I tried several new projects during the Covid-19 isolation, and most did not end well. The cute doggie puzzle ultimately had to be completed by my son and granddaughter, and they did a fabulous job!
Learning to crochet is on hold because I realize that I need more personal assistance than a video can provide. I dropped out of the book club only because I was receiving more books than I could complete. I successfully tested and set up a new trail camera, but my project track record needs improvement! But even so, I’ve continued new projects. How hard can it be?
So what did she try next, you are probably wondering? Back in March, I began thinking about plants. I used to believe that I was good with plants. I brought many house plants with me when I moved, only to lose almost all in the sprinkler line explosion in our home of the same year. So maybe it was time to refocus my energies on plants. I love both indoor and outdoor plants, but the question now is how to get them? I can’t just run to the garden center like I used to. Order online? Where? Also, my husband and I could not agree on the plants (COVID-19 communication issues). So rather than finding the appropriate plants for the yard (zone 9-b) for 17 pots, I thought I would try planting seeds. It would be a project that I could share with you.
I have never tried growing plants from seeds before, well, maybe in an elementary school project, but I don’t remember if I was successful or not. So this would be a new learning experiment.
Planting the seeds in containers made sense because I don’t have a large area of land to plant. My pots are colorful and all different sizes, so my experiment might turn out beautiful. The containers will also allow me to move the pots and plants around to better locations if needed. How hard could this be?
I ordered a large group of packets of various seeds from Amazon. When the seed packets arrived, I carefully separated them into full sun, partial sun, sun or shade, and finally shade.
After preliminary sorting the seed packets, I began opening the packs to plant the seeds. I verified the soil conditions and checked the planting directions. I was surprised at how tiny the seeds were!
I started planting the seeds March 28, 2021, and I followed the packets’ guidelines and planted them with the recommended spacing and depth; when I got to the last pot, I threw the seeds in and mixed up the soil.
To my delight, my baby seedlings started poking their little heads up through the soil in a very short period of time. Interestingly, both the seeds that were planted according to directions and those thrown in and stirred up were growing at the same rate.
April 3, 2021, and tiny seedlings are starting to poke through the soil.
Each week I carefully documented and photographed each pot, but the long-term results were disappointing.
You do have to look very closely to see the baby plants, but they are there. Then, of course, there is the possibility that what I thought was baby seedlings was just weeds.
I didn’t mark each pot specifically with the type of seed I was planting because Dr. Teddy likes to run around and steal paper/labels, so I just figured I’d surprise myself.
I left the bulbs from last year in the pots thinking the flowering plants would frame the Tulips and Calla Lilies.
Project Results as of June 2021
Ultimately the results were discouraging. Some of the seeds never grew into flowering plants, and I just replaced them with another plant. The only seeds that grew into something recognizable were the Marigolds.
I had watched YouTube videos in preparation. Master Gardeners planted seeds on both a large-scale and small. Granted, I don’t know how many times they failed before they were successful. So I’ll have to try again.
Do you have any suggestions for projects for me to try? Let me know.