BLUE GARDEN GROW-ALONG Pt. 1 PLANNING & PLANTING

[Corinne]

 
       

This weekend will launch the first stage of our Blue Garden
Grow-Along: Planning & Planting.

Even if you plant your Blue Garden in the middle of February,
this is the thread to post your initial planning & planting info.
Type of machine used, seeds, nutes, grow pod material,water
are all topics to share with others which will hold valuable hints for
successful gardens.

Bab has graciously offered to keep a chart of the 'milestones'
of our individual gardens..just email her the info via the forum's email feature.

So, having officially posted the launch thread,
we look forward to reading and sharing about our Blue Grow-Along
and the different seeds and techniques used.

Let's get the planting going this Weekend !

Looking Forward!   

[Corinne]

Here is the info for my garden I will be planting tomorrow, Saturday:

Machine: Classic 7 with Upgraded Hood

Nutes:  GH

Distilled Water

Pods: Park's Seed  brown bio sponges trimmed down

My Seeds:rear pods
  Texas Blue Bonnet(soaking in hot water tonight before planting)
  Dwarf Cornflower
  Forget_Me_Not
  Baby Blue Eyes

Front: at each corner:
  Alyssum(white)
  Lobelia

[kforrest]

Corinne I think that is going to be soooo pretty!  Good luck and I'll be following right along!

Good luck with this project to all!

[bab43]

I've placed the summary table here near the top of the thread and will update it as the project moves along.  The purpose of the chart is to track which flowers are actually blue, do they grow in an AG?, how long does it take before germination and blooming?, and do they require a regular or tall AG?

I've used initials to identify the participants Edit: and placed a legend for the initials at the end of the list. Where the member has started a Blue Garden GLOG, you can go to it by clicking on their name.  If participants pm info to me as the project moves along that would be great.  Any other members who have grown blue flowers or thought they were growing blue flowers can pm me with the info as well.  I'd be happy to add it to the chart.

Plant Name	True Blue?	Germination	First Bloom	Height
Alyssum, Wonderland Blue (E) ___________________________________	pink-purple _____________	2 days ____________________	34 days ____________________	______________________
Baby Blue Eyes (C) ___________________________________	_____________	____________________	____________________	Developed root rot. ______________________
Blue Mink (B) ___________________________________	light purple _____________	3 days ____________________	____________________	Too wide for AG. ______________________
Bluebells, California (B) ___________________________________	YES _____________	3 days ____________________	33 days ____________________	Not suitable for AG.  Plants stretch too much. ______________________
Bluebells, California (S) ___________________________________	_____________	4 days ____________________	____________________	Removed from garden. Plants stretch too much. ______________________
Bluebonnets, Texas (C) ___________________________________	lavender _____________	3 days, soaked overnight ____________________	148 days ____________________	______________________
Bluebonnets, Texas (S) ___________________________________	_____________	3 days, soaked overnight ____________________	____________________	______________________
Brachycome, Blue (S) ___________________________________	purple-pink _____________	5 days ____________________	9 weeks ____________________	Regular AG ______________________
Cornflowers, Dwarf (C) ___________________________________	_____________	3 days ____________________	____________________	Too tall for a tall AG. Removed from garden. ______________________
Cornflowers, Dwarf (S) ___________________________________	_____________	3 days ____________________	____________________	Too tall for a tall AG. Removed from garden. ______________________
Daisies, Kingfisher (N) ___________________________________	_____________	____________________	____________________	______________________
Forget-me-nots, Blue (C) ___________________________________	YES _____________	5 days ____________________	78 days ____________________	Regular AG. ______________________
Forget-me-nots, Mon ami (N) ___________________________________	_____________	____________________	____________________	______________________
Larkspur, Gentian Blue Dwarf (B) ___________________________________	_____________	____________________	____________________	Did not germinate in AG. ______________________
Lobelia, Marine Blue (C) ___________________________________	YES _____________	6 days ____________________	56 days ____________________	Regular AG. ______________________
Lobelia, Marine Blue (S) ___________________________________	YES _____________	6 days ____________________	47 days ____________________	Regular AG. ______________________
Lobelia, Midnight Blue (B) ___________________________________	YES, 1st few purple-blue _____________	5 days ____________________	46 days ____________________	Regular AG. ______________________
Lobelia, Regatta Marine Blue (E) ___________________________________	_____________	6 days, pelleted seeds ____________________	____________________	______________________
Morning Glory, Blue Enchantment (N) ___________________________________	_____________	____________________	____________________	______________________
Morning Glory, Royal Ensign Dwarf (B) ___________________________________	YES _____________	4 days ____________________	86 days ____________________	Tall AG. ______________________
Nigella, Blue Skies (B) ___________________________________	YES _____________	planted seedling ____________________	82 days ____________________	Tall AG. ______________________
Pansies, Joker Blue (E) ___________________________________	_____________	4 days, in dark ____________________	____________________	______________________
Petunias, Blue Ice; SkyBlue (C) ___________________________________	lavender _____________	~ 2 weeks, pelleted ____________________	82 days ____________________	Regular AG. ______________________

