Project Spring 2014

[Tahir Khan]

What i have experienced with seedlings is if you keep them covered longer with a plastic sheet or in a sense give them a slightly warmer environment..they grow much quickly as compared to the seedlings that are uncovered after germination.

[aykhan]

You will notice Farhan sahib every successful media has sand in it. Even if you beat down the media hard, if there is sand the roots will find their way and not suffocate as in the bhal which is pretty much clay and will strangle new roots. Same media for cuttings I'm sure. Last year I did rose cuttings in sand and peat moss only. This year I'm thinking sand and patta khad or sand and Plant Fert.

[Farhan Ahmed]

Its been 7 days, not even a hint of germination. Yes temps are cooler now on second thoughts such mix might be good for usual stuff only. Duhhh

[rafique]

Your first thought tempts me because most of nurserymen are master of their job. Lets wait and see.
May be there are still some hidden tricks yet to identify?

[Tahir Khan]

Pygmy torch and sunspot marigolds are in full bloom..will try to upload the pics soon

For germinations...Salvia seascape, Salvia horminum, night phlox, nemesia shooting stars and lupins have germinated..others are still sleeping

[Farhan Ahmed]

looking forward to pygmy Tahir Bhai.
Rafique Bhai lets hope so
Dr Sb. Apparently the media appears very hard

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

isn't these phlox?

[farah fayyaz]

Sir. Is it a "koonda" used at curd shop? i have some , but smaller than it.(i got ithem on purchase of kheer) iI too wanted to use them for growing seeds but maali could not drill hole in it. I am very fond of growing seeds at home but very rare, I got good result.Now I will buy cocoa coir for this purpose. mashaAllah you have got a great result.

[Izhar]

waiting for update...!!!

[Farhan Ahmed]

Here is the Update for you Izhar.

Wheat project progressing steadily, though praying for a rain, cloud appear but then seems to dodge and disappear, second concern is wild boar, dozens of them, destroying crop. So night belong to hunting them, they are very cunning animals, not much success except three. 2 by poisoning and one by shooting, cartridges seem not much of use.


On the home front, its a long story!. I put in extreme care and diligence for seed starting, tried multiple composition medias, Some success and some failures. However, i would term the failure as mine and not of the specie in most cases, on analysis i consider arthur bower compost to be the main culprit. Very poor gets mold quickly.

Some other point of concerns include, persistence of pest and fungi even in cold weather. Temperatures are near zero but still aphids, army worms, snails, caterpillars and crickets are persisting. Strange.

One reason could be frost protection which is favoring them.

My pest control evolves around mostly organic means, Caterpillar, snails and crickets manually and aphids through washing. However as the area is large i might go for my only choice of inorganic pesticides i,e Bayer confidor if they still persist for some time. Another nuisance is a cat which seem to love vandalizing borders at night. I am furious, if it does it again, it is going to have wild boar's fate

On germination. Undoubtedly T & M's results were almost cent percent. Except phlox every T & M seed germinated, if it failed later was my own folly.
On the other hand parkseed germination was ordinary. Whereas some packets did well, some failed altogether, indicating faulty seed, as choice of media, conditions etc were varied to germinate seeds. Sutton and seedsofdistinction seeds did fairly okay.

Following is breakdown of all that i tried and its performance. This can be used as reference if someone wants to experiment in future.

Sutton Seeds.
Good performance
Amaranthus Pygmy Torch, Dahlia Seeds - Yankee Doodle, Dimorphotheca aurantiaca, Pyrethrum Large Flowered, Scabious Summer Berries, Candytuft Fantasia Mix, Acheillea, Salvia horminum Bouquet, Peony Poppy.

Average( Due to own fault)
Ageratum Timeless Mx, Alyssum Saxatile Golden.

Total Failure, Most probably nonviable seeds
Russian Campion
Delphinium Delight Mix
Canary Creeper

T & M
Good
Brachycome, chrysanthemum Carnatum, Gaillardia Razzle Dazzle, , Rudbeckia Green Eyes, Cosmos Cosimo, Gaillardia Sun dance, Helenium lollipop. Poppy Peony
Silene peach, Calendula (Touch of Red), Nasturtium Milkmaid, Sunflower Claret, Blue Collection Mix, Calendula Greenheart, Arctotis, Lavatera, Malope tirfida, Dahlia variabilis Pompone, Heteropappus, Layia, Dainthus Kliedoscope, Emilia scarlet magic, Hollyhock Antwerp, Gypsophilia Elegans, Armeria, Sweet Pea Bi-color, Lobelia, Forget Me not bobo,
Poppy Angel Choir, ConeFlower White Swan, Large Flowered Mix Sunflower

Average
Helenium autumnale sunshine ( extremely slow growing)
Rudbeckia cherry brandy ( extremely slow growing)
Salvia farinacea (25 % germination)
Agastache aurantiaca (Slow Growing)
Larkspur Dwarf (Took very lone to germinate. Germination 25 %)
Foxglove : Candy Mountain (own fault, slow progress)

Total failure
Hibiscus disco belle
Phlox of Sheep
Gerbera jamesonii
Snow in summer
Salpiglossis Mix (Own Fault)
Cosmos Double Click Rose (poor flower performance as compared to claim, will try again for confirmation)
Sweet William : Sooty (Own fault)
Phlox hybrida ( i don't understand why all imported phlox failed, whereas they are very easy seeds)
Sweet Pea : Floral Tribute
Sweet Pea-Flag ( Poor seeds)

