AMA I'm a former farmer and Master Gardener

↑ MagentaYenta ↓

Sun, Apr 26 2015, 11:53 pm

FranticFrummie wrote:

I have the touch of death when it comes to indoor plants.

I was given a potted camellia for Mother's Day, and it's on it's last leaves. I'm not even sure it can be saved at this point, but I'd like to try to transplant it outside. Can I do that in Seattle? If so, how much sun does it need?

Camellias love our PNW weather. I've had 20 ft. camellias at some of my homes, they are not uncommon.

Your plant may not be very happy but I would give it a try out of doors. Make sure you clean the roots off. Inspect them, white roots are a sign of health. If the roots are brown and soft it may have root rot. Be sure it gets good sun, and back fill the hole with some outdoor potting soil. You can mulch it with pine or fir needles if you have some in your yard. If it looks like it's setting new growth give it some fertilizer that is specific to camellias.

↑ FranticFrummie ↓

Sun, Apr 26 2015, 11:56 pm

MagentaYenta wrote:

Sorry, ADD brain attack. Silly

I meant to say gardenia. I have huge camellias in my back yard, no problem with them.

↑ MagentaYenta ↓

Mon, Apr 27 2015, 12:02 am

FranticFrummie wrote:

Sorry, ADD brain attack. Silly

I meant to say gardenia. I have huge camellias in my back yard, no problem with them.

There are varieties of gardenias that do well in our climate, they are called Kleims. Regardless of whether it's a Kleim or not give it a try, use the same instructions as the camellia. If it survives you will need to heavily mulch it this winter. And if you get any deep freezes next winter you may need to bundle it up a bit.

↑ FranticFrummie

Mon, Apr 27 2015, 11:33 am

Do I plant it on the sunny side or the shady side? Sheltered against the house, or out where it will get the most light?

IYH I'll be living in Israel before this winter, so maybe the new tenant will know how to protect it. I just feel bad for the poor little plant, it deserves a better life!

noosheen ↓

Thu, Apr 30 2015, 12:04 pm

I'm the poster with the onion plants in my front garden...

I just saw a you tube clip of someone spraying their weeds with an organic mixture of vinnegar and Dawn. like 90% vinnegar and the rest dawn. after about a day all his weeds got dried up. should I apply this mixture and then remove the onions? and in general do you suggest applying this to weeds and then pulling out or does it not matter? do you think this mixture kill the onions?

thank you!

↑ gp2.0 ↓

Thu, Apr 30 2015, 6:44 pm

Help! My seedlings are dying and I don't know how to fix them!

So I planted a bunch of seeds in little containers and put them on my counter. I have under counter lights and they did very well there for about two weeks, they were bright green and standing up straight. I noticed they started flopping over and drying out if the soil was dry even for a day so I watered them every day. Then one day I saw a tiny bug crawling around, maybe an aphid? And I didn't want bugs on my counters so I moved the plants to the basement. They started doing very badly, and drying out, I guess because the overhead light in the basement is insufficient for plants?

So then I tried putting them outside for half a day when it was 60+ degrees and they totally dried out! Watering didn't revive them. What went wrong? How can I raise seedlings successfully? Also, if the green shoot dies, will the seed produce another or does each seed make just one?

(I think for this year I give up and I'll just get flowers that have already bloomed. But maybe for next year?)

↑ MagentaYenta ↓

Thu, Apr 30 2015, 7:01 pm

Soil must stay consistently warm for seedlings. Only one sprout per seed is nature's rule generally. It sounds like you had inconsistent sun, warmth or moisture for you to get any thing going. Sorry, better luck next year. Call your local county extension office and see if they have any literature they can send you regarding seed germination. Study up before next season.It's still not too late to plant seeds outdoors. What did you initially plant?

↑ MagentaYenta ↓

Thu, Apr 30 2015, 7:02 pm

Ruchel wrote:

Hello! can I ask something:
I put my roses (bouquet) on a table near a fan, and it seems they died quicker than normal - even my dd8 noticed so! can the wind do that?

Wind desication (indoors or out) will shorten the lives of blooms.

↑ MagentaYenta ↓

Thu, Apr 30 2015, 7:04 pm

noosheen wrote:

Give it a try. The dawn acts like a surfactant to keep the vinegar on the plant material.

↑ MagentaYenta ↓

Thu, Apr 30 2015, 7:04 pm

FranticFrummie wrote:

They will take full sun if kept moist.

