart to start growing the plants that take the longest to get established. Lots of plants in my garden that I wish I had gotten started with much sooner.

That is what I need to do next, is to get some free standing support. Your grape vine tripod sounds so pretty!

Good idea to start them out in pots to have a good root system to put in the ground.

I am going to have to look for horticultural grit.

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA, this seems to come up a couple of times each year ie sourcing horticultural grit on this side of the pond.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6395570/what-do-you-use-for-grit-for-seed-starting#n=15

I can tell you that in Canada this product is not available at a 'regular' garden centre. If you are going to find it try small, independent nurseries selling specialty plants eg. succulents but it would be expensive and available only small quantities. I would bet you can source it at a agricultural supply store.

Rouge, Fifteen years ago I was very much into pots and I was always on the look out for a new pot, a pretty pot, a pot on sale..lol. And the prices were SO great then. I am glad I bought a lot then, but most of those need replacing except for the ceramic pots and now the cost is through the roof.

We used to find bargains at Marshall’s - a local discount store. Now they have Home Goods too but I don’t find many bargains there. Some of my favorite pots I bought at Joann Fabric, believe it or not. For some reason they had two aisles of pots and they usually had great sales on them a couple of times a year.

7:30am already! Time to get out and whip that garden into shape....lol. Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend with some decent weather and Happy Easter!!

but most of those need replacing except for the ceramic pots and now the cost is through the roof.

Hey 'prairie' what type of pots need replacing now? What are they made of?

(There is no doubt that you in the USA have so much more choice for pots than is the case for me north of you.)

Thanks Rouge, you always find a link to an old GW thread! I appreciate that, because the way GW works on my computer makes searching difficult.

Yes, I've looked for grit at nurseries and garden centers before. Our area is more urban but in a neighboring state, they have more agriculture and animal feed supply stores that I can try that are only a half hour away.

No problem 'prairie'. I knew I contributed to such a thread at sometime in the past.

Rouge, My ceramic pots are fine. Long lasting. I had some plastic pots that are still useable but I have a black rubber hose, that got too close to a few and they have ugly black marks on them that doesn't want to come off. And I had two really nice large clay pots that I left outside in the winter 3 years ago and they were busted up and unuseable.

I have bought some pots that are made of some material that is very insulating in the past 5 years. I waited for a good sale. They are sturdy and lightweight and insulate well in the winter. I have two Arborvitae in two of these black pots and they stay out year round with no problem.

'prairie' FWIW I use this product for our 'permanently' potted perennials:

https://www.gaiagreen.com/product-page/all-purpose-4-4-4

And this one for our containers with annuals.

https://www.gaiagreen.com/product-page/power-bloom-2-8-4

(In this case ie annuals, I mix in this fertilizer into the (Berger) potting mix and then I fill the pots)

Great, Rouge, another organic product to try!

And as long as the mix is not expected to last indefinitely without replacement or refreshing and they fertilize appropriately, the plants do fine.

In my climate this would describe most all container gardeners (basically 4 months for flowering containers i.e. June 1 to October 1). (Actually I would hazard to guess that the majority of people, especially those using premade pots don't fertilize at all or enough).

Heya, Prairie, don't get too hung up on finding the exact ingredient - there are loads of useful alternatives. Horticultural grit is usually just small grade pea shingle or gravel used to topdress alpine containers and add into container mixes to help drainage. Hydroleca granules (those clay pellets), chick grit (flint based), even rinsed ballast (sharp sand) used for foundations as aggregate, will help. but it does make pots quite heavy. And any sort of bark chips, composted 'soil conditioner, coir will also add extra structural integrity because your mix will contain particles of different sizes. Sandy soil will need less drainage than fine silt. Please don't think there is only ever one way of doing things -most gardeners are nothing if not pragmatic, making use of what is around us, re-using potting mix and using a whole range of nutrients - from chicken pellets, seaweed, fish emulsion, bonemeal, granular non-organic fertilsers, (miracle gro, slow release osmacote type, rockdust, zeolite, terra preta, compost tea, comfrey tea etc etc. Then microrrhizae, humic acids, fulvic acids, alfalfa....on and on. You could boil your head worrying about it all or just see what you can acquire without toomuch $$$ or effort and grow stuff. Some things work out, others less so...but there is always something to eat, pick, sniff, admire.

I get chick grit delivered by Amazon - Jondo brand, 25kg, flint based rather than oyster shell.

