A big thank you to all who sent me pictures of this year’s seed-sitting setups. We continue to be a group with diverse growing methods and several continue trying the jug methods. In one of our future zoom sessions, it would be lovely to talk about the various setups and compare success rates.
Liz placed her seed trays directly in the garden bed and in addition to chicken wire, she covered them with a thick layer of oak leaves.
Mag wrote: Rather than covering the pots with chicken wire, I’ve enclosed them in chicken wire “boxes”. I use these later in the spring/early summer for lettuce & other greens to prevent our neighbourhood bunnies from enjoying our salad leaves before we do!!!
I am continually impressed by the ingenuity of our group and I saw that two members: Sheri and Linda S have used the plastic mesh of fruit bags to cover their pots, so take a look at that in the pictures that follow.
Catherine writes : On the right are my enclosed containers – plastic juice/pop bottles (where I sowed Woodland strawberry and Blanketflower) as well as spinach containers. The spinach containers are doubled up – one container is the top, and is taped to the bottom spinach container. I have not yet sown Prairie dropseed since I heard that grasses are best sown in March. I heard that they shouldn’t get too moist, so I was going to wait a bit.
Karanne planted Pussywillow, Blue eyed grass, Greyhead cornflower and will plant Flag Iris in March and stratifying the Iris in the fridge. She’s also planted Nodding Onion seeds and Asters from her garden.
Below you can also see Danielle’s setup with plantings in both pots and trays covered with chicken wire.
Linda has planted 41 varieties!!! mostly in small containers. She shared two pictures of what her setup looks under the snow and when the snow melts.
Pat is interested in growing for her various nature stewardship programs so she writes: The seeds in the larger blue containers are from Native Plants of Claremont. I’m optimistic that the City will let me plant them at our TNS site because they are of “known provenance”. As opposed to seeds that I might collect on my own out in nature. No paper work – no approval!
Sanam and Maia are growing their pots with a standard setup
Olivia has placed her trays on a thick layer of canvas to minimize the transfer of any invasive organisms from the soil. She’s also covered some of them with straw.
As for my own setup, it’s exactly the same from last year. the only modification I’ve made is that I have sown pussytoes into individual seed cells on the lower right. Last year I had them in a single pot and when I divided them up, they were very unhappy and did not respond well. This year, I’ve sown them in individual seed cells and won’t divide them, just pot them into bigger pots.
Our final picture is from Nancy with her impressive setup which spans the better part of her front yard. I can see at least 3 different sowing methods so I’ll be looking forward to hearing her thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of each one.
A big thank you to all that sent in pictures. I will continue seed distribution / signing up new members for another week and share our final group numbers on our next post.
