Wish me Luck!

I have very bad luck with seeds. I think that is why I love to get "volunteers." I put that word in quotes because one of my non-gardening friends didn't know the word when applied to gardening. When I explained it to her she said, "Don't most people call those weeds?" I think she is right. A plant where you didn't really intend it to be is a weed. All the squash volunteers that came up all over the yard from the compost. The extra tomatoes that took over the garden two summers ago. The CA poppies that are growing in the cracks between the patio stones. All should be pulled out, weeded out. But I have a hard time doing that because I don't have good luck with seeds. So when seeds come up by themselves I get excited. It's like having success that you didn't expect (even though I had nothing to do with it). I have even kept volunteer plants that I would never have planted on purpose. A pink petunia is currently growing in my yard. I don't like petunias, especially pink ones. But this one makes me happy because it miraculously came up in a place that hasn't had even the whiff of a petunia nearby for at least the four years that we have lived here

I do sometimes pull them out. Usually I dig them up and try to transplant them instead (which can just be a longer, more drawn out version of plant death!)

This year, since I am studying to be a MG, I think I should get better at growing with seeds. So, I sowed some seeds (according to the Larner Seeds package instructions) for Gumplant (Grindelia stricta) and Elegant Tarweed (Madia elegans). Both of these are yellow-flowered natives that attract bees. Along with them I planted Lacy Phacelia (Phacelia tanicetifolia), a blue-flowered native that also provides food for pollinators. I put the seeds in three yard-square patches. I hope they come up!

I saved two seed packets from the pollinator pack to sow in flats first and then transplant to larger pots and then to the ground. Yikes!! Can I do this??? That is what the package said to do. Apparently these seeds are not as easy to sow directly in the ground. Maybe they get eaten by birds, maybe the seedlings are a favorite of snails. Like my lupine--everytime I see a lupine seedling from the wildflower mix and get excited, it is gone the next time I go out :-( But I did get some bush lupine seeds to come up in my little six pack. So maybe there is hope for me and seeds!