All the Dirt on Gardening

This is a wonderful day. Too cold and rainy to be outside much and just right for lining up the seeds that need cold stratification to bloom next year. Seeds to plant starting this month include most tree seeds , Annual Phlox, Poppy, Virginia Bluebells, Hellebore, Roses, Monkshood, etc. You can buy a generous amount of seed, mix it with vermiculite-sand and scatter it. Or, to reduce the amount of seed lost to birds and flood, you can plant the seeds in pots and flats and transplant them in the early spring. Seeds that need the constant cold and wet of winter will do better outside. Alchemy-Works has a thorough column on the topic. In addition to perennial shrubs, trees and flowers, many native plants need 60-days of moist cold. Prairie Moon Nursery has these plants listed separately in their online store. Click here to see their list . Then, of course there is the master list at Tom Clothier's site . Not to be missed for serious seed starters. And, for the same crowd, the Thompson...