WBL Seed Library: How 'Good" is Nature for Us?

Hello Gardeners

Welcome to a new year of gardening!

Winter is a great time to find a cozy chair and read an interesting garden book or plan your garden for this coming season. I wanted to share a great book I just finished that may be of interest to gardeners and almost anyone. The book, Good Nature Why Seeing, Smelling, Hearing, and Touching Plants Is Good for Our Health by Kathy Willis.

“Even small, everyday interactions with nature — from a single houseplant to a 20-minute walk through the woods or a garden — can measurably improve our mental and physical health. Biologist Kathy Willis, the author of the new book “Good Nature,” joins me to explore the groundbreaking research revealing how touching, smelling and even just seeing plants benefits our well-being.” From the Joe Gardener podcast.

As gardeners, you probably spend a lot of time outside near flowers, plants and trees, so you are no stranger to knowing how being close to nature improves your health and outlook. This book gives you scientific facts that proves nature is good for us.

I found two things I can do that I was not aware of before reading the book. One, I’m going to start gardening without my garden gloves (except when pulling stinging nettle!). The reason why is that the soil is full of beneficial bacteria that helps your body. ”One double-blind study of kindergarten age children in Finland showed that children who played for a month in a sandpit full of soil trucked in from the local forest had much better gut flora than children who played in sterile sand. They also had a significant reduction in inflammation markers.” Kathy Willis. Obviously, treating the soil with chemicals will not benefit your body, so this is just another reason to garden organically.

The second thing I learned was that smells can also benefit us. What you smell is a volatile organic compound which when you breathe it in it goes in your nose, lungs and blood stream. The piney smell you smell when walking in a pine forest is pinene, one of these compounds. After a 20 minute walk in a pine forest there is a spike of pinene in your blood. This pinene raises the natural killer cells that fight cancer. They found people who live near pine or cedar forest have higher levels of these natural killer cells.

Now not everyone can live near a pine or cedar forest, but you can expose yourself to natural pine or cedar essence oil in your own home using a diffuser or just putting a few drops of the oil on a cotton ball and placing it in a room.

I encourage you to read the book, which is available through the Ramsey County Library (5 copies) or listen or read the text from the Joe Gardener podcast.

Native Seed Starting

The seed drawers at the seed library are bursting with native plant seeds! My last count had over 400 seed packets to choose from. There’s still time to stratify your native seeds. An easy, fun way to start native seeds is using the winter sowing method. See below for directions.

Winter Sowing

Most native plants produce a flower which, if pollinated, will make a seed head or pod. Late in the fall collect the seed pods and allow to thoroughly dry. Remove the seeds before placing in paper envelopes or paper bags. Store in a cool, dry location. It is important seeds are dry before storing to prevent mold. Most native seeds require a moist cold period of time called stratification before they will germinate.

Germination Methods

Many native plant seeds have a dormancy mechanism that helps them to germinate at an optimal time. This prevents them from germinating right before winter or during a drought.

Easiest Methods: The easiest way to grow native plant seeds is to plant them in the late fall and let them go through the winter where they will sprout in the spring. Another way is to do snow sowing, used mostly for large sites. Prepare the site for planting in the fall. During the winter, scatter the seeds on top of the snow above the prepared site. As the snow melts in spring, the seeds will sink and germinate on the soil surface.

Winter Sowing Method

1. In late fall or early winter, prepare containers for growing seeds. Take a clean one gallon clear or semi-clear plastic container (such as a milk or water bottle) and poke holes in bottom and all over the sides and top of the container. Be generous with your holes. This is needed so water can get into and out of the container. Remove lid so that water can also get in through the top.

2. Cut 7/8 ways around the diameter about 6” from the bottom. Leave the top part attached by a small piece of plastic as the ‘hinge’. You are making a little greenhouse.

3. Turn the container over and label the bottom of the container with a permanent marker with the type of seed you are planting. Labelling the bottom prevents fading of the marker due to sun and rain. Yes, even permanent markers will fade in the sun, rain and snow.

4. Fill bottom of the container with at least 4” of potting soil. Use any kind, but don’t use soil from your garden as it is too heavy in texture and may have diseases.

