About Me

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I am a married mother of 2. I live in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Canada, and I would not want to live anywhere else. This is the greatest place in the world. My husband is a lobster fisherman, and is away from home a lot, so I have a lot of hobbies and interests. I love to knit, both by hand, and on my newly purchased Ultimate Knitting Machine. I like to cook and bake, and in the summer, I like to grow flowers and tomatoes.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Wave Petunias from Seed

I am what you would call a cheap gardener. I always try to do things the cheapest way possible. It broke my heart to pay $3.99 each for the wave petunias I put in my homemade planter last year. Even though the color was spectacular all summer, and well into the fall, and, yes, I suppose, it was worth it, it seems like a lot of money for one plant that will die as soon as the snow flies.

I was smart last year. I watched the plant carefully for the flowers to die, and monitored the seed pods as they swelled and turned brown. I collected a whack of seed from those two plants. About 3 weeks ago, I bought some peat pellets, and started some seed. I was a bit discouraged at first becuase the websites I consulted suggested that they should sprout in 5-7 days. They did not.
At first I figured the seed wasn't viable. Maybe I didn't store it properly. Maybe I harvested it a bit too early. Oh well, I told myself. I decided that the peat pots should not go to waste, so I planted some sweet pea seed (3 packs for a dollar at the dollar store). Within 3 days, the sweet peas had germinated, and then I saw it! Little tiny dots of green all over the top of the peat pots. My petunia seed had indeed sprouted.
I rushed off to the Wal-Mart, and bought some more peat pellets, and with a darning needle, I carefully transferred each tiny seedling to its own pot. I have about 100 plants started now, in butter tubs, foil pans and plastic food containers, all propped in the sunny windows in my house, and they all seem to be doing very well. I have no doubt that by the time the last frost danger is past (mid June here in Newfoundland) I will have an abundance of bright pink and purple flowers all over my garden. I am keeping my fingers crossed, and hoping that the seed produces plants exactly like the ones they came from.

I have looked at many seed vendor's websites, and the price of seed for waves is extremely expensive...10 seeds for about 5.00. If I can cover my garden in containers of these gorgeous flowers for free, (or for the cost of the peat pellets) all of this will have been worth it!

Happy Gardening

1 comment:

  1. How did you preserve your seeds, did you put them in a refrigerator during the winter months so they could stay cool?

    ReplyDelete