Cold Climate Gardening

My daughter Talitha, principal vegetable gardener for Purdyville, was wondering how to know if last year’s seed would be good for this year’s planting, or if she should order more. I suggested she do a germination test: put 10 seeds on a damp paper towel and enclose in a plastic bag. Put them in a warm place (our gas oven with the pilot light on works well) and see how many sprout. The results have been gratifying, and I think our seed order will cost less this year as a result.

Of course, vegetables are some of the easiest seeds to sprout. If you want to get an idea of how difficult some seeds are to germinate, read the …

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Just discovered an enormous collection of links at Rochester Gardening

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‘Arp’ was the first kind I ever got, precisely because it is reputed to be so hardy. I figured if I somehow left it out and we had a hard freeze it would survive my carelessness. But you are right: now that I have a different (unknown) variety, I can see that ‘Arp’ was ugly. I don’t know if I will ever find the right conditions for blooming rosemary in my house. The enclosed porch is completely unheated and definitely gets below freezing. The coolest rooms in the house are also the dimmest. But at least I have a direction for experimentation. Frankly, I’m just happy to keep rosemary alive until spring. I don’t have a very good track record …

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Kathy, if you want to keep rosemary happy in the winter, keep it cold & bright (as if it were having a milder winter than you are!)–I either keep it on a barely heated sunporch so it doesn’t go below freezing or above 50, or against the coldest window in a cold room. They seem to need about 6-8 weeks of this type of cold, and probably short days/long nights to initiate flower buds, so natural lighting is best. Last winter’s cuttings, now in 4″ pots, are all blooming as well so I think it is conditions more than age that favor bloom. Interestingly, different varieties are more precocious than others–I have an upright one that didn’t …

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Kathy, The Shumway catalog most people get is the large newsprint folder. I’m talking about the catalog from the Horticultural Products and Services Div. It’s almost a wholesale-type catalog. Large amounts of seed at a reasonable price. The toll free # is 1-800-322-7288. Check out Hollyhock ‘Black Currant Whirl’! I have seeded in all their various colors of pelleted Lisianthus. I fell in love with these beauties when working in a floral shop/nursery. Long lasting as a cut flower, and useful in weddings as bouts and they can be taken apart and put back together again in corsages. And a word to Rosemarie, honey, it’s the full of the moon and I know you are pregnant and very tired. Please …

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Judy, in your January 14th post you mentioned your rosemary blooming. How long does it take for a rosemary plant to bloom? How do you keep it happy in the winter? I bought mine this past spring from Lowe’s. It was in a 3″ pot. This winter it is just eking along, putting out rather leggy growth, but certainly not blooming. Do rosemaries need to get a certain age, or a certain size before they bloom? Is it the amount of light?

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Have to put in my 2 cents since you are talking about seeds. All of my seeds are received and sorted by start date. I got a huge chunk of mine from Johnny’s, because they come from a northern climate, and they actual give you meaningful cultural information on the back of the seed packet. My second biggest order was from Pinetree seeds, again, the northern climate, interesting selections, and, cheap! (less amount of seeds per packet) Stokes Seeds was my next biggest order, mostly flowers, cheap, cold climate, good info. Select Seeds, next, then a few things from Nichols garden nursery, Park’s, and Thompson Morgan.

Seeds of Change sucked me in last year with their …

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