Char,
Thank you for the clear descriptions and pictures.
How do you keep track of the "keepers"? Do you dig them up before they stop blooming? Or do you mark the scape with a tag?
Right now I'm dealing with a bed that is in its 2nd year. I tied waxed string to the ones I want to keep. My challenge now is to dig them out. I want to dig and move my "keepers" but want to let the bed go into a 3rd year because our last winter was so hard on them and I know they didn't preform as they should have. Didn't even see some blooms that were there last year, so I feel I need to let it go one more year. I wish I had 3 beds like you do. I only have 2.
I plant in short rows as you do. I think I did it because it's easier to keep the short rows straight.
Bed #1 was planted with (650 seedlings) 6 to 8 seedlings per row. About 4" apart within a row. The rows are about 8" apart.
Thinking these were too close, bed #2, the following year was planted with (300 seedlings) 6 seedlings per row. About 8" apart within a row. The rows are about 12" apart.
Here in this pic (taken June 2018) you can see bed #1 at the far left. Both beds have 2 sections of rows.
The problem I have in bed #1 is some of them have multiplied quite a bit and I'm worried that I won't be able to see where one cross starts and the other ends. I hope once I start to dig them out, the roots will make it clearer to me. Today I started trimming the leaves to about 9" so I can see better what's in each row. Will continue tomorrow and most likely will dig up some and transplant into sections of the other gardens that I cleared out for them.
Honestly, the hardest part for me is being brutal enough to toss out the ones that didn't get tagged. I simply MUST get tough if I want to plant new seedlings every year.
