From the category archives:

Seeds and Seed Starting

Seedling light stand cleanup

April 18, 2009

Finished reorganizing the seed stand. Culled all the broken flats. Organized the cell packs. All this for the master seed starter, not me. My eldest daughter does most of the seed starting. I taught her everything I knew, and she improved upon it. So I just get everything back in order after a winter of [...]

2 comments Read the full article →

Renee’s Garden Seed Giveaway Winner

March 8, 2009

I used the random number generator, which picked number 26. Angie submitted comment number 26, so she is our winner. I have sent her an email with details on how to receive her seeds.
Coupon code is good for another week
But don’t forget, for another week, everyone is eligible for the following online order discount: [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

Renee’s Garden Seed Giveaway

March 1, 2009

s a result of my membership in GWA, for the past three years I have received a media packet from Renee’s Garden. A free packet of seeds is always included in the mailing, as well as an order form listing every seed they’re selling that year, with an invitation to mark off which seeds you [...]

65 comments Read the full article →

When do I start tomatoes from seed in upstate NY?

February 21, 2009

reader contacted Cold Climate Gardening recently to ask:
I live in area between Syracuse and Ithaca… near Cortland. I have tomato seeds–many different varieties. When should I start the seedlings to grow in peat pots inside the house? Is it too early? While I am at it…what else should I be starting? Thanks [...]

12 comments Read the full article →

The winner of the Botanical Interests seed giveaway is

February 6, 2009

Matriarchy of Ramping Up the Garden! She has already received instructions on how to claim her free seeds. Happy seed starting, Matriarchy!
Those of you who didn’t win will have another chance next week at Garden Rant.

3 comments Read the full article →

Botanical Interests Seed Giveaway

January 30, 2009

Congratulations to Robbie, who won some free seeds from Botanical Interests at Carol’s giveaway! Those of you who didn’t win have another chance. The giveaway here is just a bit different. First go over to Botanical Interests and look over their offerings. Then list the six seed packets (excluding the large packets) you’d like to [...]

48 comments Read the full article →

Three gardening books for children

November 18, 2008

any gardening books for children take what I think of as the art project approach: here’s what you need, this is what you do, isn’t that cute?, now show it to Grandma. Very few books out there take children–or a child’s interest in gardening–seriously.
I prefer to regard children as apprentice gardeners, gradually acquiring more skills [...]

13 comments Read the full article →

Winter sowing, aka cold stratification

February 5, 2008

Winter sowing, as far as I can tell, is identical to what, in my self-education as a gardener, I learned as cold stratification. The more traditional description of the procedure is to put the seeds in the fridge for the requisite period of time, and then sow them in pots or flats or whatever your [...]

11 comments Read the full article →

Poppy Seed Queens

January 20, 2008

Just about half a year ago, I was lamenting the loss of my favorite pink peony poppy. Thanks to one of my readers, I learned that these beauties are being sold on eBay. EBay! I had known that seeds and plants were sold on eBay, but had never thought to look myself.
Julie Calhoun and the [...]

20 comments Read the full article →

Value Seeds, or Pinch Me, I Must Be Dreaming

February 16, 2007

Thanks to an eclectic garden, I learned about Value Seeds. This reminds me of Edward Hamilton Books, my favorite place to shop for gardening books. Someone else’s castoffs, but still good quality, one price for shipping no matter how much you buy, get-it-before-it’s-gone selection, and very low prices. I haven’t ordered from them myself, but [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Using spreadsheets in garden planning: Part 4

January 21, 2007

In part 3 I showed how to put the finishing touches on a spreadsheet that calculated the potential cost of a plant order in progress. But because of its tabular format, a spreadsheet is often used in situations where a lot of information needs to be organized, even if no calculations are made. Below are [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Using spreadsheets in garden planning: Part 2

January 17, 2007

In part 1 we logged into Google Spreadsheets and got things set up. Now let’s get this thing to do some work for us.
Creating the Formula
We’re going to teach this worksheet to multiply the price of a plant by the number of plants we want to give us the total price. The end result will [...]

4 comments Read the full article →

Using spreadsheets in garden planning: Part 1

January 16, 2007

I mentioned in a recent post that I use a spreadsheet to plan my garden purchases. Others have mentioned using a spreadsheet to track their seed sowing. But that doesn’t help you much if you don’t know a spreadsheet from a tablecloth, so let’s start right there: a spreadsheet is a computer program that arranges [...]

7 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries