{"id":90,"date":"2012-03-16T14:11:00","date_gmt":"2012-03-16T14:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/?p=90"},"modified":"2012-03-16T14:11:00","modified_gmt":"2012-03-16T14:11:00","slug":"tricked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/?p=90","title":{"rendered":"Tricked!"},"content":{"rendered":"

So I have an extraordinarily busy schedule for this week and next\u00a0after work.\u00a0 Unfortunately, we are in prime seedling starting season, which means that poor J had to start my snapdragons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Not grown by me<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Snapdragons are native to North Africa and the Mediterranean, and are apparently incredibly fussy when it comes to getting them started.\u00a0 The package directions say to sow them in vermiculite, and to only sow them on top of the soil and not to cover them as they need light to germinate.\u00a0 They also need cooler temperatures, so they can’t be placed on a heat mat.\u00a0 After sprinkling the seeds on top of the soil, they need to be misted lightly with water and monitored – they can take up to three weeks to germinate.\u00a0 I picked about 4 different colors to grow, plus a type that drapes so I can grow my own hanging baskets this year.<\/p>\n

The geraniums, apparently, need a completely different starting process.
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Also not grown by me<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

We’re apparently already behind the 8-ball on this one, as many online gardening sites suggest sowing the seeds by mid-February for a mid-May planting.\u00a0 The particular brand I selected this year requires soaking before planting.\u00a0 Geraniums are sown into the soil and then thoroughly watered from underneath rather than sprinkling water on the top of the cells.\ufeff\u00a0 They need a lot of light and temperatures between 70-75 degrees during the day and 55-60 at night.\u00a0 Under the right conditions, they\u00a0will germinate in about 7-10 days.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Ours germinated in two<\/em> days.\u00a0 Two.\u00a0 And two of the five planted seeds germinated the next day<\/em>.\u00a0 Moral of the story?\u00a0 Don’t believe everything you read on the internet; sometimes it’s wrong.\u00a0 So our new concern is not killing them.\u00a0 After all, this was the most expensive package of seeds – $2.25 for 5.\u00a0 But a potted 4″ geranium retails for $3.99 around here, so if we can keep them alive, it’s a significant savings.<\/p>\n

When we were placing our seed order, J told me that he was going to put all the flower seed starting in my hands.\u00a0 So far he’s done all of it.\u00a0 What a guy!\u00a0 Of course, if this is successful, I will be unable to say that I grew all my own flowers from seed, because that will be categorically untrue as I have thus far done none of the work.<\/p>\n

In August, when the gardens look great and my flower containers are at their height, I am always enormously pleased with how wonderful everything looks.\u00a0 I forget what a pain in the you-know-what this is to get going.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I have an extraordinarily busy schedule for this week and next\u00a0after work.\u00a0 Unfortunately, we are in prime seedling starting season, which means that poor J had to start my snapdragons. Not grown by me Snapdragons are native to North Africa and the Mediterranean, and are apparently incredibly fussy when it comes to getting them … Continue reading Tricked!<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sharing_disabled":false,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[2,14,49],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s3f8I6-tricked","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=90"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cocktailfarmers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}