The Great Hanging Basket Experiment #1

Hello Friends, 

You know what I LOVE about late late Spring, Summer and Fall (well until the first frost)...????

HANGING BASKETS!!

Every single year, since I can remember it has been one of the simple joys that I look forward to. When I was a little kid it would be going to pick out one with my Mom. Like any important decision, it was made carefully. What colors should it have? What types of flowers? Will we put it in the shade or the sun? The final deciding factor was, of course.....unfortunately but inevitably...... 
price $$$

Which leads me to my next point.

You know what I HATE about late late Spring, Summer and Fall (well until the first frost)...????

HOW MUCH HANGING BASKETS COST!!

Holy smokes guys......have you checked these things out lately? 
Last mothers day my present from my adorable was a day of nursery hopping (with a cheeseburger stop in the middle of course!). Per the usual course of events I would get super excited at the entrance of every place......inhaling all that beautiful fragrance......letting my gaze wander.......trying to eye the best looking basket.

AHA.....found it!

Then I start running over to steal.....uhhh...I mean share a look with that other lady who was going to buy it right out from under me....uhhhh......I mean was also admiring it.

All politely....done very politely...with garden tea etiquette I assure you!

So there we are....me and this gorgeous, full, perfect basket that is just softly saying..."pick me....I'll look like this all summer.....the neighbors will all point and gawk at my beauty"......YES!!! This is the ONE!

Wait.....Whaaaaat????
$75.00???...........damn.......looks like I need to go shop in the ugly....discounted..."don't know why this one didn't turn out"....... section of the greenhouse.

Over the years I have experimented with making my own baskets so I can avoid this dream crushing event year after year. Turns out that isn't exactly cost effective either. I would go to the nursery and load up a flat of petunias and bacopa and million bells....etc...... Even if I had saved my previous years container I could never seem to get out of there under $50.00. Typically that would usually only yield 2 "obviously this lady was trying to save money" hanging baskets. Resourceful gardener fail!

Whatever is a flower child to do!?!

So this year I decided that was it......I try my best to make almost everything else that I think is insanely overpriced but I just can't seem to live without.....(laundry soap is an example....haven't bought any in 3 years....make my own......smell like lavender and angel kisses........high-fives accepted!)

I am going to grow my own baskets. From seed! No cheating! All the way. Master gardener style. 

Here goes nothing.......

100+Petunias

The first challenge was finding seeds. Not because they are hard to find...there are just SOOOO many! (and I love them all!!)I will spare you the hours of research and just point you here : 

Swallow Tail Garden Seeds

Great selection at decent prices and when my seeds arrived they were perfectly packaged and in great condition!

I managed to acquire quite a few containers over the last couple years and finally was able to put them to use. While rummaging through my shed I also found a couple unused cell packs (those containers that look like Popsicle trays!)
Score!!!  I have had this idea before apparently! 

Now comes the fun part.....Planting!!! In a radical move I decide to do something different and do a little research on starting Petunias from seed BEFORE I through all these seeds in the dirt.....crazy.....I know......

Turns out our hanging basket staple is a little demanding when first coaxed to grow.

A great concise resource I came across for growing these lovelies can be found Here!

I have a little talk with my seeds and tell them that I'm not scared...they can be demanding....
"I need water....I need light......this soil PH is ALL wrong".......
I tell them I love them anyway and we are going to do this whole germination thing together.....

Our friend the petunia seed needs light for germination....you bury these little ladies and it's lights out....no grow.....just hanging out with lots of dirt and no action....the problem is they are the tiniest seeds I have ever seen!! So tiny in fact almost all of mine came pelleted. (this is a term used when they coat the seed so it can be handled easier)

Enter tweezers......life saving tool in this adventure so far... 


I proceed to spend the afternoon carefully plucking seeds and placing them into their own little cozy dirt home. The trick with this seems to be that you need them to touch enough of the dirt to gain nutrients but not so much that they are in the shadows. Trickier then it sounds.


I heard a quote somewhere once that said something about every blade of grass has a breath of wind or a fairy or some magical something that whispers "grow" to it......I am determined to become the Petunia whisperer. I pick a seed...gently place it in the soil and whisper "grow"......I feel insanely happy when doing this....and decide that either A. I REALLY need to get out of the house or B. planting things somehow fills my soul and gives me hope.

When done I sit back and look at them all....now comes the hardest part.....waiting......and waiting and waiting.....the part I am least great at!

The packets said that average germination occurs between 7 and 12 days....that's a mighty long time to stare at dirt.
I spend the next several days moving the trays all over the house. "Maybe they would do better with the light from this window?", I think.....
No...No....THE Bathroom!! YES!!! It's light and WARM since it is the smallest room in the house! Brilliant! 
No....no....the dog will step on them when she goes to drink out of the toilet....(come on.....I know I'm not the only one who has a dog that has this little habit!)

See this is where my problem comes in....I catch myself "loving" them to much! I can't just let them be and when you live in 600 sq ft you run out of places to make your Petunia babies comfy......

           Then......about day 6.........something happens!!!!

But wait......there's more!!

I think it was because I whispered to them! HA!


And now I find myself officially in a "middle" again. The excitement of planting and waiting for them to sprout is complete.....but we are not at the big, full, healthy, throw them in a basket and watch everyone swoon part yet either. Ahhhhhhhhh........middles....

Stay tuned!! More to come! 


PS.....Leave a comment on your favorite part of growing things and you will automatically be entered into my first free GIVEAWAY! A winner will be chosen at random March 8 2015 and will receive a complete little kit to start a lovely Petunia of their very own!!