{"id":4884,"date":"2018-12-26T23:49:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-26T23:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenescapades.com\/blog\/?p=4884"},"modified":"2019-01-21T04:26:52","modified_gmt":"2019-01-21T04:26:52","slug":"let-the-seed-starting-begin-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gardenescapades.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/26\/let-the-seed-starting-begin-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Let the seed starting begin!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week, a much-needed break from classes began. My first \u201cfun\u201d chore was to inventory all the seeds I have left from years past and set a plan for each kind. I was planning on this being a 15-minute quick task. About three hours later, I was finally on the last packet of seeds, the SIXTY-NINTH PACKET! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I immediately promised myself I wouldn\u2019t buy any new seeds (a promise since broken) and that I would plant each and every kind of seed I already owned and give them each a fair chance at reaching their plant potential. To meet that goal, I pretty much have to plant a packet a day for the rest of my life\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My seed starting window (my seed incubator) had to be reassembled after a summer dismantling. I accomplished that today. I have a plant tray there with a heating mat, all on a table. Three sets of LED lights will get clamped around the edges so I can adjust the light levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, after the seed incubator was all up and running, I couldn\u2019t help but get excited and want to plant some seeds. So, first I planted the seeds that followed me home from Hawaii, graciously ignored by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture at the airport. A bunch of them were from the Foster Botanical Garden, and some were from the house we rented. They honestly could be almost anything. It will be fun to see if any of them come up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The incubator still looked pretty empty, so I decided to try some of the Australian seeds that I ordered last year. I picked five different seed packets and while I wait for the various stratification strategies to kick in, I\u2019m typing this blog post. Here\u2019s what I\u2019ll be starting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo from specialplants.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Acacias are one of my favorite tree families, and I\u2019ve always wanted one for the greenhouse. Acacia baileyana \u201cPurpurea\u201d is the cultivar I\u2019m going to try. I had to hot water scarify these. If any of them germinate, I expect they will grow pretty fast, so I could end up with a blooming plant in my lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo from gardeningwithangus.com.au<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another plant I\u2019ve always wanted to try is Hardenbergia. I just hot water scarified a packet of Hardenbergia violacea \u201cPurple\u201d seeds and hope to get one started this way for the greenhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo from thelovelyplants.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Every once in a while I\u2019ve seen Kangaroo Paw plants for sale at local nurseries. I decided I would try to grow some from seed. These are Anigozanthos manglesii. The seeds supposedly benefit from smoke treatment because wildfires are common where they naturally grow. Luckily, rather than burning the house down trying to meet their needs, I bought some instant smoke treatment that I can just sprinkle on top of the seeds when I plant them, and when I water, the smoke works its magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo from australiaseeds.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another fun Australian shrub is Hakea drupacea, the Sweet Scented Hakea. I thought this would be good for the greenhouse, too. This one likes smoke treatment, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo from australiaseeds.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, I want to try something really showy, so I\u2019m planting a packet of Telopea speciosissima. I\u2019m soaking these seeds now and will also smoke treat them, just in case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing is better in the heart of winter than planting seeds and watching them grow\u2026its like bringing spring a little early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get the incubator put together, I had to venture into the greenhouse. It is so stuffed at this point that I have to maneuver like a Cirque du Soleil acrobat just to reach the back. And pretty much every seedling that will come up is destined for the greenhouse. I\u2019m not sure exactly how that\u2019s going to work!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, a much-needed break from classes began. My first \u201cfun\u201d chore was to inventory all the seeds I have left from years past and set a plan for each kind. I was planning on this being a 15-minute quick task. About three hours later, I was finally on the last packet of seeds, the … Continue reading Let the seed starting begin!<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gardenescapades.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gardenescapades.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gardenescapades.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gardenescapades.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gardenescapades.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4884"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/gardenescapades.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4885,"href":"http:\/\/gardenescapades.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4884\/revisions\/4885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gardenescapades.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gardenescapades.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gardenescapades.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}