Thursday, November 4, 2010

Fall Planting











Seems like forever since i have posted, my back went out in September when i should have been in the garden dividing lilies. I layed on the floor for about 3 weeks. I believe going from one side to the other is the hardest thing in the world when your back is pinching those nerves and the pain is terrible. Enough of that.




A few weeks ago my wife and son Jeremy got together for a few days and started moving plants and planting seedlings. I was digging plants(clumps) i wanted to use in the greenhouse this winter and lining out the rest of the clump. I did buy some plants from Floyd Cove like Space Warp and Shamrock Dew and a few of their blue eyed things tyo go with my tets. On my dips i have some of Jack Carpenter intros and seedlings with patterned eyes to play with. And also on some of Grace Stamiles blue eyed dips i will load up with pollen from my bigger thicker substance seedlings. Man if i could get a 6 inch flower in different base petal colors with blue eyes like her Southern Blues i would get excited.




Where the seedlings from the plug trays are planted we have them planted 6 inches apart and rows one foot apart. i think there are 85 seedlings to a row. If we have an easy winter some of these will bloom next summer. About 90% are out of Texas Kalidescope pollen applied to my selected seedlings with much thicker substance.




The picture showing the alphalfa pellets is how we make all our rows and they stay put for 2 years and redone again. Lets say rows are 65 ft long and 5 ft wide so we can get 4 rows of plants in the bed. This is for one row. 50# alphalfa pellets, 25# cottonseed meal, 15# pelletized lime, 3 to 4 inches composted small pine bark and about 3 gallons of 9 month osmocote fertilizer




15-9-12. The second year i will top dress the bed again with fertilizer. When i apply the pellets i use a water hose and wet down the pellets to help break them down. Just a good wetting will break open the pellets. Till it all in and plant your plants. Water well for several days. I also use pine needles as a mulch and it helps keep out the weeds. Just add water and watch your plants grow. Fall is here and we have had 2 frosts but we will have a killing frost saturday morning. All my dormants will rest for a while till spring brings them to life. We only get one time in this life before we get to eternity so make it a point to let someone else have a Great Day. We can have our day anytime. Jim Elliott