Monroe County Master Gardener Association

Photos taken April of 2007 when I purchased a 4 shelf, chrome stand and 3 2-lite shop lamps – with chains for hanging -from Lowes.  The stands are sold unassembled and they are offered with either 3 or 4 adjustable shelves (but everything has to be removed from the stand to adjust the shelf height).  I found it much easier to evenly space the 4 shelves from top to bottom, hang the 3 shop lights and then stack books and/or boxes under the seedling trays so the plants are always very close to the lights but not in direct contact. Once the plant trays are in place it is too difficult to get to the chains to raise and lower the lights – much easier to raise and lower the seedling trays!  As much as possible keep plants similar in height together.  Google “growing plants under fluorescent lights” and you will find all the information you will need to be successful.

If you have a south facing window that also works quite well.  I have put seedling trays on TV trays in front of the window but they will grow toward the light and have to be turned several times each day.  If the sun doesn’t shine for several days you will quickly end up with very weak, leggy plants.

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I took these pictures last spring when I was starting my pepper seeds.  Today the snow is blowing outside and the new seed catalogs have been coming in the mail.  It is time to start thinking about what seeds we want to order this year.  I like to use the Jiffy peat pellets for starting pepper seeds.  I grow many different varieties that I don’t want to mix up and I only want a few plants of each variety.

Pellets in Container

Here are the peat pellets in containers.  The ones in the back two black trays have had warm water poured in  them and are beginning to swell up.  The white pieces of  plastic are going to be dividers to separate varieties.  I  don’t know if you can see it on here or not, but the black  trays are labeled “A”  “B”  “C”  “D” and I keep notes of what is planted in each tray.  The clear ones on the left are just deli containers.  They do need to have lids to  keep the growing medium moist until the plants come up.

The pellets are now fully swelled up and ready to plant.

Pull the netting back some with a toothpick.

Open a small hole in the peat with the toothpick

Open a small hole in the peat with the toothpick.  Planting  depth about three times the size of the seed.  Drop a seed  in the hole and use the toothpick to cover the seed, pressing  lightly for good seed to soil contact.

Warm location

Trays in a warm spot to germinate.  (My kitchen floor next  to the radiator)  This was March 12.  On March 18, the first of the seeds were up.

Temporary Greenhouse

March 18, putting up our temporary greenhouse on the door opening of my husbands heated barn.  Starting March 22, the peppers spend days in the greenhouse in the sun and nights in on the barn floor with the door closed.

Pepper Plants

April 4, here the peppers are on the heated floor of the barn,  with the door open from the barn to the greenhouse.  The  largest ones have a second set of leaves and are ready to  be transplanted into single squares.  Although technically you can leave the netting around the pellet when you plant  it in a larger container, I gently pull it off, so you want to do  this before too many little roots have grown through it.

Pepper Plants April 30

Pepper plants on April 30th.  Some have been in their single squares for over 3 weeks now.  They are gradually  getting used to outdoor conditions, either with the greenhouse doors open, or as here spending some time  outside on the cart in direct sun. This year, they were  planted in the garden the first week of May.

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Hyacinth

Hyacinthus is a small genus of bulbous flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae. Plants are commonly called hyacinths. Wikipedia

Forcing Hyacinth Bulbs

by Mary Ellen Babich

What can you do with several dozen hyacinth bulbs that are still sitting in a bucket in your unheated garage in late November?  That was my question last November.

Way back in October of 2011, I planted 5 dozen premium pink and purple hyacinth bulbs in soil in 4 large containers, watered them thoroughly, stored them (covered loosely with burlap) in my unheated garage until growth of about 3-4 inches appeared in early spring, then set them out in a shaded area on my patio to watch the pink and purple display and enjoy the heady fragrance.  I was thrilled with the results, so I decided to try to save the bulbs.  After the blooms faded, I placed the containers in a holding area, removed the spent flowers, kept the containers watered, and waited for the foliage to die back naturally.  In late summer I lifted the bulbs from the containers, gently removed the dead foliage and the soil clinging to the bulbs, and put them all in a large bucket in my garage to dry.  The plan was to plant the bulbs directly into my gardens in the fall of 2012.  That didn’t happen.

Switch to Plan B:  force the bulbs to bloom indoors.  Thanksgiving weekend I saw that the bulbs were still firm and surprisingly all had about an inch of very green growth at the tip.  The first weekend in December I placed the bulbs in clear glass containers on top of glass beads and slowly added water.  Single bulbs were put in stem-less wineglasses and groupings were put in large bubble bowls, placing the bulbs so they would not touch the sides of the container or each other.  To be sure they didn’t rot, I kept the water level was just below the base of each bulb.  Then the containers went back into the unheated garage in large cardboard boxes.  After 3 weeks, when the bulbs pushed out more green foliage about 2 inches tall and sent tiny white roots into the water below, I moved the containers inside to a cool window sill out of direct sunlight to monitor water levels and growth.  A week later, I had a dozen Christmas gifts ready to deliver to family and friends, and two large containers for myself.

Overhead View

Roots

Side View

My containers will remain on a cool window sill out of direct sunlight until they are ready to bloom in few weeks.  I won’t know if the conditions have been optimum for producing full or stunted blooms yet, so I’ll send another photo when/if they do bloom.

The process of forcing bulbs in water is fun and very educational.   I felt like an inquisitive science student in grade school again, hoping I could induce a plant to grow ahead of its normal growing cycle.  I’ll be trying this great project with my grandchildren next fall so they can observe the entire growth cycle of a bulb and enjoy the beauty and fragrance of a hyacinth bloom indoors in their homes in late winter.

Follow the link below to Old House Gardens, an Ann Arbor based company that specializes in heirloom bulbs, for a discussion of the history of bulb forcing and step-by-step instructions.

http://www.oldhousegardens.com/ForcingBulbs.asp

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I had to move some perennials out of our north garden this past spring. We had to put in a new seepage bed, so I lost the east half of the north garden. As long as I had to move them I decided I might as well divide them at the same time. Here are some pictures I took of dividing the day lilies.

Some of the day lilies in their original spot, before starting.

Digging around a plant with the shovel. Cut all the way
around the plant and underneath as deep as you can get.

With the lily lifted out. Slicing the lily in half with the sod lifter

With the half clump flat side down, dividing again

Putting a division into a pot.

Potted lilies waiting for a drink.

Lilies with the tools used.

Lilies with the tools used.  Some of my favorites, the wheelbarrow, sod lifter and watering can.  Also some pots I got from a neighbor which I have used many times for transplanting and for covering small plants when there is a danger of frost.

The lilies were dug up and divided on March 25th.  Some were divided in half, some into quarters.  These were plants from some of our master gardener plant exchanges and some I moved from my Mom’s garden. several years ago.  They spent a little over two weeks in the pots, sitting on carts.

April 10th. The lilies re-planted in their new row

Notice the 100ft measuring tape. They are planted 2 foot on center.

The lilies did not bloom much this summer, which I am blaming on the stress of moving and a very dry summer.  I am looking forward to them having a more colorful year.

Karen Hehl

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