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Welcome to week 9! We are almost to the end–I can’t believe it. This week I share how sharing your flowers with others will strike a cord like no other gift. Also just how important these early blooming flowers are to pollinators and birds. You will be rolling out the red carpet to all things good with a Cool Flowers garden! –Lisa
Lisa’s take away notes:
If I was a home gardener: I’d realize I have the best gifts ever to give right outside my backdoor in the garden!
If I was a flower farmer: I’d be thinking how I can attract insect-eating birds to my garden with inexpensive bird baths!
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Lisa,
I can’t begin to tell you how much I enjoyed the entire book study! We live in zone 6 and plan to plant in prepared beds 6 to 8 weeks prior to the last frost. Should we use heat mats along with grow lamps to help germinate the seeds that will be transplanted? Given that they require colder temps to germinate, the answer may be obvious. Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge!!
Kay S.
Hi Kay, glad you enjoyed the book study. Checkout this link at the end for more seed starting information and yes we use heat to get them to sprout, then place under lights. http://www.thegardenersworkshop.com/how-to/faq-seed-starting-with-soil-blocking/ . Hope this helps! Lisa
Hello Lisa,
I stumbled upon your Cool Flowers book a month or so ago and seem to read it every day. I fear I may be getting a bit of a late start but while watching one of your videos you mentioned planting seedlings thru out the winter. I’m in zone 9b, I have my beds ready to go and wonder if you think I’d have a shot of starting seedlings and putting them out right around our first frost date of 11/15. Our ground does not freeze more than 1/2 inch for very short periods of time and we never receive snow here in the San Joaquin valley. I plan on covering with hoops and I’m gathering all my supplies, seeds, soil blockers, etc. Do I have a shot this year or should I wait? Thank you, Linda
Yes Linda you can plant after your first frost–especially transplants. We filmed the final Cool Flowers video this morning and I speak to late planting. I’d start seeds and go for it now!
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
Have you ever tried winter sowing any of these cool-season seeds? Any thoughts about that particular process? Do you think it would be worth trying?
Thank you!
Hi Adrienne, winter planting of transplants is easier to be successful with than seeds directly in the garden. Seeds need warmth to sprout and get started– hard to provide tht during winter.
A row has been partially transplanted out and partially direct seeded. Just finished my “routine” hoeing and I have some questions.
Noticed something has been nibbling the tops of my campanula. After I transplanted, I did put on a row cover but then took it off and kept it off for ease of direct hoeing. Should row cover go back on or will transplants survive the nibbling at this stage?
When transplanting seedlings, I spaced them in the garden about 5-6″ apart. Think I
ended up hoeing up some seedlings as well as weeds. In the future, should I plant the seedlings close together for easier identification and then thin the transplants when they get bigger and more easier identifiable?
On the rows of direct seeded portion, I can identify the bachelor buttons coming up, but the nigella took a while longer. Think I’m beginning to see them popping up but I’m afraid to hoe the direct seeded portion. Can I leave as is and wait for frost to kill
weeds and hope the direct seeded bachelor buttons and nigella will do their thing in the spring?
Deer love campanula- protect as needed. We leave covers on hooped all winter for this reason.
We don’t thin until spring when the seedlings have survived winter and are at their strongest.
Using a garden hoe, run the hoe between the rows, not in the rows. If not your bed will be taken over by hardy annual weeds over winter and early spring.
Sounds like your Cool Flowers garden is coming right along–way to go!
Hello Lisa,
Thank you so much for your generosity of information and TIME for all of us. I am enjoying your series and your book! I’m excited and am hoping this will work for me in zone 5a.
Today I cleared out my veggie bed, put a top layer of compost on, and planted seeds directly in my raised beds of Love in a Mist, Larkspur, Bachelor Buttons, Snapdragons, and Foxgloves. If the seeds germinate and plants establish, I will do a row cover or an insulated leaf mulch, etc. Fingers crossed!
I hope you don’t mind if I ask about overseeding. I’m sure it is imperative to space out 6″ or 9″ as you state in your book and your bed diagram. Since it is hard for me to thin out plants, do you think any of these would succeed as transplants in another part of my garden? I know I’m already getting a bit of a later start with planting the seeds directly, so that might be too much to ask of seedlings.
Thanks SO much! I am enjoying your virtual workshop!
Wendy
Row cover will help more seeds to germinate because of the moisture retention it provides. I would not cover seedlings with mulch, just around them. Slugs and other monsters will eat.
Direct seeded seedlings should be thinned after they go through winter. This makes trying to transplant them difficult because of the great root system and also possible damage to the seedlings you are leaving. Best to pull those to be tossed–close your eyes and do it.
You briefly talked about cutting the cord. This week we reached that point. We cut the season of deliveries off. Next year we will be able to go longer. I look forward to cutting each section harder so that they work harder for me. I hope to enjoy our flowers a little bit longer here close to home for a week or two yet.
Thank you so much for this series. I have learned so much that I can’t wait to put into practice next season.
Your welcome Heidi! I an working on a video series for budding flower farmers– keep your eyes open! LZ
I can’t wait to see this video. Yr 2 – I’m definitely just budding. 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing so freely with your knowledge. Loving this study!