Greenhouse, growing plants from seed help??
Question:i've decided to grow flowers from seed, and was wondering if anybody has any tips, ideas, ect, or if you have any good websites that helped you,( that have free tips, plans, growing in greenhouses, ect) or landscaping ideas? thank-you so very much :)
Answers:
In the green house at college we have a misting system. We set the flats under it and it gives them about a thirty second misting every half an hour or so. It helps seeds sprout faster and keeps the soil moist at all times which is very important to young plants, they don't like to be dry. You may look into how much a system like this would cost or just visit your greenhouse several times a day and make sure your flats are not dry.
i ordered seeds and bulbs from Michigan Bulb everything is good but the critters are having a feast not to mention the time it takes before you see any shoots coming up. I think if i do it this way again i will fence it in so animals don't get into it. I also water with miracle grow once a week. I love flowers ,growing from seeds takes to long i want to see results now. good luck with yours
The greenhouse forum on gardenweb.com can be very helpful. There are several other forums at the site that you will probably also want to check.
I've used Gardener's Supply APS seed starting kits for years. They are the best for beginners and pros alike with lots of supportive online information. They come in a variety of cube size for planting seeds, and widths of the APS units, in case you wish to grow them on a window sill for example.
go to http://www.gardeners.com and do a search on "seed starting". Good Luck !!
I did peat moss pods, and they were great. At any Home Depot, Lowe's etc you can buy a tray of 70 pods for less than $15. They are in a little green house container that's great until the sprout. I bought seeds for herbs, veggies, and flowers. In all I produced enough pods for $40 that would have cost me $4 a plant if I bought them in the store.
From once you get an inch or so of growth, harden them outside for a few days and then transplant them. The can go into containers or into the ground.
Don't use fertilizer until you have a good size plant, it will burn the seeds/seedlings and kill them.
If they are going to go outside I would do some geraniums because they are natural mosquito repellents, same with catnip and marigolds.
I would do some annuals, but perennials give you more bang for your buck.
As far as landscaping there are a lot of beautiful things you can do. I have three beds in my front yard, the are bordered with rocks, not brick, concrete any other preformed border. One of the beds is against a fence and there are peoniess in the back row, and tiger liliess on the front row. Now, when I say row that's a very loose term. The peonies are blooming now, above the lilies, and then later in the summer the peonie will die off, I can cut them back below the lilie line and then the lilies bloom. They are both annuals and spread every year so they keep getting better.
Another bed is next to a trellis it has two kinds of climbing roses, a low creeping rose bush and a mini rose. I have filled the holes with a beautiful dark green vine. The vine grows faster than the roses, but can be cut back as the roses take stage.
The last garden is at the end of the driveway, it a vague oval with some really be rocks at different places in the middle. It has all my annuals, and I plan on putting in some tulips this fall. I have a big variety of color there. I didn't plant more than 6 of the same flower in the bed. I have snap dragons and salvia from the center back, because they are a little taller. I have petunias, geraniums, marigolds, dianthus, & a couple of other flowers that had really bright colors. I scattered those everywhere, a couple in the back, ,between the rocks and the prettiest blooms up front. Every year it changes a little depending on the flowers I see when shopping. I don't lay things out in a orderly fashion, I just try to not put two of the same color next to each other.
I also made one of those baskets that are all the rage right now. I purchased the basket, potting soil, peat moss and flowers for about $25 which is about what they go for, but I think mine is prettier, and I have a sense of pride with it. Start with a grass or tall flowers in the middle. (Snap dragons, salvia etc) I did purple grass. Then you do low lying flowers on the next row, I did yellow petunias. Then hanging of the egde I put a vine with little pink flowers on it. The basket was a 16" basket and I did one grass, three petunias and three vines. I then covered the dirt with peat moss so it looked prettier until the flowers filled in. I also planted the vines almost on their sides so the fell over the edge nicer. It hangs on the porch and looks great.
Things to remember, the natural look is better. A straight row of marigolds, followed by purple petunias with red snapdragons in the back is an out dated look. Your grass should be the only thing that looks prim and proper.
Another bed that I've seen that's very modern, but I have't tried it is a monochrome bed. Pick a color, say red and do all red flowers. Salvia, petunias, dianthus and hydrangias.
If you are doing grass also it really makes a difference to do a water treatment (live Revive) and fertilize regularly.
I hope this helps, good luck.
I had professional greenhouses for 16 years and grew hundreds of thousands of seedlings. Here are some of the most helpful tips I can give you:
~Seedlings can never dry out completely; they will die.
~Seedlings can not be over watered; they will rot.
~A tea of nettles, chamomile and seaweed sprayed on weekly will moderate the above two pitfalls.
~Seedlings that do not have enough sunlight and get leggy will not transplant well.
~Air circulation around your seedling trays is critical.
Hope this helps!
You can plant in anything, for starters, plastic cups, milk jugs, tin cans. this should save time and money for getting supplies. The best advice I can give you is to follow the advice on the seeds packaging! Plant as directed and watch them bloom. For landscaping, around here I've seen dogwoods, magnolias, bamboo. I think what I'm trying to say is throw one or two medium sized trees in there something white. Don't be afraid of not getting it right. It is all good!!
Oh yeah, Home and Garden magazine should give some examples of others homes and gardens. And others along that line wich you can log on from your home or type pictures of home gardens in your browser
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