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March 2010 Newsletter:
March 2010 Newsletter:
March Magnolia buds by Ron Gregor
Greetings fellow gardeners!
Happy Spring. We finally come to one of my favorite times of the year! The crocus, daffodils, hyacinths and tulips are beginning to show, the seedlings are healthy and the dirt in the gardens is coming alive and ready to be worked.Time to order your seeds? Click on the daisy above to get to the website. I have put a limit of $2.99 on the shipping and have made it easier to order with "add to cart" buttons on every seed. Let me know if you have questions.
You are getting this newsletter because we have done business or you have requested it. If for any reason you wish to be taken off the list just let me know. Either use the button on the bottom of the email or send me an email.
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When I see that first, minuscule, curled, pale green wisp
of a sprout poking up between a couple of grains of
vermiculite, I hear God speaking.
- June Santon, "Miracle in a Dixie Cup,"
of a sprout poking up between a couple of grains of
vermiculite, I hear God speaking.
- June Santon, "Miracle in a Dixie Cup,"
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SEED OF THE MONTH
The flower seed for March is the Moon flower.
If you click on the picture of the flower it will open a short video of a bloom opening in real time.
Alternate name: Sacred Thorn-apple, Angel Trumpet
Family: Solanaceae, Nightshade
Large, trumpet-shaped, white corollas, generally withered by early morning, protrude from the coarse foliage of this stout, branched plant.
Moonflower is one of the most romantic plants you can grow in the garden. It's a statuesque, ideal evening-garden plant bearing large trumpet-shape flowers that unfurl in the evening or on overcast days and stay open all night until the sun rises. Some are sweetly fragrant when open. This beautiful plant is also very heat- and drought-resistant. Beware: It's quite poisonous, as well, especially the seeds.
Plant outdoors after all danger of frost is passed. Give it moderate moisture and fertilizer. You can also train it into a treelike plant along a stake, especially in a large container. Datura reseeds freely to the point of being invasive in some conditions.
We told the kids the seed pods were porcupine eggs.
- Light: Sun
- Plant Type: Annual
- Plant Height: 1-5 feet tall
- Plant Width: 1-4 feet wide
- Landscape Uses: Containers, Beds & Borders
- Special Features: Flowers, Fragrant, Drought Tolerant, Deer Resistant, Easy to Grow
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"All gardeners know better than other
gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb
gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb
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TIP OF THE MONTH
This month's tip is a pretty good short video on using lights indoors to start your seedlings...
(Click on the link or cut and paste it into your browser)
In my setup, the height of my fluorescent bulbs are fixed and I move the seedlings down as they grow. At first they are on 2 risers, then 1 and then right on the shelf. I put it in the furnace room so I get no sunlight and they do fine. The fan is an important part of the plan.
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Happiness held is the seed; Happiness shared is the flower.
John Harrigan
If you refer someone to the omahaseeds.com website and newsletter be sure they mention your name so that you can get your free pack of seeds (remind me on your next order).
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garden in Afrikaans is tuin
garden in Danish is have
garden in Dutch is hof, tuin
garden in Finnish is puutarha
garden in French is jardin, jardin potager
garden in German is Garten
garden in Hungarian is kert
garden in Italian is giardino, verziere
garden in Norwegian is have, hage
garden in Portuguese is jardim
Please send me photos of your garden highlighting the plants you have purchased on OmahaSeeds.com and I will feature the best both in the newsletter and on the website.
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From Chicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul...
Love and Daffodils Forever
"It is better to remember our love as it was in the springtime"
- Bess Streeter Aldrich
Bill and Constance had just celebrated their thirty-ninth anniversary when Bill went for his annual checkup. Always in perfect health, he was unprepared for what the doctor found. Symptoms Bill had ignored as "old age" led to questions, palpations, more questions, and finally instructions for a battery of tests.
"Just to be on the safe side," the doctor said. When Bill took the news home to Constance, she refused to consider that it could be something serious.
Fortunately, it was April and the gardens beckoned. Preparing the beds for the coming season, Bill and Constance threw themselves into the now-familiar yearly routine. They spend their days, as always, surrounded by trays of flowers and bags of mulch, wielding their favorite trowels.
As the summer progressed. thirty years of gardening rewarded them with a showplace of color. Benches and birdbaths were places amid the bounty of flowers, and they spent nearly every evening during the summer relaxing and basking in the beauty. The old swing hung from their favorite oak, and they held hands, swinging like teenagers and talking until long after the sun set and the fireflies flickered.
By summer, Constance began to notice a subtle change in Bill. He seemed to tire more easily, had difficulty rising from his knees and had little appetite. By the time the test results were in, she was no longer so sure of a good prognosis.
When the doctor ushered them into his office, she knew. His demeanor was too professional, too unlike the friend they had known and trusted for so many years. There was no easy way to say it. Bill was dying, with so little hope of curing his illness that it would be kinder not to even try. He had perhaps six months left, time enough to put his house in order, but little time for anything else.
They decided he would stay at home, with help from visiting nurses and hospice when the time came. Their children were both far away, one in Oregon and the other in Chicago. They came for extended visits, but with jobs and children, neither could come permanently. So Bill and Constance spent the ending time as they had spent the beginning time, alone together. Only now they had their beloved gardens, a great comfort to them both for that entire summer.
