Seedfork's blog: First seeds of the year finally planted.

I finally made a trip up to Lowe's yesterday and purchased a few packets of seeds. Once again, they did not have the 'Early Treat' tomato seeds. So I just bought a few packets of what they did have. A packet of 'Sweetie', a packet of 'Delicious' and a packet of 'Fourth of July'. I was surprised to find they had some Zahara Zinnia mixed seeds. I bought those and a few other types of Zinnia seeds. I have added so much mulch around all my plants this year, I was not sure if I would have many volunteers from last years Zinnia crop. I bought a bag of seed starting mix, and a bag of perlite.
I rummaged through all my seed starting stuff, stored under the back deck and selected some trays the size of flats that can use a clear plastic lid, and picked out various sizes of small black containers to plant the seeds in . Larger sized posts for the tomatoes and the small sizes for the zinnias.
I cleaned out all the containers with warm soapy water, then poured the seed starting mix and the pearlite into a large plastic container and added a gallon of very hot water and mixed it all together. Then I let is sit and soak for about an hour and filled all the containers with the new seeds.
Even in the very small containers I put at least six to eight seeds of all the Zinnias except for the Zahara zinnia mix. The little packet even at Lowe's was well over two dollars and there were only thirteen seeds in the pack. The other packs had plenty of seeds.
One pack of tomatoes had only a few seeds, 'Sweetie' I think was the one with just a few. The other packets seem to have more than I would need to plant unless something like a freeze should cause me to have to replant. Seems like I have had to replant up to three times some years.
I made up my labels and got everything marked so I would not be guessing what was what. I added the clear lid, stuck the entire tray on top of the garage fridge and put a glass shelf I collected last year on top. So I am hoping by next weekend to see some signs of new sprouts.

Well, I had to go back up to Lowe's today looking for a switch to replace on my portable work lamp, but they did not have anything that would work. But, they did have their shipment of roses in. I took photos with my outdated flip phone, and sure enough when got home I could not read the names in the photos even when enlarged to their fullest. Anyhow, I could remember a few so I will check on them. The main thing I could not remember was the difference in floribunda and grandiflora still need to look that up again. I knew I did not want any more climbers, but I did want one or two hybrid teas that I didn't already have. Also I wanted to make sure I didn't buy any of the ones I previously had that have died or not done very well. I wanted to try some new different ones. I probably will go back tomorrow and get four to six, they are a little more expensive this year, I was hoping with the price of oil (thus shipping and fertilizer) being way down things would get cheaper...not. Fertilizer was well over $40.00 per bag. I did not buy any, waiting for them to get the cheaper brand in.

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