Agapanthus Surprise, Seedling News, & the Beer Bash

Dear Readers,

Here is a little bit about what I have been up too . . . You are welcome to ask questions, make comments, or let us know what you have been doing over in your gardens.


Agapanthus Surprise

This morning I was going through my seeds, doing a little more organizing and making some decisions. Among those decisions were what the heck I was going to do with some agapanthus seeds I had collected last December. Last month I became the proud owner of a couple of agapanthus plants, and they are doing well, so far. So here are these seeds taking up precious space in my overflowing seed boxes and what ever am I going to do with them?

I decided that I would mix them in with some iris seed I plan to sow in wooden flat. So I opened up the recycled instant oatmeal pouch to make the switch, and much to my surprise most of those seeds had germinated right in the pouch! I am not certain how easy or hard they usually are to germinate – but this was about the easiest thing I have ever done.

I now have 5 – six packs of agapanthus. Mixed colors or blue and white. That is 30 plants, if they all make it. The next decision will be, what they heck to do with 30 agapanthus plants . . . (Hmmm, Christmas presents, maybe?)

Seedling News,

I have so many seedlings I am not sure if I can list them all, but I am going to try: Agapanthus, Armenian Cucumber, Arugula, Basil, Blackberry lily, Bronze Fennel, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage – several kinds, Cardoon, Chervil, Cilantro, Columbine, Corn Salad, Coreopsis, Dames Rocket, Egyptian Spinach, Ephedera, Feverfew, Florence Fennel, Garland Chrysanthemum, Giant Red Chinese Mustard, Italian Parsley, Kale – 2 kinds, Kohlrabi, Miners Lettuce, Pak Choy – 2 kinds, Pink Peony Poppy, Purslane, Sweet Autumn Clematis, Sweet Cicily, Tobacco, Vitex, White Butterfly Weed, and White Sprouting Broccoli. This is just counting the things that have all ready germinated aren’t planted out yet.

Now I want to tell you the White Butterfly weed is persnickety. I had to go in the fridge for about a month, then it needed light to germinate, then it needed warmth to raise it’s head, but once it raised it’s head it complained of the heat, and had to go outside. The only seedlings that are alive went through this whole rig-a-ma-role. (The agapanthus is cool; I have one six pack in the warm propagator, one outside and the rest in my bedroom window. Now the Vitex also needed a cold period to germinate. I have one seedling that goes out days and comes in at night and one in the warm propagator. Both are OK, but the warm one is happier.

The Beer Bash.

I bought a 40-ounce bottle of the cheapest beer we have around here, and divided it up between 8 containers. Over night about 10 slugs met their doom in the bottom of the stinky brew. I think it cost me bout 15 cents each . . . LOL . . . I left the beer out, maybe I will get some more tonight. So far this does not seem like a very cost-effective measure. But if it continues to catch slugs do the better part of the week, that might be ok. (Maybe they would prefer a different brand? I wouldn’t drink Miller High Life, even back when I was a drunk . . . Which was a long dang time ago . . . Thank goodness!)

Well I am off to edit the news for my other internet project . . .

Laters,

Harvest