Today is the last day of February. Most of the Northern Hemisphere is in the grips of a freeze; Europe is looking into the mouth of a storm from the East, The Midwest and Eastern United States is looking for snow and a Nor-Easter. Here in California, we had some rain yesterday and some snow even fell on the Sierra Nevada, up to three feet should even fall there by the week-end. That is a whole lot less than the thirty odd feet that fell in the Winter of 2016-17, but hec we need as much as we can get.
But here in my valley home. I have launched myself into preparing for Summer color. Flowers. Bedding plants. Well folks I have planted some seeds in little seed pots.
Having some of my color vision back following my cataract surgery in January, I am feeling a little starved of color in my life. So over the week-end I asked my wife to take me to our local Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) store. Though the name suggests they are for mostly fruit growers, OSH is just a normal hardware chain store. But they are great for gardening equipment and seeds.
This is the first time in several years that I have wanted to plant flower seeds. Well with the greying of my vision over recent years what was the use.
I had to buy some seed trays. I went for the type that you can push out the individual plug of soil with the little plant growing in it. You can then plant this plug of soil in a border or larger pot to make an attractive bedding display.
I filled my little plug pots with some seed compost and then planted a couple of varieties of French Marigolds. A double flowered variety. These will give bright, highly visible flowers for a long period over the Summer and here in California possibly well into the Fall too.
I chose French Marigolds for two reasons, the bright flowers and secondly they have reasonably large seeds, so are very easy for a person with low vision to sow thinly. You can pick up individual seeds and place them in the potting mediium very easily.
I sowed several seeds in each set of plugs, one seed to each plug. Then I brought some of the plug pots inside where it is warm and left some outside in the cooler air.
Hopefully the seeds brought inside will germinate in a week or so those outside in a couple of weeks. The plants from inside might bloom a few weeks earlier than those outside. In a couple of weeks I will sow some more seeds to give a little more continuity.
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| Plug Pots and Marigold Seed Packets |
But here in my valley home. I have launched myself into preparing for Summer color. Flowers. Bedding plants. Well folks I have planted some seeds in little seed pots.
Having some of my color vision back following my cataract surgery in January, I am feeling a little starved of color in my life. So over the week-end I asked my wife to take me to our local Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) store. Though the name suggests they are for mostly fruit growers, OSH is just a normal hardware chain store. But they are great for gardening equipment and seeds.
This is the first time in several years that I have wanted to plant flower seeds. Well with the greying of my vision over recent years what was the use.
I had to buy some seed trays. I went for the type that you can push out the individual plug of soil with the little plant growing in it. You can then plant this plug of soil in a border or larger pot to make an attractive bedding display.
I filled my little plug pots with some seed compost and then planted a couple of varieties of French Marigolds. A double flowered variety. These will give bright, highly visible flowers for a long period over the Summer and here in California possibly well into the Fall too.
I chose French Marigolds for two reasons, the bright flowers and secondly they have reasonably large seeds, so are very easy for a person with low vision to sow thinly. You can pick up individual seeds and place them in the potting mediium very easily.
I sowed several seeds in each set of plugs, one seed to each plug. Then I brought some of the plug pots inside where it is warm and left some outside in the cooler air.
Hopefully the seeds brought inside will germinate in a week or so those outside in a couple of weeks. The plants from inside might bloom a few weeks earlier than those outside. In a couple of weeks I will sow some more seeds to give a little more continuity.
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