My name is Aquilegia, and I am a seed addict. Here is what that looks like.
Summer 2010
Everything is in bloom. Dear God, I have a lot of gorgous flowers here. This is stunning. I know, I’ll carefully collect seeds from everything. Why, I’ll never have to buy more seeds ever again. I am so smart.
Fall 2010
Oh no, frost! No more gardening for this year. But I’ll console myself on my favourite seed company websites. I won’t buy anything, but…
Did you see that? This company over there has seeds for an amazing flower I ought to get. Also, I should focus on fragrant flowers / drought resistant flowers / edible things / heritage things / native plants / some other element, and I don’t have enough of that. I’ll just order ten seed packs and it will all be ok.
Winter 2010
Woe is me, the snow has come. I must keep hope alive and believe there will be a summer again. Oh look, the seed company website has a sale / has a new thing / has something I should have bought ages ago. And so cheap! Here, pass the wine, dear. I’m just ordering a few things from the seed company, and then I’ll go to bed. And also, I could put a new flower bed over there, and it would be empty, and then I’d need so many seeds to fill it up, and, and, and.
Christmas 2010
Friends and family have heard that I’m partial to seeds, so they give me seeds. Lots of them. It’s a little overwhelming.
Spring 2011
Oh my goodness, I have a stupid number of seed packages. This is insane. How did this happen? I have enough seeds to cover 10 times the land we have.
What I need here is strategy. I’m not going to save all this seed until next year, because what if it the germination rate goes way down by then? Also, what if I die in the winter? I don’t want to die knowing that last year’s seeds didn’t get sown. No, must sow seeds. Scatter them, that’s the ticket. Scatter them everywhere.
Done. Whew. Seed scattered madly; bullet dodged. Will anything sprout?
Summer 2011
Profusion of flowers! This is amazing, this is stunning! Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow. I know, I’ll save seeds. After this, I’ll never need to buy seeds again.
Rinse. Lather. Repeat.
Only this year will be different.
Previous Journals
- This is the earliest journal.
Comments
anelson wrote:
Thanks for the smile.
Posted on 12 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Aquilegia wrote:
:-) Thanks anelson. I like to think I’m not the only gardener who has done this.
Posted on 12 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
LouiseM wrote:
I can identify! Spent many a happy hour in the Winter pouring over seed catalogues and websites….and getting totally carried away. Loved the “pass the wine dear” part too! Thanks for a good giggle.
Posted on 12 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Orenda wrote:
This conjures up a wonderful image in my head :-)
Posted on 12 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
anelson wrote:
So what’s the problem?
Posted on 12 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Aquilegia wrote:
Thanks, LuoiseM, Orenda, and anelson.
Orenda, I hope the neighbours didn’t see me, going back and forth all over the place. Scatter scatter, scatter scatter.
Posted on 13 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Byron wrote:
I too can relate to having a stupid number of seed packages! Unfortunately I dont have the courage to just scatter them like you do and hope for the best since many of them are very rare and require special treatments to get any germination. Still if you need someone to help feed your seed addiction I’m here to help! :)
Posted on 13 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Aquilegia wrote:
Ha! Thanks, Byron.
I didn’t scatter the seeds that have special needs, like datura and brugmansia. And things for which I have special hope (Good King Henry!) get special treatment, too. Anything that might just germinate all by itself and isn’t rare, though… hmm. Many of those did get scattered. I will probably go scatter many of the seeds I saved last year, too, because there just isn’t time/space/patience to do everything properly.
I hope that I’ll be a perfectly-organized gardener one day, but I’m sure not there yet.
Posted on 13 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Byron wrote:
There’s no such thing as a perfectly organized garden but hey nothing wrong with aiming for it! Ah yes good king henry I’ve been waiting for over a month for them to germinate and I’ve heard that they can take their sweet time so we need to be patient. If not I’m sure somewhere you can get some healthy divisions of it which is far and away the best way to propagate it.
Posted on 13 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
trina1 wrote:
I know exactly what you mean!!!! Glad it’s not just me
Seeds Anonymous meeting anyone?
Posted on 13 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
anelson wrote: Many seeds will last several years, and they can also be traded. I enjoy scattering seed myself and forgetting what I planted and being surprised. My usual method for annuals though is when I do spring weeding I keep a packet of seed in my pocket and every time I pull a weed I plant seeds in the bare patch.
Posted on 13 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Aquilegia wrote:
@trina1 – there do seem to be a number of seed addicts here!
@anelson – and here I thought I had invented that weeding/planting technique! I don’t weed much, but I do pull out tansy ragwort plants (they’re invasive and nasty), and baby little trees that plant themselves in places where, alas, trees must not grow.
Posted on 13 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
anelson wrote:
you have me stunned at the “I dont weed much”. Does that mean you let blackberries, old mans beard, dwarf fireweed, herb robert, wild lettuce seedlings etc just grow, or do you for some reason not have many weeds? If the latter, what is your secret?