↑ gp2.0 ↓

Thu, Apr 30 2015, 7:12 pm

MagentaYenta wrote:

Thanks!! I think I did zinnias, sweet william, painted daisies, white daisies. If I plant seeds outdoors now, would they do better because of consistent soil temperature? How often do seedlings need to be watered? I planted some sunflower seeds, marigold seeds and butterfly weed in the backyard and I'm pretty much ignoring them.

↑ MagentaYenta ↓

Thu, Apr 30 2015, 7:15 pm

gp2.0 wrote:

I would think they would be fine. What is your hardiness zone?http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

Soil should stay moist for seed sprouting. Do not soak do not over water. Surface dry is ok, observe the sprouts, are they wilting or pale? Then water them.

↑ MagentaYenta ↓

Mon, May 04 2015, 3:27 pm

Gardeners and black thumbs I thought I would do an update on what's happening in my backyard. The tulips are spent and the only flowers currently blooming are roses and columbines. I've planted some wave petunias for ground cover as I do most years.

The first crop of radishes will be finished off tonight and the greens used in soup for dinner (with some Indian mustard greens). Tomorrow start the broccoli rabe harvest. So my meals will change from an Asian tone to Italian. Lettuce, chard and kale will be ready to harvest by friday.

There are lots of fresh green onions and all the garlic is doing well. The peas are slow going but that's just what happens some years. Peppers and tomatoes are in the ground.

Hard squashes and cocozelle zucchini are all planted. There are some volunteer watermelons coming up and since they are in an ok spot I'll let them go and see what happens.

Are any of you seeing any results of your efforts?

↑ gp2.0 ↓

Mon, May 04 2015, 3:38 pm

MagentaYenta wrote:

I love it when random plants that I actually like show up. Can you send some watermelon volunteers my way? Wink

As for me, I'll keep the seedlings outdoors and see what happens. Most of them died but a few are ok so maybe some will survive after all. I got some petunias for my planters meanwhile. I am so tempted to get a grape tomato plant or blueberry bush because my kids would love them but I still think it would be too hard to keep animals and birds away from them.

↑ MagentaYenta ↓

Mon, May 04 2015, 3:52 pm

gp2.0 wrote:

I love it when random plants that I actually like show up. Can you send some watermelon volunteers my way? Wink

Bird netting is cheap, I think about $3.99 for a 9x12 piece which would give you enough for both a blueberry and grape tomato Very Happy

I'm stressing over the peas. I usually have a large enough spring crop to harvest about 20lbs for the freezer.

↑ gp2.0 ↓

Mon, May 04 2015, 4:09 pm

MagentaYenta wrote:

Bird netting is cheap, I think about $3.99 for a 9x12 piece which would give you enough for both a blueberry and grape tomato Very Happy

I'm stressing over the peas. I usually have a large enough spring crop to harvest about 20lbs for the freezer.

I used bird netting for planting the dahlia bulbs, sunflower seeds and marigold seeds and so far it's working and the squirrels haven't chewed up my bulbs like they did last year. I'm just not sure how it would work on a plant - how would it attach to the plant and how does the plant grow through it?

That must be frustrating about the peas, when you do everything right and the plants still don't grow anyway...

↑ MagentaYenta ↓

Mon, May 04 2015, 4:18 pm

gp2.0 wrote:

I used paper clips and clothes pins for my BBs when I had them at another home. In beds for planting bulbs I used chicken wire when squirrels could be a problem.

I started a flower bed on the west side and thought I would plant some sunflowers for the birds. The cat's porch is on that side and I thought it would give him some entertainment. I started all of the sunflowers in Jiffy Starts and the darn raccoons dug each and everyone. On my second try I direct seeded and covered the bed with Remay and sprinkled a hand full of moth balls along the edges. That has met with success so far.

↑ MagentaYenta ↓

Tue, May 05 2015, 12:26 pm

Ruchel wrote:

Not much growing here, inside or on balcony lol. Nor in my parents' garden LOL

I read culture on water is easier and you just can do it with lettuce. We'll try. A friend tried a pineapple on water and not much success?

Are you talking about hydroponics? If so Dutch bucket systems are the easiest to build but still take time and thought. Plain H2O doesn't have the nutrients to sustain a full crop. Once can always germinate a plant in water like celery or a sweet potato but that doesn't mean you can grow it to maturity/harvest.