5. Plant seeds in the soil to the depth stated on package. A good rule of thumb is to plant seeds to the depth of 2 ½ the diameter of the seed. Some seeds need light to germinate, which means don’t cover them, just sprinkle on the top of the soil.

6. Water until moist.

7. Replace top part of container and close with a piece of duct tape on the corner opposite the hinge. You just need one piece of tape to hold the lid in place so critters can’t get in to rummage around in your soil. Do not tape the entire sides. It is not necessary and some water will get in through the sides, which is a good thing.

8. Place containers outside in a sunny location. Yes, you put them outside in the winter in the cold. The seeds need a period of cold moist stratification before they will germinate. If you have persistent critters you may need to secure your mini-greenhouses so they don’t cart them off or play with them.

9. No need to do anything with the containers until spring. Check containers periodically to make sure they are still moist. Start checking containers as early as March. Things heat up quite a bit inside these little greenhouses on sunny days. There may still be snow on the ground, but it could be warm enough inside them to cause the soil to be dry. Remember seeds need moisture to germinate. You may have to open the tops on very warm days or when seedlings outgrow the container.

10. Transplant seedlings in the spring to your garden. No need to harden off seedlings as they have been growing outside all the time!

Moist Sand or Coffee Filter Method

You need to simulate winter by placing the seeds in moist sand or between a folded moist coffee filter and storing in the refrigerator for a set number of days before starting inside. Find the number of days to stratify on online or catalog sources.

Place a handful of moist fine sand in a plastic bag. Add seeds and mix. Or moisten a coffee filter and place seeds on filter and fold in half. Place filter in plastic bag. Label bag and place in refrigerator for the required number of days needed to stratify. Check bag occasionally and add water to keep moist. After appropriate number of days has gone by, place sand and seeds in potting soil medium in flats or pots and grow as you would other seeds.

Resources:

Prairie Moon Nursery: https://www.prairiemoon.com/

White Bear Lake Seed Library blog site: www.wblseedlibrary.blogspot.com

Any questions, email me at: wblseedlibrary@gmail.com

Seed Packaging

The next seed packaging will be sometime after the first of the year. It will probably be on a Saturday that doesn’t look like it will have inclement weather! I’ll send an email and post a flyer at the White Bear Lake seed library when the date and time has been set.

If you would like to package seeds at home, send me an email and I will make up a bag of seeds and supplies you can pick up at the library.

Email: wblseedlibrary@gmail.com

Native Plant List

I have updated the online list of native plant seeds at the library. Note that this is a constantly changing list and was only accurate at the date listed at the top of the document.

You can access at: native plant list

An Act Locally Opportunity!

I want to make a request for locally grown tomato, lettuce, bean or pea seeds you harvested from your garden. Though the seed library gets donations of commercial seed packets, I especially like getting locally grown seeds. These locally grown seeds have started adapting to our local environment and in time will grow better than produce, flowers and seeds from plants grown elsewhere in the country.

Pam

Local Greenhouses and Nurseries

As a request from our volunteers, I am adding a list of various local greenhouses or garden centers that sell plants. Many of these establishments do not use neonicotinoids on their plants that they grow. But the buyer should beware: they may sell plants that were grown previously at a different wholesaler which did use systemic pesticides. You should ask the growers at these establishments whether neonics were used on the plants you wish to purchase.

Neonicotinoids or ‘neonics’ are a systemic pesticides used on plants to kill insects. Unfortunately, these insecticides also harm pollinators as the insecticide gets into all parts of the plant including the pollen and nectar.

The only way to be sure a plant has not been treated with neonics is to buy certified organic seed and grow it yourself, or buy a certified organically grown plant.

More information here.

Goldman’s Greenhouse – East Bethel, MN

Website: Goldman's

MNL – Ecological restoration and native species landscaping, retail and whole sale seeds. Website: MNL

Norther Hollar – Specializes in growing native plants of the Midwest. Website: Northern Hollar

Outback Nursery – Hastings, MN

Seller of Minnesota native trees, shrubs and perennials.

Website: Outback

Prairie Moon Nursery – Winona, MN and order online

They have hundreds of varieties of native plant seeds, plants and bare root stock.

Website: Prairiemoon

Prairie Restorations – Scandia, MN