a gardening blog

A few weeks ago, I had posted about a new product that I had found at the local home improvement center. The product was called Ready Refills. It was a simple idea. The product contained a cardboard-like container with various bulbs sitting in little pockets. The instructions were simple; you planted the container in a pot, watered it, and then the bulbs would grow and eventually bloom. If you want to read the original post, click here.

Sadly, only a couple of clover plants grew and bloomed. The rest of the bulbs rotted out. I give this product two thumbs down and would recommend that you don’t spend your money on it. The product failed because the bulbs rotted. I don’t know if it has to do with the container or the white mold that developed, but when I dug a few out to look at them, I noticed that they were mushy and rotted. Either way, the product failed to deliver on my hopes of having flowering pots on my porch.

I was sitting on my front porch a few days ago and happened to look down at the pot of pansies I had sitting on our table. I noticed that it had a seed pod that had opened and was full of seeds. Needless to say, I had to document what I saw, because I never had seen how pansy seeds are “born”. Here is what I saw:

Swelling seed pod

Seed pod that has lost some seeds. Whenever I see a seed pod like this, it seems like such a violent explosion. They remind me of firecrackers and seems like the pod just burst open to release its seeds. I don’t think that it is as dramatic as it looks, but I can’t help imagine it that way.

Pansy seeds – about 1/8″ in size

Seed pod EXPLODING with seeds

Another swelling seed pod

I had wanted to plant some flowers to put on my porch and came across this product at one of the local home improvement stores. I hadn’t seen it before and decided to try it.

Bulbs in the paper planter

As you can see from the photos, the bulbs come in a paper planter. The idea is that you remove the cover and plant the planter and bulbs in a pot. You cover it with about 4″ of soil and place in a sunny spot after any danger of frost has passed.

Instructions are printed on the back of the packaging.

In a few weeks, you will hopefully have plants emerge in a predefined pattern. Its seems like a simple idea that makes it easy to add some interest to a pot. The product was about $9.50 and was actually cheaper than buying the bulbs individually. So if you don’t like the pattern, it is still worth purchasing and using the bulbs in your own garden minus the paper planter.

UPDATE: This morning while doing my morning walk about in my garden, I noticed that the soil was developing a white dusty residue. I suspect, it is some form of mold. We have had alot of rain these past few days, but will keep on eye on it to see if it continues to spread. I may have to quarantine the plants if it continues.