Lol ... I like fiddly things .. I'd be there with my tweezers separating.

kqcrna said: Woofie said she thought I was an axe murderer in a former life, or something to that effect.

As long as it was a FORMER lifetime!

A knife is for sissies; I claw them apart with my bare hands.

Karen,
I looked at your clump of marigolds that you just dump over, cut into clumps, and then just plant out. Do a lot them get broken? Do the "good" one live and the scrawnier or broken ones die?
And what do you do with them if they have to be planted, say - 8 inches apart?
Jane

I just cut them into hunks, and plant the hunk. A few are probably lost, but the vast majority survive. I guess it's just root pruning, with a low level of care or precision.

Karen

The plant colony itself provides the precision, is my sense of it.

Survival of the fittest! Only the strong survive !! Stuff like that....

(cowering and whimpering)

I do the chopped up clump method with the tiny guys like lobelia and alyssum. And that is on indoor grown seedlings. I like lots of lobelia for baskets and for edging. I think I did 3 packs of seed last year. I started each pack in a large clamshell box. When they were big enough to transplant, I scooped out about a square inch at a time, and moved them to individual little 3oz cups, then when I planted them out, I ripped each of those clumps into 2-3 chunks.

When the seeds are cheap or free its the way to go. When the seeds are 4 bucks for 10 seeds……... I get a bit more protective of them.

Yeah, we all do that I think.

Karen

That's the truth!

I finally got my jugs etc ready. I will sow them starting tomorrow. I have the seeds pulled that I will start with. Still waiting on just a few more seeds to arrive.

Still sorting today. I've found at least 25 varieties so far that call for a warm period before they go outside, so I'm glad I checked first.

I wonder now just how many I've failed with in the past...just because I sowed and then tossed them directly out in below freezing temps.

Don't feel bad, that's happened to me before as well .. now I always check everything with the T&M Seed Germination Database and Tom's Seed Germination Database.

I am usually too lazy to check. I just toss the seeds in. But this year I am checking everything I am not familiar with.

@jvdubb when did you order more seeds and why was I not informed?

Jennifer, you can't get anything past Mom!

Karen

kqcrna said: Jennifer, you can't get anything past Mom!

Karen

Well the seeds I'm waiting on are from her