Posted on 13 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
ernielovetime wrote:
I love this. I too, am a seedcollecting maniac. I have so many seeds. This year I am going to sow alot of the annuals like poppys and other wild flower seeds every where.Probably at my brothers cottage.I look at all the seed catalouges and have even ordered some one year and then again the next year that I forgot I already had.
Posted on 13 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Aquilegia wrote:
@anelson
Blackberries – we don’t have any, but our neighbours on both sides do, and right along the fences, too! Blackberries spill over and through the deer fencing every year. I let vines do this for the summer, eat the blackberries, then cut blackberry vines back to the fence line in the fall.
Old man’s beard – I had to look this up on the web to see what it is. We don’t have it here.
Fireweed – I haven’t noticed dwarf fireweed, but we have common fireweed. It’s a native plant, right? And pretty enough, so I only yank it if it’s in a vegetable or flower bed I’ve created for a specific purpose. Fireweed is a pioneer species that appears in recently-disturbed areas, which explains what it’s doing here – the soil was disturbed a few years ago when our house was built. I expect there will be less of it once I get other native plants established.
Herb robert – Pretty thing, isn’t it? The first year it appeared I only had one plant, so I let it grow. I like it, but it spreads too quickly and tries to colonize, and it’s non-native. So this I do pull out. I’ve yanked three this year, and there’s one more I’ve been meaning to pull.
Wild lettuce seedlings – You mean miner’s lettuce and Siberian miner’s lettuce? Those are native plants and salad greens, so they are welcome.
Invasive plants These are things I do try to eradicate. Tansy ragwort is a priority, because it’s terribly prolific and is toxic to livestock. I pull thistles. I’m pleased that we have no scotch broom, which is a terrible problem in much of our region.
Horsetail We have way too much horsetail for my liking. I’m trying to reduce that in a couple of ways, but not really by weeding, unless it shows up in a garden bed. At least horsetail is a native plant. Sigh.
Grass One thing I would be very happy to be rid of is grass. I didn’t plant grass, and never signed up for a lawn – it just invited itself! I don’t want anything that needs mowing. I don’t see the point of lawns, and the only grass I like to see here is the native sedge that grows in the wet area. Where there is grass, I’m getting rid of it bit by bit by sheet mulching, followed by overseeding with something I’d rather have, like native plants or clover.
I’m happy to report that one section of used-to-be-lawn is gradually being overcome by other plants, all on its own. Native ferns are showing up, which is fantastic. Other little plants have arrived, too, including a pretty little violet.
Dandelions There are dandelions here and there in the back, but I can’t be bothered about those. Bees like them. I have a small patch of vigorous Italian dandelions in the veggie bed – they’re there on purpose because I like them as salad greens.
Posted on 14 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Aquilegia wrote:
@Byron — I’m glad I’m not the only one waiting (and hoping) for Good King Henry to sprout. I want it so badly!
Posted on 14 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Aquilegia wrote:
@ernielovetime — sowing everywhere does seem like the easy way back to a more organized seed collection. I have established three new systems to keep my seed colleciton in check and well-managed now! If you do scatter seeds all over the place, I’d love to see some photos of the results later on, once everything is in bloom.
Posted on 14 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
SerenDippity wrote:
The best flowerbed I ever had was years ago when I opened a box in a closet that had not seen the light of day since we moved into that house 2 or 3 years previously and found about 20 seed packets that had never been opened. They were ALL years and years out of date. I couldn’t bring myself to just throw them away but I certainly wasn’t going to go to much effort with them, so I just sprinkled them in front of the hedges all along the front of the house. A remarkable number came up and it was a beautiful profusion of color and variety.
I actually tried to recreate that this past year in my wildflower garden… without the expired seeds of course. Unfortunately, although I scattered seeds for about 25 varieties so far my bed consist of only two main wildflowers. I have big drifts of indian blanket and coreopsis with 3 or 4 others showing up with one or two tiny plants. Still, for very little effort, I can’t complain.
I went to look at your “profusion of flowers” and was very disappointed not to see photos!! Can you post photos of some of your flowers? I’d love to see them.
Posted on 14 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Aquilegia wrote:
@SerenDippity – I’ve done that a few times – discovered a bunch of seeds, mixed them up, scattered them, and wound up with great results. It reminds me of a quotation attributed to A.A. Milne: “One of the advantages of being disorganized is that one is always having surprising discoveries.” :-)
As for photos, I haven’t decide what I’m going to do about that. I have looked at the photo services folia supports, and I don’t like the “terms of service” contracts they would require me to agree to, so have been unwilling to sign up with them. I have no patience for nonsense like that.
Maybe I’ll get around to putting up some garden photos of mine elsewhere, and then I could at least provide links. But right now I’m still inputting plants and seeds.
Thanks for your interest. I’ll put “photos” on my list of things to ponder.
Posted on 14 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
pogmohoin wrote:
Hilarity. “a stupid number of seeds.” I love it.
Posted on 14 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
anelson wrote:
horsetail is only encouraged by digging up, smothering, sheet mulching etc. I read that one can get rid of it by cutting it (not pulling) whenever it gets a foot high. I can report that if it does work, this strategy takes longer than 4 years, but it will keep them in check, sort of.
