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Seed sacrifice

by Leslie Crawford on March 9, 2010Thank you

Hello, my name is Leslie and I’m a seed-aholic.

I love buying seed packets. I love the pictures on the front, whether they are photographed or painted works of art. I love the possibilities that seeds promise. I love the idea of saving money by buying seeds…

(cue the ugly sound of a record player needle being dragged across a record).

Okay, this is where things go wrong. I can’t help myself. I buy too many seeds. My love of seeds is bigger than my yard. Then the guilt sets in because I’ve got all these seed packets sitting around. I’m thinking, “How long have I had this packet? Should I try to plant some of these old packets? Are they any good?”

Well, good news and bad news. It depends on how you’ve stored your seeds and it depends on what seeds you’ve saved.

First, your seeds should be stored airtight, in a cold, dark location. That means, ideally, in the refrigerator at 40 degrees in a tight container, preferably with some dessicant to absorb moisture. If you put a teaspoon of dry powdered milk in with the seeds, that would do the trick.

Here’s a rough guide I found to determine whether you should save ‘em or pitch ‘em.

One year: onions, parsley and parsnips
Two years: sweet corn, leeks, okra, peppers
Three years: beans, broccoli, carrots, celeriac, celery, Chinese cabbage, kohlrabi, peas, and spinach
Four years: beets, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Swiss chard, chicory, eggplant, fennel, kale, mustard, pumpkin, rutabaga, sorrel, squash, tomatoes, turnips, watermelon
Five years: cardoon, collard greens, corn salad (mache), garden cress, cucumber, endive, muskmelon, radishes
Six years: lettuces

Again, this is a rough guide. Storage conditions, planting conditions, seed conditions will all factor into your success rate. You can test the viability of seeds by placing 10-15 seeds on a damp paper towel, keeping them moist and watching for sprout times called for on the seed packet. If half of them sprout, you have a pretty good idea whether or not they are worth the effort. I plant most of my seedlings in little six-pack planters so if things don’t sprout, I haven’t really lost anything. It never hurts to try.

Tagged as: seed packets, seedling, Seeds

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Don’t Let the Fancy Talk Scare you

by Leslie Crawford on March 8, 2010Thank you

With all the discussion about “Sustainable Gardening”, “Going Green”, and “Organic Gardening”, people’s heads are starting to spin. I say, let’s stop all this fancy talk and get back to basics. Which is really what the fancy talk is all about.

First, let’s read the gardeners definition of “Sustainable Gardening”: Capable of being continued with minimal long-term effect on the environment. Basically, good gardening practices.

Next up, “Going Green”: Reducing your overall impact on the environment by reducing your energy usage, recycling, using public transportation, buying local products, etc. Easy enough, and I think us gardeners tend to follow this philosophy in our daily lives.

Lastly, “Organic Gardening”: this definition is a moving target, but for the most part, the practice rejects using any synthetic pesticides or fertilizers; instead, using the materials nature provides us, such as compost, mulch, and natural predators to nurture plants and control pests and diseases, hoping to minimally affect your environment.

If you are recycling in your household, composting, mulching, planting to invite beneficial insects, or using drip irrigation, then you are on the right path. Use all the fancy words you want, it’s simply a philosophy to pay more attention be less wasteful and more thoughtful, in your garden and life in general.

See, that wasn’t so scary, was it?

Tagged as: going green, organic gardening, sustainable gardening

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Giardinaggio felice!

by Leslie Crawford on March 7, 2010Thank you

In Italy it means Happy Gardening. That was me in the garden yesterday, except for the Italian part. :-)

Yesterday the rain didn’t arrive until late afternoon, so I was able to get in a little yard work. The “busy-work” has been piling up out there and I get a bit antsy about it, so it felt good to get caught up on the garden.

I pulled out a bunch of stock that just never quite got its act together. The plants were lush and healthy for a few months, but when the buds starting coming out, so did the aphids, and I was never able to get that quite under control. Only one clump ever really bloomed, but the rest of the stock was sickly and dull, so I yanked them all out yesterday, except for the bloomers.

I also pulled out one clump of fennel. It was a bit past its prime, and it was crowding out the sweet peas, so fennel be gone!

My potato bins are thriving and it was time to pile more dirt in them. I used a whole bag of potting soil for that job but it’s done!

I have gotten behind in my deadheading so I spent some time with the sweet peas and freesias. It looks better now, but I have a feeling that I’ll be behind again by next weekend! I should make bouquets for the neighbors.

I’m finding snails around the garden, so I moved pots around to open up their hiding spots. It’s that time of year when they seem to multiply rapidly so I’m going to have to be vigilant.

Mi esposo helped me dig out and replant to golden jade plants near the front walkway, so that has completely cleared out the bed under my office window where I will plant my Campbell’s grafted gardenias.

I clipped some long lengths of a hanging sedum and repotted them to make a new hanging pot. Since I’ve been growing them for a few years, a lot of my succulents are reaching the point of growth where I’m able to take some pretty hefty clippings and it is not noticable. I’m getting a feel for which plants do well and what’s going to be an ongoing struggle, so I’m starting to clear out plants that I’m not so in love with anymore. Off to the Garden Club plant sale for them!

I weeded, raked and swept. A couple of hours in the yard makes all the difference! Especially for my mental health!

Tagged as: deadheading, replanting, snails, succulents

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A peaceful moment….

March 5, 2010
2 comments Read the full article →

Entomology is fun….

March 4, 2010

….if you like things that creep, crawl, crunch and fly. Bugs can be pests, predators or both. Here are some interesting factoids about all those little creepy things we love to hate!
- 75% of all living things on the planet are insects and there are more ants than anything else in the world. [...]

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Mythical, Magical and Easy

March 3, 2010

I have always looked at orchids as very tricky, mysterious plants. At flower shows, people seem to speak in hushed tones when they are in the orchid section. There is something compelling about the flowers that seems so not-doable, but I’m learning that these plants are much easier to grow than I thought. [...]

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March Monthly Garden Tasks

March 2, 2010

The monthly Garden Tasks for March have been posted. Fertilizing and weeding are your biggest priorities this month.

0 comments Read the full article →

So what’s the big deal?

March 1, 2010

The other day, a friend asked me about Flower Show Judge School. Why am I doing it, and what’s the big deal? Well, since you asked, here goes….
The first year I was the Chair of the Coronado Flower Show, the difficulty in getting qualified judges to come judge the show [...]

2 comments Read the full article →

Morning after a Good Rain

February 28, 2010

I loved hearing the rain fall last night as I was dozing off; but then, this morning in the garden was pretty great, too. Clean, fresh, fragrant! Wow!

0 comments Read the full article →

Library Flowers

February 24, 2010

It’s my turn to do library flowers again for the garden club, so this is what I came up with last night. It’s hard to go too wrong with succulents! Aren’t these colors great?!

4 comments Read the full article →

Master Composter course

February 23, 2010

Learn the art and science of composting and how to teach it to others in this five-week, hands-on course taught by Master Composters from the Solana Center for Environmental Innovation. This course is sponsored by the City of San Diego.
Master Composter Training Course
Tuesdays, March 16 – April 13, 2010
6:00 – 8:30 pm
City of [...]

2 comments Read the full article →

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    • Leslie Crawford on Giardinaggio felice!
    • Jessica on Giardinaggio felice!
    • Leslie Crawford on A peaceful moment….
    • Laurski on A peaceful moment….
    • Laurski on So what’s the big deal?
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    • Seed sacrifice
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