Well I would have sworn I had labelled all my ws jugs correctly but I found one without any label and one labelled daylilies which it clearly isn't! Not sure what I had for lunch that day!

I think the one mislabelled may be the Mexican sunflower seeds I was gifted. Not a clue on the other one. Also the jug labelled Petunias has one single plant growing! Today I potted all these into styrofoam cups till they get big enough to avoid stepping on. Also potted up some Salvia seeds that had sprouted.
Daylilies seem to be taking to this method like ducks to water. I got 100% germination on one cross. Other crosses are still germinating so I haven't touched those. Did two more jugs today with daylily seeds. Will have another jug empty in a few days so I will do another one then. It's just me here so it's not easy collecting jugs!!

MollyD

My annuals just aren't sprouting. Only 1 sprout in each of two zinnias, but those seeds were 5 or 6 years old, so that doesn't surprise me. Only 8 of 12 tomatoes have germinated, and those aren't growing, still sitting there at seed leaf stage. No marigolds or salvia, and I know those seeds were good, I collected them last year. I've only found 2 volunteer Yvonne's salvia, and I usually have a million of those. That is no doubt due to the dry weather, but I've been watering the jugs religiously, so they're not lacking moisture. The temp is warm enough. Hmmm... very strange. These things usually sprout in a few days.

Karen

Maybe my petunia and salvias are doing what your annuals are doing? Not sprouting I mean? Something they want is lacking would be my guess but what?? Our temps here have been on a roller coaster from a high of 87 to a low of 35. Could that be what is wrong?

MollyD

Forgot to say that tomatos sprouted just fine in spite of the weather. Started my peppers today.

MollyD

I don't know Molly. When I sow annuals in April, they usually sprout in a few days. I don't remember them being such slowpokes in the past.

We've had roller coaster temperatures, too, but that's not uncommon at this time of year. Our highs have been anywhere from 60s to even a few 80s, mostly 70-ish, but our nights are still cold-upper 30s and low 40s. Maybe the nights are still too cold, and by the time the temp in the jug warms up, weather start to cool again for the night. My guess is they want nights to stay a little warmer than they are now, (i.e. more sustained heat) but I don't know.

My jugs get morning sun, afternoons they're shaded by the house. I have been moving them to more sun on days that I'm home, but it hasn't had any effect. It's supposed to be cool, cloudy, rainy this weekend. Maybe a little rain will help. It'll help me- I'm tired of watering, which is what I need to do now.

Karen

Karen, I sowed a bunch of tender things like Zinnias, Marigolds, Nicotiana, Dahlias, and Salvia on the 8th and 9th. A few Zinnias started within 2 or 3 days, but the others have been kinda slow too. Over the last 3 days I've seen quite a few popping up, but I have been surprised to see just 1 or 2 sprouts in some of the jugs of Zinnias. I'm kinda thinking its because of the cool nights too.

I did quite a bit of watering last night, and of course it did rain some, and is still drizzling. I went through all the jugs, and cut tops off of several. I've moved the majority of them from the deck to wire shelves outside (they're little zipper greenhouses that the covers wore out). I'm ready to use the deck and make it look nice, but I've learned my lesson from last years slug fest about sitting them on the ground!

Nights here have been mostly in the 40's but there have been exceptions with many nights in the 50 + and two or three in the mid to high 30's. I sowed some Cosmos a few days ago. Guess they won't show for at least a week or so yet. I was surprised at how fast the tomatos popped up. Less than a week. These were Red Rock tomatos.

MollyD

It's finally raining here, too. Except for a minute's worth of rain last Friday, we haven't had any for over 2 weeks. Maybe that will help the seeds too.

Karen

about the same here Karen. No real rain in about 2 or 3 weeks. It keeps missing us and heading north to Nashville or south to Chattanooga. Suppose to get some serious storms tomorrow. Same ones producing tornados in Texas this past week

MollyD

we got a bit of rain late afternoon... when there was a break, i ran out and sprinkled some Profusion Zinns in a few beds.

I still have not done any marigolds... i really need to get them done... I also never got a chance to get anything planted. I have my list, but didnt get it done this evening... ended up going out to Pampered Chef thing, buying things i dont really need.

But i'll do some tomorrow. it is not supposed ot rain all day, and if we get a good rain over night, the soil will be easy to work with.

I did spread some compost and fresh top soil in two beds.... so that's something.

Got lots of rain last night and strong winds but I haven't spotted any damage.

I was up in the suburbs of Nashville today and there was tons of rain coming down but not lots of wind yet. Got home a short while ago and the weather report shows strong band of weather heading my way in the next two hours or so. Saw several accidents along the highway today

MollyD

YAY!! Rain here also this weekend (at least an inch so far). Hope it will help move some of my WS annuals along also. So far, I think only some zinnias have sprouted, and the Bells of Ireland.

Lots of rain here, too, Fri, Sat, and today, and more in the forecast for Mon and Tues. We'll go from drought to muck

Hoping it has some magical effect on my wintersown stuff, too.

Karen

I had left a bucket out and I found about 3" of rain in it today. Lots of wind today here. I was trying to do some garden cleanup when suddenly really large oak branches began breaking and falling. Some were about 15 ft long.

MollyD

Yikes! They did post severe thunderstorm warnings, and another tornado watch, but I didn't see a whole lot. Just heavy, monsoon-type rain for a while, and a little thunder and lightening. If there was anything severe through the night, I slept through it again.

But we really, really did need rain.

Karen

A friend of mine has a daughter who lives down in Yazoo City Ms with her husband and kids. The tornado took out 2/3rds of their house Sunday night. Their about 2 to 2.5 hrs south of me. 10 people died down there. The tornado hit the ground and stayed down for over 97 miles. The other end of this line of storms was in the Gulf of Mexico.

MollyD

That's awful. Good, though, that the family wasn't killed.

Karen

Molly, I'm sorry for your friend's daughter and her destroyed home in Yazoo City. I saw some of the devastation there on TV news. Terrible.

I checked my jugs again today for things that have sprouted since my last report April 15.
New things that have germinated include red castor bean, Aster chinensis Blue Ribbon, Amni Graceland, amaranthus caudatus Coral Fountain , Ipomoea luteolo Scarlet Creeper and Ipomoea coccinea Red Hummers, Nasturtium Whirlybird (not a lot of germination--prob. too early), Dianthus Black and White, Cosmos bipinnatus Double Check.

Still have some no-shows: Nepeta Blue Moon, Primrose Viennese Waltz, Petunia Blue Daddy (probably sowed too early), Lavender, Lilium Lancifolium, Schizanthus Pinnatus, Ipomoea Carnevale di Venezia, Dahlia Harlequin and Fireworks (just WS a week ago) and Lychnis Chalcedonica camea (ditto.) But I never exactly remember if some just take a long time to germinate, or if I sowed too early and they got too wet, or.. . or. . . it's all kind of a experiment! And it's still pretty cool around here.

Wow, Emily, you must be getting much warmer weather than I am. It only got to around 50° today, and nights around 40°. Rainy, too. Supposed to get warm and sunny for a few days, then cool and rainy again for the weekend

Karen

Thanks for the good thoughts for my friend's family. News now says there were some 59 tornadoes this weekend. Tn got three of them but none were close to me.

Emily good job! Sounds like you'll have lots of work coming up in the near future

The poppies I tossed on the ground a few weeks ago vanished. Main reason I hate to plant that way is I usually loose them when I do.

MollyD