I have a mishmash of pots. I have seen pics of people's gardens with lots of pots and I find it pleasing when the pots are quite similar. I don't do that...I find a pot I like here, a pot I like there. I have ceramic, terra cotta, and plastic. I have a ceramic one that has only one drainage hole and it gets plugged up. I'm planning to drill another couple of holes in it or raise it up on some bricks or both. Sometimes I drill holes or get my husband to drill holes in the lower sides of pots. That can work when I put the pot where a vine might try to get in through the bottom. ( English Ivy) I've found some very tall but not so wide pots at Walmart..plastic ones. I like them for clematis. They are grey and have a texture to them that looks like a handthrown pottery pot. $25.

RosaPrimula, not that I get hung up on finding a product, but once I get in an experimenting mood, I’d give it a try to locate something that someone else has had success with.

Thanks, I’ll check out Amazon for the Jondo chicken grit.

Erasmus, I usually buy a hodgepodge of pots too. Just anything that appeals to me. Last year, I tried to go with an orange/blue theme. Worked out well with a lot of clay pots and blue ceramic. I needed 2 more pots and I found 2 large blue plastic pots in a shade of blue I really liked, cheap off Amazon. I’ll be using them again this year.

PrairieMoon, those are good questions!

The best bang-for-buck seeds I've started for containers are zinnias, hands down. The Zahara zinnia series are the superstars, with nonstop enthusiastic blooming and good proportions for pots. They come in lots of fun colors in both single and double forms.

The Magellan zinnias are taller (but not too tall) and are good for when you want a taller plant in the middle of a large pot.

My second favorite is alyssum, which is so quick and easy to start, and it gets right to blooming even when it's a small plant. I have a white one called 'North Face' from Swallowtail seeds that is fragrant and long blooming.

I've tried a few salvias - the best I've found for containers is 'Summer Jewel' which comes in pink or red and doesn't get crazy tall. That's in the green bowl in the pic I posted.

This year I'm trying bacopa and coleus from seed, and will take cuttings from geraniums that overwintered in the greenhouse. We always love the experiments, don't we!

As for pots, yeah all the ones I use are ceramic or terra cotta. Heavy, indeed! For the big ones I carry them outside empty, then fill them in-place. We also got a hand truck last year, which will help for pot-moving.

The cattle panels are the fence that surrounds the vegetable garden. Though that "veggie" garden is increasingly populated by flowers since it's such a nice respite from deer. So we made a second vegetable garden with a more informal fence in a different corner of the yard, and we have plans for one more fenced area this summer that will have apple trees, daylilies, and roses. The deer really wreck everything that's not fenced - but peonies, poppies, lavender, salvia, and catmint hold down the fort in the unfenced beds.

Here's the layout of the main fenced garden last spring after a brief snowstorm that made all the paths white!

Karin, that’s funny, I never think of the shorter zinnia! The only one I’ve grown are the tall ones. I should try that this year. I didn’t know they had doubles.

I love alyssum! I probably sow 5 packets every year around the edge of my front full sun bed. I just have to keep them moist for about 3 days and they germinate so quickly. Usually they reseed for me too, if I don’t disturb the area. I’ll look for ‘North Face’. I like ‘Oriental Nights’ from Botanical Interests…purple. Of course, I Love the fragrant varieties too.

I will be interested to hear how you do with Bacoba and Coleus from seed. I haven’t tried that and I didn’t think they were easy.

We have a hand truck too and it helps a lot with everything, but some of the larger pots are not easy to fit on it. And I have Rubber Trees and other larger houseplants that I want to bring outside for the season, and they are in larger heavy pots and the hand truck doesn't do me any good getting them down the stairs. And I don't want to empty them to do that either. So, it then becomes a two person job, one person on each side. Works fine.

That is a great photo of your main fenced garden. I remember older posts you made of the garden you had then, and it sounds like you have expanded a lot. Is that right? It has to be a lot of work to keep up with all that. Did you install that fencing yourself?

We have rabbit problems, not deer and the babies can fit through a very small space. I’m still working on trying to keep them out. Cattle panel we use for trellis, but I’m going to try hardware cloth for the rabbits in certain spaces.

We have deer in our neighborhood. My DH was out walking the dog last week and came across a deer just standing in the middle of the road, 3 streets over. But my yard is surrounded by other yards that are fenced and for some reason, I’ve never seen a deer in any of these yards and the fences are only 6ft tall.

Your gardens sound gorgeous, I hope you will post a lot of photos this season!!

Karin, your zinnias and salvia display beautifully in the aqua and grey ceramics. The fenced in garden is something I must replicate this spring, I've had enough of battling deer!

