Is it okay to plant these seeds?

[GardenGeisha]

I'm in Zone 6-7ish, Salt Lake City, Utah. I have some seeds, and I'm wondering whether I can go ahead and plant them now, or is it too early:

Larkspur

Catnip

Nemophila

Convolvulus

Bachelor's Buttons

Catnip

Nigella

Parsnip

Turnip

Spinach

Nicotiana sylvestris

Oriental poppies

 

[journey11]

Spinach, turnips and parsnips can go in now...but I'd hold off 'til May on the flowers and herbs. They are not frost hardy, but it's probably still too cold for them to germinate anyway.

 

[catjac1975]

I think the poppies and nicotiana can go out they come up very early. In fact the poppie leaves die back and sprout in winter. They are not that easy for me to germinate and may do better started indoors. I discard all my seed heads in an undisturbed location every year. I just noticed 4-5 volunteer poppies in that location but I literally discarded millions of seeds.

 

[digitS']

I think you are getting good advice, GardenGeisha.

Your other thread is a little confusing tho'. You say your last frost is "about May 15" and that seems late for a zone 6 to 7 garden in Utah. I looked at the U of Utah information on freeze dates (click) and that looks more like a zone 6 to 7 garden. The average frost dates they have for various communities in the Salt Lake City area are from April 8th to May 5th.

I know that there are some elevation differences in Utah. You'd have to take those into account. Are you really 7 weeks away from last frost or is it coming up in just a couple of weeks?

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

I know Nicotiana and I suspect several others will freely self-seed. Therefore, if you plant them now they should come up at their proper growing time. You may have to wait a bit longer than expected for germination, but that is what the whole idea of winter sow is about.

 

[GardenGeisha]

That's what I thought, too, about nicotiana and poppies. They do seem to be hard to get to germinate, and I have spider mites indoors, so I think I will just sow them to the wind now.

I loved the response from the poppy grower who discarded tons of seeds and had only a few germinate. That is very interesting, the kind of experiment I love to hear about. It makes me feel better and understand why I have trouble with getting poppies to grow.

I think Nemophila could go in? It's a wildflower and blooms early. The Wildflower Farm in Texas told me March is the month to plant wildflower seeds.

They just changed our zone number, Steve, last year. It's always been about May 15 here, though, for the safe date to plant. A few years ago we had a freeze with snow on May 28 or so. Everyone is told Mother's Day weekend is the time to plant in these parts, although they may have changed the charts to reflect global warming, but I'm afraid to take a risk on that.

Last year was abnormally warm and we could have planted as early as May 5. But things did not do well following the abnormally warm winter. I think it failed to kill off the bugs or something. This winter was very cold and things seem to be more on schedule. Last year everything was 2 weeks early.

 

[catjac1975]

Do not cover the poppy seeds-they need light to germinate. The nicotiana should be easy and once you get it to grow you will find it coming up every year. I haven't planted it in 10 years or more and it still comes up every year. The seed is like dust so I would think you should not cover that either.

 

[GardenGeisha]

Does it vary from variety to variety of poppy whether it is safe to plant their seeds this early? I have California poppy seeds, Oriental poppy seeds, and a poppy called 'Black Swan.' Are some poppy seeds tenderer than others?

Also what about Asclepias speciosa? Safe to plant now?

I also have Rose of Sharon seeds, lilac seeds, and liatris seeds. Could any of them go in now? Also Shasta Daisy and Dumbo's Ears coneflowers? I don't feel like cold-stratifying any seeds in the fridge this year.

 

[GardenGeisha]

Catjac, I bought a huge nicotiana sylvestris plant 2 years ago and it produced a ton of seeds. I gathered many and left many on the plant to self-seed but not a plant self-seeded and not a plant grew from the seed I saved, either.

I suspect I may have to buy another plant if I want to have a Nicotiana sylvestris. Stuff just doesn't reseed well here for me, except for carrots. I have had nigella reseed, from time to time, too. But that's it. I'm curious to see whether my wild parsnips will reseed this year. Oh, and I do get lettuce/arugula to reseed, also.

 

[catjac1975]

I have not had a nicotiana for several years and still had a plant germinate last fall.
I am about to plant my oriental poppies and did more research. They like it if the seed is frozen for a bit first. They must be planted on top of the soil. Cool temps. And get this-in the dark. No wonder I have had such poor luck lately. I first planted them many years ago and had great luck. I have red, orange, and stunning pink poppies every year. I am a seed saver and once had the orange and pink cross. Half of the petals were pink on one side and the other half were orange. Gaudy and delicious. I decided to transplant it to give it more room. I found out the hard way that poppies do not transplant well. It did not live, I never had such a cross again, I have never seen a cross anything like it, and I don't even have a photo to cry over. I killed my million dollar plant.
But my pinks stop traffic every year.