Well so far I have gotten all but 1 bed cleaned out and the grass is coming in so thick in the far back bed I can't see if there are daylilies in some areas. I dug one up a cple days ago and yes it was there but grass was actually growing right through the roots. I either have strong grass or weak roots??

It snowed Saturday night about 1 1/2 inches but is gone now. Too warm to stay long.


Have some nice seedlings set up in the laundry room. Some had such massive roots in the Biosponges I had to put into styro cups until I can get them outside. Pic. of the laundry room shelf and then take a look at the roots on a cple of them I potted up.






This is one of the seed I got fro, Michelle-Tink. Healthy little buggers.

Wow, nice roots!!!

Steph...what great roots you have! Is that your first time with biosponges? Do you know if they are organic...or are they plastic..or?? I would like to hear more about them

Looking Good

Thanks for all the great comments. I have used them for about 4 years now. The first year was ok and the 2nd. I got some bugs and last year was terrible. I am not sure what they are made of.

This year I put them in a big pan of boiling water and let them cook for 3 min. and cooled in a collander and also the styro cell holders, as I got germinated seed I would put it in a cell and also sprinkle with Cinnamon which you can see the jar in the 2nd/ pic. and they have just been without problems. Also last year I had so much damping off that I did not see this year. I also have them under a plant light that has a fan in it to keep the air circulating so I am sure that is helping. So between the boiling to kill any fungus or bug eggs, Cinnamon and the lights and air circulation it is working.I am just so thrilled they are doing so well this year.

Hi Steph, what's the cinnamon supposed to do?

Mona I read in a few different places this spring about the benefit of Cinn. for damping off. I have to admit I see a real difference with it and I will use it from here on out. I understood you need just a smidgion (however much that is ) but I pretty much made everything on top of the bio cells and the seed a nice reddish brown. If I saw any mold starting I added another sprinkling of it on top.

Stephanie, your seedlings look really healthy. Great root systems. Will it be the summer of 2013 before you see blooms from these? I have heard about using cinnamon too, but never trid it. Glad to hear that you can see a difference using it.

Stephanie your babies are looking great!!!

Ann it may be 2013 or poss. 14 since we cannot grow year round here. I may take a few and plant in 3 gal. pots and try to force them just to see what they are like this summer. Yesterday I gave all the potted seedlings some epsom salt/miracle grow solution to get them going more. Will microwave some more of the Miracle Grow potting soil today so I can pot up some more. I have not seen 1 fungus gnat since I have been doing that so it must be killing the eggs in the peat mix.

It is about time Spring starts to show up at your place, Stephanie.

We have had spring here for what feels like months this year, I am sure you are ready to catch up.

Steph, thanks for joining in the threads about member's gardens. I think it is great to look in and see what others have going on. Your seedlings are really looking good!

I had hoped you would say the Cinammon killed those &&&!!!! fungus gnats. They killed probably 50-75 of my little baby seedlings that germinated late in March. Made me sick, sick and mad. I tried most everything for them and Michele gave me some advise on them that I will try later this summer when I plant 2012 seeds. I had bunches of them in my greenhouse. They didn't really start eating the seeds until late Feb and early March so the ones that germinated before then were fine. They ate a lot of seeds and then started on the seedling roots when they finished off the seeds.

I've never had problems with damping off in my daylily seeds. I did years ago on perennial seeds but learned to use clean pots or cups to start the seed in and that ended the problem for me. I also use a "seed" starting mix that is supposed to be sterile.

How old are your seedlings. They are lots bigger than mine. Most of mine germinated the month of Feb 2012. I checked some last week and they have one big root but the rest are still very small roots. They are really growing. I had them outside most of last week but it's rained all this week, so they are back in the greenhouse. I won't leave them out in the rain until they get big enough to withstand our downpours we get sometimes.

Here's one picture:

Congrats. Those seedlings look very healthy with such nice roots.

Thanks everyone. You are all so great,. The encouragement helps. Your welcome Juli.

Mona I had that problem last year and lost so many I did cry and more than once. As I said the Miracle Grow oil is about all I can get here so I put it in the microwave about 2-3 min. depending on yours MW. I did make sure it was moist as the 1st. one was dry and burned and could not get rid of the smell for 3 weeks. You would have thought I had a Bonfire in here .
I only did about a quart at a time also. That seemed to be enough to kill the nasty fungus gnat eggs as have had no trouble at all this year. I started the seeds Mid. Jan through the 1st. of March. I still have a few that don't seem as hardy as others but I think some of it could be genetics too. The ones Pic. were Mid. Jan. but I have a cple I potted up 3 weeks ago that are from Feb. Mar.

I am buying all my soil this late summer fall and putting it in the Micro wave and then bag it up for the seedlings so it is ready to go when I need it.

Great looking seedlings.

Stephanie, nothing going on in your garden lately?