Not only for geraniums

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by John Beaulieu (Bowl-you)

Not to be confused with winter sewing, which is what my wife, Brenda, does a lot of. Actually, this year I’m a little behind in my seed preparation and also in creating these blogs. I normally get organized right after I have done my late autumn in-ground sowing, by preparing all my name stake labels and sorting my seeds.

This year I did not sow any geraniums in-ground, only sowing my daylily seed that way. That left me more geraniums to process for winter sowing. Plus, some good friends also sent me some extra seed, so there has been a lot to organize. If you are a gardener that grows from seed, you are always planning and working all through the winter… Which is turning out to be a real old-fashioned (lots of snow) winter, at least here in Ontario.

If you don’t collect your own seed, there are many great sources of seed from the various seed schemes (exchanges) of the organizations shown above. They are all easily googled on the internet.

When I finally get around to the actual sowing (I’m about halfway through now), I use a pot that will suit the number of seeds that I have of any one variety. I will use a regular soil-less potting mix, and after evenly sowing the seed, I cover with a little more mix (about 1/4 in.) and water the seeds in with a fine spray to prevent disturbing the seed.

I have even used a bit of snow, which will melt slowly into the pot. If I’m doing this in a warm spell (not much chance this year) it will keep the mix cool, preventing early germination.

The pots are stored in my unheated portion of the garage, where they experience the ups and downs of winter. Most perennials need this cold treatment for good germination. I have found this more effective than just keeping seed in the refrigerator. Temperatures will go as low as –25 C in the garage.

Again, if there is a warm spell, I will cool them down with some snow. Any germination now would be killed by the return of cold temperatures.

Once things start warming up in April, I wheel the pots outside on nice days, bringing them back in if there are frost warnings.

I get a really good percentage of germination this way, even better than in-ground sowing. And, if a plant is going to wait for the second year to germinate (it happens), it is easier to deal with a pot, rather than an empty area in a nursery bed. Of course germination and size of seedlings will vary from species to species. I use this method not only for my geraniums, but for all my perennials.

Even while still in pots, you can see differences between related varieties. We can see above, the regular sized white form of the common Herb Robert compared to the much more compact ‘Celtic White’ variety. There are those that feel ‘Celtic White’ may be a separate species or at least a subspecies of Geranium robertianum.

This is one of my carts last summer with the winter-sown plants that are ready to be placed in the garden. Of course that presents new problems… Where to put them all? Oh well, time to dig a new bed… We will eventually get rid of all the lawn! It may mean work, but it is so nice to think ahead to a warm summer.

These last two photos are sewing, not sowing… In response to a request.

This is one of two jackets, and a wall hanging that Brenda entered in a local quilt show. Her projects are always popular and folks want to know where she found the patterns, not realizing that they are from original drawings that I made for her.

A closer look at the hosta wall hanging, one of my favourites.

• 8 Feb, 2014
• 6 likes

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