Art of Seedlings

Mike McGrath is issuing his seed starting tips, so it must be getting close to time to play with the seeds in the DC region. I'm only starting my Red Velvet sunflowers inside this year, because I'm not a good seed mommy. But sunflower seedlings are highly robust, and I don't trust the birds with them.

Other than that, I only need to prep my milkweed seeds for direct sowing. I probably should have put them directly in the garden last fall, but I didn't think of it then. Most internet sources agree, that they should be vernalized before planting. Which means a couple months in the refridgerator. Anywhere from 20 to 90 days. Yikes! Glad I'm aiming for a May 15th release date. They should go in soon. Then I'll probably do the scarification to help up the odds. I actually have some cleansed sand that I could use.

And, as I learned last year, it is good to plant seedlings as close to the dates as possible. You hit a sweet spot between nest building. I can only figure that birds ripped up last year's milkweed crop to line nests. Most of my seedlings went this route, unfortunately.