Yes, 'Magellan' zinnias are excellent, another very similar series, though about three weeks earlier is 'Preciosa'. 'Zahara' and 'Profusion' are great in front of the border and fantastic in containers. Last summer, 'Profusion Red & Yellow' was a homerun hit, photo from the net.

Thanks FrozeBudd, That is such a cheerful plant and it looks very vigorous!

I'm trying several zinnias new to me this year...Zahara double salmon and Profusion apricot. I tried the Aztec ones last year. I liked the variety of color combinations though I didn't get a good picture of it. Blooms were quite small. Plants were pretty tough.

I grew some " new Carpet of Snow" alyssum last year and it did much better for me than other alyssums I've tried. I put some in pots. They grew about 10" tall and bloomed nonstop even after the first frost. I loved them. This year I used some seed from last year and all popped up very quickly. Also bought a pack of purple alyssum from Walmart which sprouted quickly and is blooming right now. It's so utterly charming...I had no idea I'd love it so much.

Bacopa at Lowe's or Home Depot was about $6 for a small plant..might try that from seed. I have a lot of seed plants going...

Petunia old fashioned fragrant

Petunia Superbissima...tons germinated, vigorous

Borage vigorous

tithonia

Peachleaf bellflower...good germination, slow grower

verbena bonariensis good germ. , vigorous

dwarf dahlias

stock anytime mix..will see if this takes any heat

phlox purple with stars

nicotiana sylvestris....lots came up

roses...many blooming already

gomphrena

Heavenly Blue morning glory

nasturtiums...not many germinated but enough

calendula

lots of azalea flowered snaps..doing very well

cosmos cupcake white, Double Click mixed, Bright Lights

Sunflower Teddy Bear, Firecracker

Heliopsis Burning Hearts

fig leaf hollyhock

Yes FrozeBudd and PrairieMoon, fences seem to be an unfortunate necessity for some of us. I resisted it as long as we could, but boy it is nice to keep the plants to ourselves. My husband made that fence, and I'm eternally grateful.

FB, I'll check out the Preciosa series. I did grow Profusion last year and it was excellent - but Zaharas were better for me.

Erasumus - Zahara double salmon was a new one for me last year and it was brilliant. It was my favorite annual amongst all the containers. I hope it does great for you, too.

The coleus and bacopa have all germinated at 100%. Woohoo! Onward!

Erasmus, I have alyssum every season and most seasons it reseeds on it’s own for me. I’ve tried a lot of whites and I need to do another experiment on which variety is the best. It has to be fragrant and some are more than others. And I’ve found that some are too messy, long and lanky. I think ‘Carpet of Snow’ is one of the more compact varieties. Is the one you grew actually called “new” carpet of snow? I do love the purples too.

Borage - mine reseeds and last year it was everywhere. The bees love it and I’ve found that Cardinals have some interest in it and I’m not sure why. I haven’t tried them in containers.

Verbena bonariensis sometimes comes back for me. I don’t see any new growth on my patch yet.

You have roses blooming already? What zone are you in?

Karin, your husband is quite handy - that is a very good looking fence!

I’m going to have to check out the Zahara double salmon.

I’m surprised to hear you have 100% germination on coleus and bacopa. Then your containers are off to a great start this year.

Prairiemoon, yes the name on Swallowtail seeds was " New Carpet of Snow". Some things reseed here and some don't. Have not had alyssum reseed. Used to have lots of larkspur, and verbena bonariensis would self sow but petered out. So I started some of that . Have had nicotiana sylvestris a long time ago and it self sowed some then petered out. Then I got a lone plant of it to come up about 20 years later! I have a poppy that popped up this spring...just one. Orlaya self sows and foxgloves do but not much. Black eyed Susan self sows like crazy, and tall phlox is really a pest but a pretty pest. I think my soil just dries out too quickly for a lot of things that might self sow other places.

I was just working outside when the sky became kind of dark and I thought it was about to rain. My son reminded me that it's the eclipse. It just got a little darker and cooler. Kind of nice.

I do have a very few of my in-ground roses producing a bloom or two. It's very early yet here in zone 7a, NC. The roses I was speaking of are ones I grew from seed. I had them in the fridge till mid January when I sowed them in flats under lights. Some of those are blooming already. I will get pictures of some of them. Have some nice purples, a white, a bright pink, and some reds.

Erasmus - I’ll have to look at the Swallowtail catalog - they usually have some interesting new items.

