Wednesday, June 1, 2011

SeedGrow....Back, Back, Back Again!

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Great news to all that were a fan of the seedgrow posts last year! They are back, and I get to review not one, but three different kinds of seeds. Renees Garden has been kind enough to provide the seeds free to me to grow and review.

Container Lettuce Garden Babies Butterhead Seedlings

The first seed I am trying out is Container Lettuce Garden Babies Butterhead.  For ease of my fingers, I will call it Garden Babies, or Garden Babies Lettuce for short.  I planted two long planter boxes with the Garden Babies seeds.  Some have germinated and are on the way to becoming cute little lettuce butterballs. You can see mine above.  Yes, I know my soil is a little dry.  It is going to rain tonight, so I didn't want to use the hose water if nature will take care of it for me in a few hours.  Evidently my compost has a few weed seeds in it...a post to come on that later.  But they are small and easily pulled out. 


This picture was provided by Renee's Garden to show what the lettuce can look like when it is mature.  I think they are so compact and adorable!  The packet says "These cute, perfectly formed little butterhead rosettes have softly folded leaves, a lovely buttery texture and out-standing sweet taste"  The packet also says it is slow to bolt and heat tolerant.  I am getting hungry just thinking about eating these tasty little lettuces. 


Close up of Garden Babies Lettuce Seedlings

Pay no attention to my little weeds...I wait until they are just a little bigger so I can grab them out easily. 

Empty pot where Cameo Basil is going to go

The next seed I am reviewing is called Large-Leaf Container Basil Italian Cameo.  I think I will call it Cameo Basil for short.  I just sowed the seeds in here, so there is nothing to see yet.  They will be sharing the pot with a sweet potato vine.  I am collecting basils this year, so I am curious to see how this one stacks up.


This is the Renees Garden picture of the Cameo Basil.  The packet states that Cameo was created by crossing Genovese basil with a dwarf basil.  That is why it looked familiar!  The pot I am putting it in is right on my back patio...so it will be easy to go out and snip some when I am cooking.  The green leaves will look great with the purple sweet potato vine.  

Wagon planter with Summer Splash Marigold Seedlings

Lastly, I am growing and reviewing Butterfly Flowers Summer Splash Marigolds.  I will probably call them Summer Splash.  I love marigolds, they are just so cheerful and easy to grow.  They also do so much to attract beneficial insects and keep pests down naturally.  The packet states that this particular marigold blooms longer than any they've ever seen, and you don't have to remove the spent blossoms.  I might remove them anyways, just to keep the plants looking tidy.  I planted the seeds in my wagon planter on the back patio.  I seem to be having some trouble with getting these to germinate.  The seeds probably dried out, I have been busy and we had some hot winds the other day.  However, these plants need room to spread out, so I think I can transplant some around and end up with plenty of flowers.

This is the provided picture of the Summer Splash Marigolds.  Whoo-whee!  If this is how big they get, I better spread mine out more.  I can't wait to see how they look all together in my planter.


I am so excited to be doing this again, and I can't wait to see how everything grows this season.  I will be back in future posts to talk about all the fun things I will be doing with these plants as they grow.  Hope you see you here.  Again... I'm growing with the SeedGROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the free seeds.

5 comments:

  1. Glad I'm not the only one who waited until fairly recently to sow! :) Can't wait for sprouts!

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  2. Im so excited for this years seedGROW PROJECT! Lots of ideas brewing!

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  3. Excited to see how your seeds will grow in Central Iowa -- we are on the Central California Coast, so the climate is quite different. We've actually had a lot of rain lately but it's been cooooold. The Summer Splash does get pretty big, so it's pretty important to follow the thinning/spacing instructions for them. I planted them near some tomatoes last year and the color mix was awesome.

    At the office, we call the lettuce "Garden Babies" for short, too. We tried to convince our business manager to get a picture of her newborn next to some Garden Babies butterhead lettuce a year or so ago, but they probably got eaten too fast for the photoshoot to happen :).

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  4. LOL, I thought the same thing about the marigolds when I saw their picture! I'm going to need a bigger pot.

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  5. Hi! I have lots of Marigold seedlings. They are about 3-4 inches tall. I have a problem though.... My other two seedlings are very close from one another (probably just an inches away). I got them grew on a seed raising mix, same cube. I have transplanted it already to a same pot. My mom told me to take the other one to another pot... but I'm hesitating to do so 'cause I feel like they are very sensitive and if I insist in pulling them apart, one of them (or most likely both) will die. You seems to be good at this. Can you please advise me regarding this matter? I'm totally new at this Marigold thing and I don't want my new small plants to die. Would it be better for me to just let it stay there together? What's the consequence if I insist? Should I rather have it pulled apart? Thanks!

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