Posted on 14 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
N20863 wrote:
Funny!!! :)
Posted on 14 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Aquilegia wrote:
@pogmohoin – I am good at stupid numbers of things. I have a stupid number of books, too, but at least those weren’t supposed to have gone into the ground last spring.
@N20863 – :-) Glad you thought so.
@nelson – I may be doomed to a life with horsetail, then. I’ll just view it as a decorative element. I’ll tell visitors it is a rare plant that I purchased at great cost, though I am willing to sell cuttings at bargain prices. ;-)
Posted on 14 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Byron wrote:
Ah the lovely horsetail…its unfortunate that its going bananas on you and indeed its difficult to get rid of because even leaving a fraction of its root system in the ground a new one will appear not to mention the millions of spores they produce every year that can lay dormant for years before doing anything. So to eradicate it requires patience as always its a prehistoric plant that came into existance 100’s of millions of years ago during a time when the earth was very acidic and nutrient difficient. So my recommendation would be to not only bump up the ph in the soil using dolomite lime and also adding composted material high in nitrogen. You wont see immediate results but over the course of a few years you will as that kind of growing environment is quite hostile to horsetail. Funny how nature works really….same goes for the invasive broom that we get a lot of along with others that are undesireable. Weeds are nothing more than indicators of a deficiency in the soil wheither its physical (loose/compact soils) or chemical (either deficient or excessive) I like to think of it as mother nature’s way of cortorizing a wound on the earth. :-)
Posted on 15 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Aquilegia wrote:
@Byron – interesting, thanks. I have a couple of Horsetail Eradication Experiments underway, but have to admit I’m not too fussed about it. Worst case scenario: I learn to love horsetail and view it as a prized plant. (It’s not a bug, it’s a feature!) Best case scenario: one of my experiments will succeed, and then I’ll be able to feel like a garden genius for a few minutes.
Posted on 15 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
digfrance wrote:
wow. sounds like fun
Posted on 15 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
flowerweaver wrote:
LOL! I, too, am a seed addict. I feel every seed deserves its chance, and all seeds must be collected, grown, and replanted. It does help having 5 acres, though! http://myfolia.com/journals/72735-confession-i-am-a-stashoholic
Posted on 16 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
redcrystal wrote:
Hahha! I have the same problem with vegetables. I have sooo many seeds for spring, it’s ridiculous… but there’s sooo many more varieties out there :O I need a farm so I can grow all the edibles I want :)
Posted on 16 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
ves wrote:
Welcome to Folia!
Posted on 16 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
halhurst wrote:
Perhaps (theoretically speaking) one should go about their plantings like a wine expert- Plant a sample of everything, but do not empty the packet. Spit the rest out. ….. No….. SPIT…. IT….. OUT.. Are you listening? ….Fine, but don’t blame me when you get way too much!
.
Alas, like you, I am not that good at it. Before my mountaineer white pole beans got their first true leaves I was already investing in multicolored long beans, still unopened. I think it’s akin to empire-building. Just can’t get enough.
.
Or perhaps it’s just the impulse to give life, generously and abundantly, and celebrate it in its many forms.
Posted on 16 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Aquilegia wrote:
@digfrance – gardening in France sounds like fun to me!
@flowerweaver – ha! Thanks for the link to your stashaholic post. I enjoyed that.
@redcrystal – I need a farm, too. A really, really big one.
@ves – thanks for the welcome. I’m still getting used to folia and kind of feeling my way around. What a lot of friendly people there are here!
@halhurst – oh, you make me laugh. Spit…it…out? This is why I fail at wine testing, but excel at wine drinking.
Maybe it is empire building. I think it might be compensation for childhood, when my measly allowance was never enough to buy anything. Seeds are so cheap that I can splurge, and get lots, and I’m still not broke! And it’s so much fun to buy paper packages that are filled with hope and potential.
Posted on 17 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
anelson wrote:
After reading this I checked your swap list, hoping for some rare finds. It amuses me that you have listed nettles.
Posted on 17 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Aquilegia wrote:
ha, well, anelson. They are profuse, those nettles, and they give lots of seeds. :-) I had a taker for nettle seeds, too – sent some seeds of to a gardener who’s probably 50 miles or so from me. She wanted nettles and couldn’t find any. Imagine!
Posted on 17 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
halhurst wrote:
Wait- Gabriola Island? My brother Yendor lived near you, on Cortez, until a few years ago, and he liked to talk with people about gardening, ponds, and lots of other things… Ever meet him?
Posted on 17 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Aquilegia wrote:
@halhurst – no, sadly not. (Getting to Cortes Island from here would require three ferry trips and a long drive.)
Posted on 17 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
halhurst wrote:
I guess I need a geography lesson.
Posted on 17 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
anelson wrote:
it does boggle the mind that someone lives in the PNW and cant find any nettles.
Posted on 17 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
Aquilegia wrote:
@halhurst – you just need a better map. :-)
@anelson – I know of places in the region where nettles don’t seem to grow at all. Amazing, because here we have lots and lots and lots.
Posted on 18 May 11 (about 2 years ago)
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