my baby seedlings are having a tough time ….
As many of you know, I have really drastically cut back on my gardening and have grown very, very few seedlings in the last few years.
My entire "program" this year consists of 6 seeds I planted in the ground here in Ohio last December. They were seeds I made, and I used them to show someone else how to plant them outdoors in the fall. I have always planted my seed outside in the fall. I was taught years ago to do them this way. Every seedling I have ever raised started by being planted late in the fall outside in the ground.
I made some thoughtful crosses from my plants last season to give to a friend who wanted to get started in hybridizing. I wanted to give them a nice mix of color and styles, with good plant habit. A nice base group to start a program with.
I picked one of the crosses to keep for myself, and used that one to show him how I sow them out in the ground. The cross is Mother Upduff x Raptor. Should be some strange looking babies from that cross - that's why I kept it. It was a little to much on the weird side to give to a "newbie" and I like to mix things up and do things that are different and that other people probably would not do.
Of the 6 seeds, 4 have broken the surface. One was showing a hint of two little leaves. The other 3 were just green bumps. Still have hope of seeing the other 2 seeds germinating. I usually have really good luck with sowing seeds outdoors in late fall and early winter.
Well --- in the last few days since they broke the surface - the temps have taken a nose dive. They have had 3 nights below freezing. It snowed last night. It's supposed to be down to 21 tomorrow night.
There is a little bit of shredded mulch around them, but not much. I won't do anything to protect them. I don't baby seedlings here. The will live or they won't.
I think they will be just fine.
