Mood:
brightNow Playing: Lorrie Line
Topic: seed starting
So far it is the Sedge seedlings that have a jump on things in the pushing spring department. What are sedges you might ask. They are sort of like grasses only sedges mostly have triangular stems and grasses have round stems. We grow ten kinds here at sunshinegardens.tripod.com mostly for shoreline plantings as we do a lot of that. Sedges have robust spaghetti like roots that grow down deeeplyto hold a shoreline in place should wind or ice or waves come along and threaten to cut into the shoreline. Most shoreland owners figure they paid good money for their shoreland and they want to keep it there. I agree and so do the sedges.
I like to interplant with marsh milkweed( Asclepias incarnata)and blue flag irises(Iris versicolor) along with grasses such as Prairie Cord Grass(Spartina pectinata). Those latin names have you scratching your head saying why bother with the latin names? Foe example the latin name helps me identify one Asclepias from another. Asclepias incarnata I mentioned before likes to be planted where it can send its roots down into a lake or shallow water table or moist soil while Asclepias tuberosa Butterflyweed likes to send its deep fleshy roots down deep too but it thrives in dry soil to the point of croaking if it gets too moist.
I am also seeding some of the Butterflyweed in my special sandy soil mix without perlite. I don't use perlite in this seed starting mix as perlite tends to float away when watered or blow away if I plant the resulting plugs on a sandy windy site leaving the tiny yet fleshy roots exposed to the elements and good old minnesota frigid temps which I hear we are in for more of below zero temps. Batten the hatches as the full moon cometh so do the colder temps!
