You have your planting seasons all mixed up,” a friend of mine told me. “It’s much too late to sow annuals now. Winter will be here before they have a chance!”
What my friend didn’t realize is that we who grow plant and garden under glass do not follow the same planting schedules as outdoor gardeners since flowers in the dead of winter are what count with us. Not that we don’t have definite planting schedules. We do! But, like the seasons of bloom, the time for starting plants is turned all around.
Plant Growth Needs Sunshine
Those beautiful blooms you see in the greenhouse when all is covered with snow don’t just happen. They result from seed sown right now. The big thing is to get plants well established before the short days of September and October arrive. More than anything else, plant life depends upon sunshine to make the kind of vigorous growth that yields bountiful blooms. The same plants that take three and one-half to four months to mature in spring and summer will require five months in fall and winter.
Fortunately, it is a simple matter to get a good crop of seedlings started in the greenhouse now. I have noticed most home greenhouse growers like to use 8-inch bulb pans for summer sowings.
They are easy to water by sub-irrigation if set in large pans or saucers. Saucers can be bought at garden centers to serve as reservoirs. Several layers of dampened cheesecloth stretched over the top of each pan create the needed humidity and help maintain the soil surface moisture so important to germination at this season. After the plants are up, I like to transfer them to 3-inch pots plunged in sand.
Get Started for Winter now!
by C Ernest
