Seed Starting Class at Muskogee Garden Club

-
I gave a workshop on seed starting today at Muskogee Garden Club's monthly meeting. .
We had a morning with snow and 12-degrees and still 25 brave souls came.

Daniels Plant Food, Botanical Interests and Renee's Garden Seeds contributed fertilizer and seeds for the participants so everyone went home with gifts. Park Seeds sent 2009 catalogs for everyone. Wonderful generosity. Thanks everyone. It was great fun.


Maybe you can see the blueberry boxes of soil. We filled the bottom two-thirds with moist planting soil. Then, we topped the boxes up with seed starting soil. All the participants chose a pack of seeds and planted them to take home.

Comments

Wayne Stratz said…
Outside of my classroom I have only taught one workshop, it was at a Quaker Meeting House. Glad this was a success.

I am curious about the donations from seed catalogs. Working at a nonprofit, I may be able to get some donations sent my way. How did you go about it?
January 18, 2009 at 9:02 AM
Anonymous said…
I wrote to 12 companies, most did not even respond.

The ones I mentioned in the blog entry sent samples.

Territorial Seed sends free seeds if you write and send $5 for postage which I was happy to do.

Two or three companies will donate seeds to community gardens and nonprofit ventures. I think someone told me that Seed Savers Exchange was one of those companies.

Osmocote donated sample packets of fertilizer for another event I did. Daniels was unbelievably gracious and generous, too.

Write to a few companies. I took it on as a challenge and wrote one letter every day until I heard back from some companies.

Would you let me know who you contact and your results please?

Thanks and good luck!
January 19, 2009 at 6:52 PM
Wayne Stratz said…
Thank you for the info. I think I will give it a try and will pass on my lucky hits to you.

peace
January 20, 2009 at 4:11 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Moldy Tulip Bulbs

-
Image
Moldy tulip bulbs are a big disappointment when you are hoping to fill a bed or some pots. It is not that unusual for their skins to have a bit of penicillin mold but these are beyond that tad bit stage. Mold penetrating tulip bulb  Mold on emerging tulip bulb growth  So, what to do? The plant references say to throw them out and buy new ones but I already spent $22 for 50 of these white tulip beauties. First, they got a soak in 1% bleach solution in the kitchen sink in the hope that the bleach would stop the mold from continuing to grow without killing the life force in the bulb itself. After a good slosh around, I wiped them off to see how much damage was beneath the blue and black.  This tulip bulb is soft to the touch and there is little chance it will thrive in the soil. This basal root on these have been ruined by mold. The final step I took to try to salvage part of them  was to spray them thoroughly with fungicide.  They are all planted in the
Read more

Propagate Begonia Stem Cuttings in water - Cane-like Angel Wing Begonia

-
Image
Propagating by stem cuttings is just about the easiest way to make more begonias for next summer's garden. During the fall, I regularly trim off 3-node long cuttings and put them into the growing pots where they take root. Now that cold weather has arrived, I root the stem cuttings in a vase of water. It's a great way to produce more pots of Begonias for next summer's garden. Water the plant well the day before. Take a cutting about 4-inches long, with 3 nodes, from a healthy stem. Use a perfectly clean container. Rinse the container with a drop of bleach if you are uncertain about its spotlessness. Remove all but the top leaf or two. There should be no leaves in the water. The cutting should  have a healthy leaf node at the bottom. Don't leave a stub below the node. Place the cutting into the water, and place the container out of the sun. In a couple of weeks, you will see new roots beginning to form. Check the water periodically to make sure it is still f
Read more

Create Nesting Areas for Birds and Wildlife

-
Image
From the website, Choose Natives , this lovely and instructive article helped remind me to continue to increase the amount of habitat and nesting that we provide in our garden. Many, though not all, are native or considered to be native in Oklahoma. So, I did a little research on each recommended plant and provided a link to more information. You'll see the plant name in italics - those are my links for your edification. Here's the post Derek Stoner, Project Coordinator for the Delaware Nature Society, helped restore the 860-acre Middle Run Natural Area by “intensive habitat management”, including planting 12,000 trees and shrubs.  His lecture, ‘ Native Plants for Nesting Birds: Connecting Flora and Fauna’,  given to a group of enthusiasts at the Millersville Native Plant Conference   in Pennsylvania, focused on his observations. Here are Derek’s landscaping recommendations for attracting birds: Plant shrubs in clusters (“habitat circles”) that will create the dense
Read more