Winter Seed Sowing

Time for sowing some indoor seeds. This year I'm going big or bust. Doing the avocado seed thing (but in soil, not water with toothpicks) and Italian Cypress seeds. I keep seeing these cypresses all over Seattle, so I refuse to give up. I've killed four actual young trees so far, so maybe growing my own seedlings in pots forever is the way to go. If *gasp* I actually manage to grow several of them, I will give some away. I would love to see more of these trees planted around Marysville, to break up the monotony of Arbor Vitae and Rhodie.

Cypress:

Yesterday I soaked 10 seeds (of the 40 I purchased from www.TreeHelp.com) for the prerequisite 24 hours. This morning I "sowed" them in cool, damp peat moss in a Ziploc bag and stuck the bag in the fridge. The process of germination, called "cold stratification" is supposed to take about 30 days. Crossing fingers!

The 2 avocado seeds I started by drying out and peeling off the outer skin and then putting them 2/3 down into a small pot of rich potting soil. they are on the north window sill for indirect bright light. Supposedly you can grow them this way, like amaryllis bulbs.

I also started a sweet potato semi-immersed in water, but it just began to mold in the water. It was probably sprayed by the grower to keep the eyes from sprouting (I just bought the dang thing in the produce section at Walmart). I would love to hang a big bright green sweet potato vine on the front porch this summer, but it looks like I might have to just buy a rooted slip from a nursery when the season starts.