Violas, Hybrida blue shades (B) ___________________________________	light purple _____________	4 to 10 days, in dark ____________________	74 days ____________________	Regular AG. ______________________
CONTRAST
Alyssum, White (C) ___________________________________	Contrast, white _____________	3 days ____________________	36 days ____________________	Moved to new garden. ______________________

MEMBERS	(Link on name goes to member's GLOG.)
(B)	bab43
(C)	Corinne
(E)	Erin Too
(N)	northerngal
(S)	shane arthur

[shane arthur]

I will plant my seeds February First. It's killing me having a garden stand ready. I'm old school i use the little plastic domes, i sure have enough of em. I cannot wait to place the seeds in the plugs and get my grow on.

[Corinne]

Today is day 3 for my garden and a few have germinated already:
First, the Texas Bluebonnet seed has done well because of
the hot water soaking, I believe. This is the one I thought would be the least likely to
germinate in the AG and it tricked me Big Time LOL!
I planted another pod (unsoaked) in another
spare pod in another machine and nothing has happened, so thanks for the tip on soaking..


Next to germinate is the Dwarf Cornflower of which I planted 2 pods.Both are showing green,
but I will just post a photo of 1.


The third one to show something promising is the White Asyllium which i planted
more on the top of the pod rather than down inside, the seeds were so tiny.
The delicate sprouts are starting to come up today:


Still to germinate are the Baby Blue Eyes , the Forget Me Nots and the Lobelia.
But who knows what lurks within the depths of those pods and will make their appearance
at the Sun's first rays??!!

OK  ~~~That's all she wrote~~

[shane arthur]

awesome, I am soaking a few bluebonnet seeds and planted two pods of cone flowers, 2 bluebells and one pod of Lobelia. I have high hopes that some of these will work out. If i can get the blue bonnets to grow properly i will be doing an entire garden of them in the near future.

[Corinne]

Aaah! Another garden has begun! Great!
I plan on putting some of these seeds outside in the Spring well.

[Erin Too]

i planted my blue garden today, yay =)

machine: ag3
seeds: joker blue pansy, wonderland blue alyssum, regatta marine blue lobelia
nutes: general hydroponics flora series
grow pods: park seed 60 cell biodome replacement pods
water: municipal tap water

ive never done pansies from seed before and my research seems to say they are tempermental and difficult to germinate, requiring fairly narrow temperature and light conditions.  so i have planted 5 seeds in the ag and covered them to provide dark.  i also have 5 seeds planted in another pod in my own homemade micro ag, this one is sitting in the fridge for 5 days to cold stratify the seeds.  then it will be removed from the fridge, kept at room temperature, covered to provide dark until germination happens.  we will see which, if either, germinates =)

and for fun, this is my homemade micro ag =P  its a drink mix container cut down to just longer than the grow pod, a circle cut in the lid to support the pod.  if both pansy pods actually germinate, i may go ahead and leave this one where it is, cut a small hole just below the lid and hook it up with tubing and an aquarium pump to provide bubbles and really make it into a micro hydroponic garden.

[Corinne]

Ingenious , inventive and creative!!!!  I like that.

[bab43]

Three out of four California Bluebell pods sprouted in three days, so my blue garden is underway as well.   

[Corinne]

     YES!!!!!

[Erin Too]

grats corinne and bab on the sprouts!

wonderland blue alyssum planted feb 1st 8am, 3 of 5 seeds have germinated as of feb 2nd 6pm.  i have been obsessively checking them, but wasnt expecting to see growth yet!  i didnt have a pic tho as they are way down in the hole and i cant get a decent shot =/ 

[Corinne]

We are on a roll,gang! 

[bab43]

Congratulations to you too Erin Too!  Those were quick! I've put this on the chart at 2 days but could make it 1.5 days "http://www.aerogardengrowers.com/index.php/topic,3163.msg36320.html#msg36320".  pm me if/when you want changes. 

[Corinne]

Day 5 and the Baby Blue Eyes is peeking through!Hard to see, but there inside trying to
make an appearance.

[bab43]

Looks good!  Your garden has started off really well - amazing how quickly these seeds are coming up. 

[Corinne]

Thanks for updating, bab.

[Erin Too]

im excited to see that a couple of my pansy seeds planted in the ag are showing progress.  after all the horror stories i read, i wasnt sure they would grow at all, now i have hope.  the seed casing on two of the five pansy seeds have split open and i think i can see a radicle starting to grow out on one.  not completely positive yet =)  but i am hopeful!

i finally got a halfway decent picture of the alyssum.  this is at about 2.5 days.  the hole in the pod is actually pretty deep, so these sprouts are about 1/4 inch long already.

[bab43]

Excellent!  I'm surprised at the pansy seeds as well.  Looking forward to those.