I’ve not grown much Larkspur although I have wanted to. I tried it a couple of times but they didn’t reseed for me either. Verbena hasn’t always come back either. That is amazing to get a poppy after all that time. I've had that happen with bulbs. Camassia that I thought was long gone, showed up and a few daffodil bulbs that took a 5 year break came back. Those are nice surprises. My foxgloves are really intermittent. They are not big on reseeding but maybe I just haven’t planted enough. I do seem to have about 10 small plants around the garden this year.

Roses from seeds….nice. I would like to see the rose photos. You really are a very busy gardener. I don’t seem to even keep caught up on maintenance, so I rarely get to my projects or seed sowing.

Larkspur used to self sow like crazy here but some kind of blight arrived which turned the lower stems black and killed the plants early. Then they quit self sowing. I do see a very few little larkspur seedlings up this spring.

I really enjoy roses from seeds though I end up with many more plants than I can find room for in the ground. It's fun to see what they look like and to name them after people or pets. I don't have pictures yet from this year but will add some from previous years.

Fran's Pirouette a double, ruffly , fragrant seedling of 4th of July. Makes a pretty strong , compact shrub about 4' x 3'.

Lauren Elizabeth

A seedling of Cl. Crimson Glory. Very fragrant, more double than parent, so many petals it often balls.

Fido ...this one was so cheery and healthy with great rebloom but it got RRD and is no more. I don't have a dog named Fido but read the Fido story and it is touching. Fido was a good dog. Means " faithful"

The Good Dog

Seedling of Blue For You. It's very fragrant but not always, very healthy, very shrubby, reblooms very well. Can have little white streaks in it.

Richard Sims reblooms well, somewhat fragrant

Jack Daniel ..seedling of Louis XIV. Small blooms on a strong plant which could be a climber. BS prone but good rebloom. Named for my late dog, Jack.

Justin's Rose Seedling of Scepter'd Isle I think.

Rachelle

Erasmus, wow! Those are amazing. I love roses so I can only imagine how fun it is to cultivate your own varieties. Do you cross-pollinate the plants intentionally, or do you let nature take its course and see what comes of it? How many years from seedling to first bloom?

Thanks for sharing the photos - inspiring!

Erasmus, that's too bad about your Larkspur. Maybe try to grow them again from seed in another area of your garden away from the last planting. Does keeping them thinned out to provide enough air circulation a factor at all? There are so many diseases now some things like Phlox and tomatoes seem to always give directions to provide air circulation and any time I hear blight, that's what I think of.

Wow! Erasmus, I find that amazing that you grew those from seed?!! That really surprises me. I never expected someone to get such great results from growing from seed. It seems like everyone propagates from the plant, and not seed.

Yes, how long from collecting the seed to a blooming plant?

I can't even choose a favorite, they are all so beautiful!

I'm with Karin, thanks for sharing the photos, I really do feel inspired. lol

I don't do a lot of flowers on their own. Sometimes a pot or two on the porch. If I have flowers they are tucked into bigger containers. I do a lot of large container gardening for veggies in the kitchen garden. I tend to use 18-20 gallon rectangle totes you see everywhere, and a few round deeper 22-25? gallon party tubs. At the moment I have 14 of the totes going under low greenhouse caps. Mostly potatoes and spring greens and roots. I'll be using a party tub this year for a snacker tomato. Some other pots will end up getting odds and ends, a few things in solitary for seed production.

Even though the containers are part of the kitchen garden whole, I also treat each container like it's own miniature garden. A potato garden needs are a bit different than the tomato or parsley gardens. Not a lot, but I keep it in mind. I shuffle my dirt a lot. Totes are regularly emptied down and shifted with different root harvests- that then gets switched to a topside grow for the next round. So some rotation of crops and dirt going on there.

My dirt is a mix of stuff. A lot of Promix, since I use it a lot for seed starting. First dump spot for that is the totes. Some other random potting mixes get added in as I buy stuff and those dumpouts go into the mix. Some yard digs. I got sandy loam and pond muck that can get stirred in. I don't use a lot, but some of it goes in. Composting mulch- a lot of grass clippings, brown leaf clippings for top mulch. Whatever I get out of my compost tumbler from winter use gets mixed in there. So while a lot of Promix, it's also a goodly bit of other stuff in there. The earthworms love the bins, so I take it as a good sign. Plants thrive there so I keep doing what I'm doing.

I fertilize with some odd stuff. I make ferments and swamp waters. Kind of akin to making compost teas. Sometimes some amendments or tail end of a fertilizer bag will get tossed in. I got a rain collection for the kitchen garden and I water with that. The bigger containers help with keeping it good.

