Author: Steve

Lid off Cosmos seedlings

Today, I took the lid off the tray with cosmos seedings. I’ve been propping it up for three or four days to allow some airflow and to accommodate the tall seedlings that were starting to hit the cover. So far, the seedlings are handling it well.

Japanese Maple cuttings

Last fall, I took some cuttings from my Japanese maples and put them in cups of water with willow cuttings. The willow branches are supposed to release a rooting hormone into the water. I left them in the water all winter. Some got a bit moldy or mildewy. Today, I dipped them in rooting hormone […]

Seed sprouting update

All right! I’m getting a bunch of sprouts from the white coneflower seeds I sprinkled on top of the soil in one of the seedling trays. It took about a week, and I’d say about 40% have sprouted. I transferred some into other cells. I think some more of the seeds will sprout in the […]

Rose Fertilizer – Rose Magazine

Rose Fertilizer – Rose Magazine This article has a formula for organic rose fertilizer. It looks worth investigating.

Rose fertilizing

I need an online “to-do” list for all this stuff I plan to do. This is a reminder to fertilze the heck out of my roses this year. In a few weeks, I need to give them a granular fertilizer high in phosphorous. Some people recommend tomato fertilizer. I’ll have to check how the container […]

Responses to my Clematis question on GardenWeb

I received some good responses to my post on my Clematis vines: Yes, tree roots are a problem for clematis in my opinion. They rob so much of the moisture and nutrients that clematis may well struggle. Your Ville de Lyons are only babies still, and will take several years to reach normal size. Wayside […]

Seed update: white coneflowers and others

Yes! I’m seeing some of the white coneflower seeds beginning to send out roots now. I sprinkled a bunch of them on top of the soil in one of my seedling trays. I put the heating pad under that tray yesterday or the day before. It’s working. Also, I count something like 25 of the […]

Clematis self-help

I haven’t gotten any answers on GardenWeb yet, and I did a quick search on clematis and tree roots I found this statement below. Note what it says about tree roots (bolded): Clematis have a reputation for being difficult to grow, however, like any other plant, if their needs can be met by the site […]