Seeding Poppies
Poppies need a bit of a cold spell to germinate, they can be planted in fall, or they can be spread in the spring when you will still have some cold weather. I’ve even read that some people recommend sprinkling the seed on top of the snow so that they get a good dose of cold. I can’t wait to see these beauties bloom!
Yesterday was a lovely day, sunny with a high of almost 50. I wanted to do a few garden chores, but the soil is still mostly frozen and where it is thawed it’s a sticky mess. So, I cleaned up a few things here and there and broadcast a few types of seeds that don’t mind a dose of cold or things that won’t suffer from it. Arugula, cilantro, beets, spinach, lettuce, etc. are all seeds that can be sown as soon as the top layer of soil is thawed. They won’t germinate right away, but they will germinate when the soil temperature is right for them. It’s a great task to do when the soil isn’t workable yet, but you want to get out and get something done.
What did you plant this weekend?
Beautiful flowers. Have you ever published a summary of your favorite seed companies? And do you find that the smaller seed companies mostly distribute through a catalog that brings them together or that they mostly advertise on their own?
to Margie's comment
I’ve had great success just broadcast sowing breadseed poppies in the early spring, and I live in the Pacific NW with much milder winters than Maine. Also, broadcasting them in the fall worked pretty good for me. We’re in for a stretch of sunny mid-50’s weather, so I just planted my peas and sowed arugula, turnips, radishes, and lettuce in a low tunnel. My first time trying a low tunnel in my garden, so fingers crossed it results in early spring veggies!
to Sacha's comment