I also keep a nursery for growing out small plants to big enough to go out to the property. I use nursery containers for those in whatever gallon the plant needs. I tend to mix the pot stuff they come in, and add a 50/50 mix of container mash and dirt from where ever in the yard they are going out to. Some stuff gets held for a year, some can take a few years in the containers before going out.

Prairiemoon, yes air circulation could be part of why they got the disease in the first place. I did have them pretty crowded.

Thank you both about my rose seedlings although I did nothing to create their genetics. I just grow open pollinated seeds. For some reason I have it in my head that cross pollinating is beyond me...I have a few ideas for crosses and most likely that would make it yet more fun. I should try it. Some rose breeders say that most open pollinated roses are actually self pollinated as they get pollinated before the bloom has a chance to open. Well maybe so but my hunch here is that we have so many big bumblebees that they bend the petals down and perhaps pollinate from nearby plants. Honeybees might not put enough weight on a rose bud's petals to bend them open at the early stage. Just a thought.

It doesn't take long at all for most seedlings to bloom. I gather the seeds in fall, put them in my fridge in damp paper towels in little baggies, and get them out in January. Most that are going to sprout sprout fairly quickly. Then it's usually a matter of weeks till you see the first blooms. I pot them up into those little plastic four- packs and then a little later into quart pots. Right now most of them from this spring are in quart pots.

I think some people in mild climates don't bother with the cold stratification. It works for me because I would not want them sprouting in November and have to take care of them indoors for another couple of months. I get them out of the fridge in January because it's past Christmas and I'm not as busy and I know some will have started to sprout in their paper towels in the fridge.

I think my Justin's Rose is pretty similar to Scepter'd Isle but it might be a bit grayer. Not as much pink in it. If they're almost identical to the parent plant it is not really worth keeping. Some will have a lovely bloom on a weak plant..that's a bit disheartening.

Erasmus, Yes, well, doesn’t that collection of Larkspur and Rose look amazing though?! That’s the way you love to see them, cheek to jowel. And to include the air circulation I suppose thinning more often would be required, more work. I get it.

So, you are simply collecting hips off roses that you are growing and starting the seed? Where do you get your roses? You’re not even crossing them? Wow. Fascinating.

How do you get the hips, do you have to suspend deadheading in order to allow hips to form? And how do you know when they are ripe?

They bloom the first year?

I can see where you would find it disappointing for a weak plant with a gorgeous bloom. Oh well, you seem to get a lot that work out the way you want them to.

Thanks again, for sharing. It sounds like a lot of fun.

Beesneeds - Are the totes you are using, made of landscape fabric or do you mean plastic? Low greenhouse caps? For cold nights? I’m wondering if they would keep rabbits away from my veggies?

I have grown potatoes in containers and that’s fun.

Which bins do the earthworms love?

It sounds like you have quite an operation going and a few things I could try. Another vote for Promix. You could be close to becoming a garden business! [g]

You make ferments…now there is something I haven’t tried. I’m a little reluctant because of complaints I’ve heard about odors and I don’t want to make it unpleasant for my husband who helps in the garden. We have a small property and nowhere I could do it away from everything. What made you start doing it and how do you like the results?

We have rain barrels too and I love being able to water with that.

Plastic totes. Solid colors, not the clear kind. Usually pretty cheap 5-8 bucks each, often comes out in holiday colors at some of the big box stores. Drill a lotta holes in the bottom for drainage. Keep the lids because sometimes I use them on the totes for various reasons. They are on concrete. The low greenhouse caps are of the heavy duty greenplastic with metal tube frames you see at Aldi and sometimes other stores. These ones happen to fit 6 totes perfect and they are only 3' tall. I put them on in the fall and pack in leaves for insulation. They come off in the later spring after the frosts have passed. Some stuff stays green through the winter, like parsley and hardy greens. I can get taters in extra early spring too. Even though they are on concrete, the worms find their way into them and I'm always finding a bunch in them when I dig around. Probably because of the compost and mulch adds I use. I don't have rabbit issues in the kitchen garden. Some of it might be the bins, but they also don't touch the in ground part of it. I think it's more due to the proximity of the house and the worker kitties in the yard.

I use Promix because it's cheap and handy. I could go over to the bigger supply place and pick up the stuff to mix my own for a bit cheaper. But Promix is just handier.

