Flower Power: Garden Makeover - Seed Update

Yesterday the hollyhocks started misbehaving. They ALL got these stringy, white, spider web kind of stuff growing out of them. Just the hollyhocks...no one else. At first I thought maybe that's normal. But who am I kidding?! That cant be normal!

And it wasn't.


After searching online...all of 5 minutes...my patience wore out. So I went to the Ferry-Morse website (the brand of my greenhouse) and found the Gardener's Help Line!!!! Wow! Can I just say that the lady I talked to was SO nice and helpful?! Here's what I described to her (see those three rows of naughty hollyhocks?):

And she didnt make me feel like an idiot at all! Now that's impressive! And I found out that I dont have to throw it all out and start over (as my wild imagination had me convinced).

It's mold.

Good grief! I already know I can grow mold! Just ask my refrigerator. I want to grow flowers!

But a few Q-tips later the mold is cleared off, the plants are breathing and I even saw the beginnings of a few little sprigs thinking about showing up!!!

Can you see it? Toward the bottom...there's a little green white-looking rounded part down there. That's a hollyhock about to poke through!! Wooooo Hooooooo!!!

As I looked around, there is also one black eyed susan that started sprouting (because its seed is the same color as the soil I dont think that one got buried at all) and a salvia starting to peek through.

Oh! Oh! And...I was at Lowe's again today (starting to feel like a stalker) and found some Columbine plants already started for me and blooming! You know...the seeds that didnt make the cut because they were going to take way too long? I got 3 plants. Hopefully I wont kill them before it's time to plant them in the garden:

I'm not allowing myself to get nervous about all this. Well...not too much, anyway.

Lighting:

For now I decided to not buy any lighting for the plants. A while back I had thought I was being frugal and got some fluorescent light bulbs but when I put them in the bedroom I hated it. It wasnt bright enough and it was a weird color to me. So I took them right back out and set them on the shelf.

Well this time the "I might need it someday" paid off. I stole got a little shop light from the garage (hope Stan doesnt miss it), put in the neglected bulb, engineered it right over the greenhouse...and there ya go! No money spent!

Dont worry. Even though it does look hideous, it's in a part of the house that is hideous all by itself - the sunroom (that needs to be torn down and re-done...someday).