• indoor,  media,  video,  winter

    I’m Gardening on TV

    I got a call yesterday and was asked to be on the Swedish speaking morning show Min Morgon. They were interested in current gardening tasks. It’s still very much winter here so it was either repotting, growing herbs indoors or starting plants from seed. I went with the two latter. I you are in Finland or use a VPN service like the ones my expat friends like you can see the show here until the 24th of February. I’m on at 14:40 minutes in and babble away for the next ten minutes. EDIT: You can’t see it anymore Minua pyydettiin eilen mukaan FST:n Min Morgon aamu-ohjelmaan. Heitä kiinnostivat ajankohtaiset puutarhatoimet.…

  • greenhouse,  indoor,  winter

    What Would the Hardcore Enthusiast Do? Part 2

    There are easy ways of sowing and there are complicated ways of sowing, there are of course also easy complicated ways of sowing 😉 I wrote a bit about raising woody plants from seed in Part 1 of my slightly beyond normal gardening endeavors. Uncomplicated seeds germinate in something close to room temperature or a bit more within a week or two, but in addition to those kinds of seeds there are several ones that require a few tricks. Cold treatment is the most common one, but there are fire treatments, hormone treatments and all sorts of minor tricks. Cold treatment the easy way, sometimes I have been using the refrigerator, but then…

  • winter,  woodland

    Hellebores

    One of the first things that brighten up the new season is the Hellebores. Some years, they even brighten up the winter. A few years ago I managed to plant one in January and two years ago one actually flowered on January 25th. That’s not going to happen this year.   Before the snow came I did see that some of the Helleborus nigers had a few buds, but then the snow came in spades and now I’m just hoping that they will survive for a few months. I’ve bought most of my Hellebores as plants, but I’ve also managed to raise one plant from seed. They are a bit…

  • shopping

    What I Also Wanted to Get

    Ordering plants from Jürgen Peters yesterday I was also severely tempted to get a nice posse of Auriculas. However, I showed some restraint and I decided to wait another year or so until I could think of a nice place for these showy small plants. A few years ago I explored the student/budget way of getting a nice collection of Auriculas. I bought a packet of seed and raised those plants but they were a bit of a disappointment. Out of the packet that was supposed to give a fairly diverse collection of Auriculas, all of the plants looked more or less like the ones I snapped below. Primula Auricula-hybrids:…

  • shopping

    I’m Hoping to Grow

    From left to right, top row: Antirrhinum ‘Opus Plum Blossom’ (PoD), Thunbergia alata ‘African Sunset’  (PoD), Thunbergia alata ‘Blushing Susie’ (T&M), Thunbergia alata ‘African Sunset’ (T&M), Antirrhinum ‘Cinnamon Bronze’ (PoD). Middle, left to right: Maurandya ‘Bridal Bouquet’ (PW), Aquilegia ‘Green Apples’ (PW), Cobaea scandens var. alba (PoD), Digitalis lanata ‘Cafe Creme’  (PoD). Bottom row, from left to right: Aquilegia ‘Black Barlow’ (PW), Meconopsis wallichii (PW), Meconopsis betonicifolia ‘Alba’ (PW), Cosmos ‘Collarette White’ (PoD) and Asarina procumbens (PW). Pictures form the supplier’s pages. I was thinking of renewing my aquilegias a bit, I love them and they are easy to raise, but unfortunately they are quite short lived. I’m thinking of getting at…