What have you done today in the Garden?

The seller of the new milkweed says the seeds must have cold scarification (or whatever cold) for 4 weeks. So, it looks like they won't get planted until late April or early May depending on when they arrive. I will put them in the fridge (or freezer?) for the duration.

I ordered some yarrow seeds today in cerise. I wanted to have some for medicinal purposes and the flowers. It is good to have for emergencies, like if someone is bleeding. Yarrow was used anciently for battlefield wounds to stop the bleeding. At least that is what I have read in places. I do have some wild yarrow around here, just thought I would get some tame yarrow too. It comes in several colors.

Another good thing to stop bleeding is black tea. One of my cats got injured back in January (not sure if I mentioned it or not), but he was apparently fighting with another cat or other animal, and his head was covered in blood, and one ear injured. He also spurted blood all around my freshly painted front bedrooms and I had to scrub them down. Anyway, after rinsing him with a washcloth, I made some weak tea (looked up online what herbs could be used, and I had some tea bags) and washed his wounds with that. It did stop the bleeding quickly. Even though I do not drink regular tea, I keep it around for medicinal use.

 

Nightowl, please post some pics when your Milkweed bloom.

 

So far, it is too early for them to be up. I am not sure when they sprout in the spring. I sure hope they grow and bloom!

I used to have wild purple milkweed, but most of them got mowed by DS a few years ago because he did not know better. Occasionally, I find a small clump here and there. I tried transplanting some last summer, not sure if they survived yet. There is wild milkweed around, but apparently someone/thing takes the seed pods.

I saw two pileated woodpeckers a little bit ago. I hope they will have a family here. I had not seen the one for over a month, so did not know if he was still around or not.

 

@AAnightowl, When I grew them, I used a moist method. Wet a paper towel squeeze out most of the water. Place the seeds on the moist paper towel. Fold it over the seeds. Place in a zip lock sandwich bag. Label with remove date, 4 weeks.

They need the chilly metabolism to break dormancy. Freezing preserves them but doesn't stratify.

That works for me for rudbeckia, milkweed, daylily, peach, plum, echinacea, and some others.

 

Nightowl, that book is right up my alley. I enjoyed this book very much too.

https://www.amazon.com/Buried-Book-Rediscovery-Great-Gilgamesh/dp/0805087257

 

I don't know if we can do this; but I have wild milkweed seeds in the freezer ( cold stratified). Different teachers at school wanted some, and my neighbor brought a couple pods worth over for me to take. But by the time she did so, they had finished that lesson. Plus they wanted the pod as well. So I put the whole bag in the freezer (because you can never have too many milkweed). If you want some seeds I can send you some, if we can do that.

 

Guess I'll move them to the refrigerator. I just assumed since we have cold (freezing) winters they should be in the freezer. My wild ones outside get frozen every year.

 

I have 4 (5 counting the big one with 2) ginger plants coming up at the school. I'm going to bring one of them home to put in a larger pot. I planted the ginger root last November, maybe early December. It took forever for them to come up!

 

Just a bit I hope of useful information, I should have mentioned in my previous post.



The bit of blue pipe you can see, I have attached to one side of a double tap, (the other is for the hose). I use this when I'm mixing plant food in a watering can. It reaches the bottom of the can. So when I turn on the tap it will mix in whatever I want without me having to stir it and there's no danger of getting my feet wet as I fill it.

 

Just looking after seedlings in the conservatory. The weather has been sunshine and showers for a few days.

 

@Willowisp0801 , @S-H I think it was, and I exchanged seeds here a few years ago. We just exchanged mailing info in a private message, and shared some seeds. Some milkweed seeds would be nice. If I have seed from something you want, I could send you some.

@Daniel W , I will try the cold thing your way when my seeds arrive. I got my book on eBay for $7 and free shipping, but some had higher prices for the same book.

I plant a lot of seeds in the fall/over winter such as echinacea, zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, black eyed susans (rudbeckias? I think), morning glories, and others. Many annuals re-seed and regrow in the spring, I think some call them "re-seeding annuals". They do here in southern Missouri at least.

My leek seeds did arrive the other day. I hope to do some planting things this week. I also need to rake up those rocks so I can mow my grass.

 

I think I forgot to mention it, but last Wednesday when I got home from errands, there were hundreds of little black honey bees buzzing in a section of my yard. These honey bees are about 1/2 the size of regular honey bees. I had a friend look at them also, and I had looked up black honey bees. Apparently, black honey bees are rare. They left later, and I have no idea where they went, but I hope they found a nice place nearby.

Black Honey Bees in America - Carolina Honeybees

 

@Doghouse Riley how do fasten the pex pipe to your faucet?

 

@Daniel W, I took a class on ancient literature in college, and part of it was about the Epic of Gilgamesh, and many other ancient writings.

 

We have black and brown honey bees in PNW the two major pollinators of crops in the state. They are everywhere in summer.
https://www.oregon.gov/oda/shared/Documents/Publications/IPPM/ODABeeGuide.pdf