Ferments. I do true sugar ferments. Hard pack a jar with a mix of brown sugar and green component. I tend to like comfrey, dandilion, and borage for their profiles. Put a burper on it and let it ferment for a couple-few weeks on the counter. Smells no more than if I got a jar of pickles or kraut in a burping jar. Not unplesant, almost a green yeasty grainy sort of smell. It is a concentrate, gets mixed with water for watering, or further for spraying.

Water composting. Swamp water. I stuff a lidded container with various weeds from a bed. I have a lot of kitty litter buckets handy for this. Fill container with water, seal lid. Let sit for months. Pop the lids once in a while to offgas, they stink. They are done when they stop stinking so bad. Use resulting liquid as a feed back to the beds they weeds came from. Sludge to the compost bin. Anaerobic kills life in there , and the slow can yield higher mineral extraction. Good for late fall use right before the snow cover comes. I usually have a couple large water containers that in the fall I stuff with brown leaves and let those sit through the winter uncovered. By the time spring feed watering is hitting, the brown tea is done steeping. Brown tea does not smell. I've done aerobic once in the past- it's messy because of adding a pump to aeriate the water. And in the long run algae played against me.

I also kind of curiate my weeds. Have for years. Most of what I have now are desireable weeds in the yard beds and kitchen garden. Edibles, or ones noted for high content of something X that I may want to cull into a future feed. I let those go more for living mulch, including in the totes. True bads get pulled for other composting methods.

I've bought roses from many different nurseries . Started with Almost Heaven Roses, which was about 30 miles from me. I'd visit there every spring. Used to buy from Pickering. Have bought many from Burlington Roses in CA, Roses Unlimited, David Austin Roses, Countryside Roses, Palatine, Edmunds, Hortico, The Antique Rose Emporium, Rogue Valley Roses, Vintage, and I have had a number of trading buddies.

Yes, l collect the hips in my own garden in fall. I usually wait till they turn orange though not all turn orange. I cut them open with a small paring knife like you'd cut a grapefruit. The seeds are pretty big and white. I dig them out with the knife. Here's what they look like:

Yes, if you want hips you don't deadhead. Most of the new seedlings bloom within two months of sprouting, maybe 3 months. I did have one that grew pretty big without blooming. I figured it was maybe a climber, one that would put most of its energy into growing before blooming. Well that plant finally bloomed and was beautiful but so far doesn't look like a climber. But many bloom quite early while still a few inches tall.

I have made alfalfa tea in a huge rectangular low Rubbermaid type tub. If you make it in the cool part of the spring and steep it four or five days it doesn't stink. It smells like fresh hay. I think it's because it gets more oxygen with greater surface area. IMO the stink of it made in deep trash cans is anaerobic bacteria but I could be wrong.

Erasmus, I remember the conversation we had about Pickering on the Rose forum. You must have been growing roses a long time! The seeds are a lot bigger than I expected. So whatever roses that are growing in your garden at the time, may have crossed with each other? So you don't know what you will get? Or do they just reproduce the rose you took the seed from?

Sorry, no hurry to answer. I usually have too many questions. lol And I won't be trying to do this any time soon. But I think I will stop deadheading one of the roses to collect seed in the Fall and try it! I think I will pick Julia Child to try.

I haven't made alfalfa tea, but I do use organic alfalfa meal on all my roses. Do you grow alfalfa to make the tea?

BeesNeeds - I responded to your post, but GW seems to have lost it. I'll be back tomorrow.

Prairiemoon, yes they may have cross pollinated or maybe they're self-pollinated. You don't know what you're going to get whether you do the crosses or just grow open pollinated seeds. That's the fun of it. If they just cloned the parent plant you may as well take cuttings. Half the fun is the surprise of what you get.

If you try growing them from seed you might consider trying more than one variety because some germinate much better than others. If a variety balks at germinating I still may not give up on it. Sometimes a rose that never germinates will suddenly have a good year and I may get one or more seedlings from it.

There's a lot to learn about growing them from seed so you might look at some old posts about it. Some of the rose breeders here have good info. Washing the seeds can be a good idea though I don't think I did it last year. I put them in a little kitchen strainer and rub them around a bit to get off the orange stuff and perhaps they get nicked a little which might help with germination.

Thank you Erasmus....appreciate you sharing. I'm just so surprised that it's possible to grow a rose from seed and have it bloom that year. I'm excited to try it. I will do as you suggest and try a few roses, I only have 5 roses at the moment. And I definitely will look up some old posts on it. The Rose Forum has so many kmowledgeable and experienced growers who are so enthusiastic, I'm always happy to spend more time there.