Parkseed
Fair to Good
Steamer Mix Sweet Pea,, Crazy Daisy Shasta Daisy Seeds

Few successes
Mahogany Midget Red Coreopsis
Cardinal Climber Vine Seeds (Might not survive cold....)
Mini Marine Heliotrope Seeds (Due to media)
Happy Lights Hollyhock Mix Seeds ( Poor seed quality)

Total failure
Cone flower magnus (Poor seed)
Complete Mix Bellflower ( own fault, attempting again)
Cinderella Asclepias

Seedsofdistinction
Good
PAPAVER FALLING IN LOVE, HOLLYHOCK CELEBRITIES,LUPIN TINY TOTS, LINUM CHARMER MIXED, MALVA SYLVESTRIS, NICOTIANA TINKERBELL, SCABIOSA BLACK KNIGHT, GAILLARDIA SCARLET PLUME, ECHINACEA PARADISIO MIXED

Few successes
MONARDA DIDYMA RED(uncertain performance), MYOSOTIS SYLVATICA, HELIOPSIS SUNBURST, THUNBERGIA ALATA AFRICAN, NASTURTIUM CARIBBEAN

Total Failure
PYRETHRUM AUREUM
AQUILEGIA FRILLY DILLY (attempting again)
HELIANTHUS MAXIMILIANI
HEUCHERA MELTING FIRE (attempting again)
COREOPSIS GOLDEN GLOBE
ERYNGIUM PLANUM BLUE

Tahir Bhai
Good
Pink Coneflower (germinaiton good, slow growing), Trainling Petunia, Hamad Uk seeds. Good performance, Poppy shirley, Datura Evening(might not survive winter)
Verbena, Salvia, Lupin russell

Total failure
Rudbeckia G (most probably nonviable seeds)
Lobelia Queen Vic (Total failure)
Lupin sunrise (own fault)

Rafique Bhai
Various seed, performed well.

Other Sources
Good
Bergamo Monarda
Lisianthus (germination good, extremely slow growing)
Phlox Double
Bunny Tails Ornamental Grass
Giants Nasturtium
Liatrus floristan(Slow growing)

Some own seeds of last year and local seed vendor seeds...... all did well.

Now, that was about germination and progress of the seedlings later on.

Speaking of landscaping, i would term it as a complete failure. I did make an initial plan, but failure of certain species either totally or very few in number, i could not materialize my plan. Another hindrance was that seedlings grew/germinated with a stagger, so to say, something were/are ready some are not. Therefore only design part that i could do was that whatever was ready was planted at final location with some consideration of height, color and companionship. So some borders are to my satisfaction and some are not. But you never know, it could be that others appear better in color and appearance than what deem is right.

So izhar here is complete update for you :p
Some images, others can be seen at the blog. Notice good progress on some as compared to last year, whereas some are lagging, But we have to keep in mind that most growth comes in Jan/Feb here, so not too off track for poor ones also.

Malvas(Merlin/Zebrina/SYLVESTRIS ) doing fairly well, better to the point as compared to last year. Pest to watch out. Snails/caterpillars


Nasturtiums(Giant/Milkmaid etc)....already into flowering


Poppy Field
Ahhh i am loving this border, This time it ain't be red alone a full big border dedicated to poppies of all sorts


Sweetpeas and Petunia..i have done some mixing this time. Jitna samajh main aya, its difficult to chose companion plants.


Bunnytail grass


I have made many color theme borders this season. Like this one is themed white..includes Shasta Daisy, White Swan and Bunnytail along with Yarrow.


Dwarf Hollyhocks like this Spring Celebrity


This is my favorite border to the point, ofcourse due to its good performance. Includes Arctotis, Calendula Red, Emilia and Gypsophilia.


Bellis


Last year's Yarrow has multiplied well


Tahir Bhai's Lupin Russell. I am not sure if it will flower, but i can't stop trying. Foliage serves good to.


Lavatera Twin Cool


Malope Trifida


Due to poor quality of Arthur Bower compost seeds suffered. I spilled the pots in a border and few germinated. BONUS.


Gaillardia, Include Razzle Dazzle, Red and sundance


Layia Elegan/Tidy tips. Very easy Plant


Chrysanthemum Carnatum


Hollies(Antwerp, Happy light and Heirloom)


salvia horminum


PoorMan's Orchid


Osteospermum


Lupin Tiny Tot, i am hopeful that it will flower


Brachycome


Verbena pink Pastels


Dianthus


Irish Poet and Baby's Breath


Linum Charmer and grandiflora



Dimorphotheca Aurantica


Pyrethrum


Yarrow


Amberboa


Nurseryman Media. Mostly a failure. two/three pots showed couple of germination. Such as this larkspur and blue knoll



Lobelia


Cosmodium


Helenium


Monarda


Nemesia


I call it mystery box, I sow mix seeds without labeling, then when they germinate, i get excited to identify as to what has germinated.


Blue collection. Best germination. This is old image, atleast 300 plants came up. Now transplanted to final location. Includes 15 species of various blue flowers


This is Silene attacked by Aphids....so i had to discontinue photographs here and tend to it :p