By September, Bill was fading fast and they both knew the end was near. For some reason Constance could not understand, he seemed to be pushing her to get out more. He urged her to call old friends and have lunch, go shopping, see a movie. She resisted until he became so agitated that she conceded and began making her calls. Everyone was more than willing to accompany her, and she found she did take comfort in talking over lunch or during the long ride to the mall.
TO BE CONTINUED AND COMPLETED IN APRIL...
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Thank you to all that have ordered from the site so far. I have had 1 person not get the seeds I sent - I re-sent them, I had a person plant some seeds and they did not sprout - I sent more just yesterday. I am in this for the fun of it - I WILL TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOU!!
Spread the news! If you would like send this newsletter to your friends, family, neighbors and all your garden club friends simply hit the "FORWARD TO A FRIEND" button below.
Personal note to Ms. Red S. - In regards to your note - I do not know what email address I was supposed to take off and the new email address given is getting bounced back as undeliverable. Please email me. :)
Now I am off to get my hands dirty...
Ron
Omahaseeds@yahoo.com
February 2010 Newsletter
To start off your introduction to our newsletters I am going to give you these seeds free to our newsletter friends. Just send a SASE (self addressed stamped envelope) to my mailing address and I will send you a free pack of these seeds.
February 2010 Newsletter
Here is the February newsletter I promised. Thank you for taking the time to check it out.
Each month From fall through spring you will find a quick note or 2, maybe a special free offer, perhaps a seed-starting hint and possibly a couple gardening inspirations, quips or jokes. Gardening is a passion of mine and seed saving, seed starting and plant propagation allow me to continue that through the winter here in frozen Nebraska.
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"I'm not really a career person. I'm a gardener, basically."-- George Harrison
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SEED OF THE MONTH
The seed for February is Love Lies Bleeding.
Amaranthus caudatus is a species of annual flowering plant. It goes by common names such as love-lies-bleeding, pendant amaranth, tassel flower, velvet flower, foxtail amaranth, and quilete. Many parts of the plants, including the leaves and seeds, are edible, and are frequently used as a source of food in India and South America. This species, as with many other of the Amaranths, are originally from the American tropics.
The red color of the inflorescences is due to a high content of betacyanins, like in the related species known as "Hopi Red Dye" amaranth.
A. caudatus can grow anywhere from 3 to 8 feet in height, and grows best in full sun. It can handle a variety of conditions, both humid and arid. It is easily grown from seed; plants can be started indoors in early spring and transplanted outdoors after the last frost.
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The best way to garden is to put on a wide-brimmed straw hat
and some old clothes. And with a hoe in one hand and a cold
drink in the other, tell somebody else where to dig.
- Texas Bix Bender, Don't Throw in the Trowel
and some old clothes. And with a hoe in one hand and a cold
drink in the other, tell somebody else where to dig.
- Texas Bix Bender, Don't Throw in the Trowel
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TIP OF THE MONTH
NOW is the time to be planting your seeds indoors. The old gardener saying "Plant between the saints" is a good rule of thumb. (between the saints = Saint Valentine and Saint Patrick)
I have had issues with gnats in the past this time of the year in the indoor greenhouse. I found I could catch a TON of them on sticky paper but there always seemed a ton more to take their place.
I refuse to use chemicals so, this year I began using a homemade insecticidal soap. It is 1 tablespoon Dawn dishwashing detergent in a quart of water. Any time I see a single bug I spray and the problem has totally gone away.
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A farmer purchased an old, run-down, abandoned farm with plans to turn it into a thriving enterprise. The fields were grown over with weeds, the farmhouse was falling apart, and the fences were broken down. During his first day of work, the town preacher stops by to bless the man's work, saying, "May you and God work together to make this the farm of your dreams!" A few months later, the preacher stops by again to call on the farmer. Lo and behold, it's a completely different place. The farm house is completely rebuilt and in excellent condition, there is plenty of cattle and other livestock happily munching on feed in well-fenced pens, and the fields are filled with crops planted in neat rows. "Amazing!" the preacher says. "Look what God and you have accomplished together!" "Yes, reverend," says the farmer, "but remember what the farm was like when God was working it alone!"
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If you refer someone to the omahaseeds.com website and newsletter be sure they mention your name so that you can get your free pack of seeds.
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The real meaning of plant catalog terminology:
"A favorite of birds" means to avoid planting near cars, sidewalks, or clotheslines.
"Grows more beautiful each year" means "Looks like roadkill for the foreseeable future."
"Zone 5 with protection" is a variation on the phrase "Russian roulette."
"May require support" means your daughter's engineering degree will finally pay off.
"Moisture-loving" plants are ideal for landscaping all your bogs and swamps.
"Carefree" refers more to the plant's attitude than to your workload.
"Vigorous" is code for "has a Napoleonic compulsion to take over the world."
"Grandma's Favorite" -- until she discovered free-flowering, disease-resistant hybrids.
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Seeds available but not yet posted on the website:
Shasta Daisy
Sweet Basil
Bachelor's Buttons
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Thank you to all that have ordered from the site so far - it is beginning to really take off thanks to you. If you have ANY questions about the seeds or info on the plants please do not hesitate to write.
Think Spring!
Ron
