new to gardening. now needing to fix mistakes

[Arielle35]

i just posted another question in the forum too with pictures

 

[897tgigvib]

The forked cotyledon "milk leaf" is nothing to worry about. Sometimes a who knows what happens and cool little things happen like that. I've seen lots of seedlings, Tomatoes especially, with an extra one. And what catjac says is right, and give it a little while before you do the pinching.

YOU REALLY HAVE A GREAT START!!!

 

[Arielle35]

When the impatiens get a little bigger pinch out the center leaves and they will send out 2 or 3 shoots in their place. Given the earliness of the planting if you keep pinching them back you will get nice full plants. You just need to watch for bugs, it is not inevitable.

how much bigger? like after they have 4 or 5 sets of true leaves?

 

[catjac1975]

I think 4-5 sets would be a lot. I just do things that I think make sense so I don't really count. If they get top heavy that's probably a good time. You really need to leave only one or two real leaves. A friend of mine runs a garden center. The best plants they ever grew was the year a woodchuck got in and ate down all their plants. (Flowers of all kind) You need to be ruthless in thinning and pruning. When I am unsure of trimming back I do a few plants and wait to see the results. Remember with the impatiens you can stick the tops in the soil or a cup of water and they will root and make more free plants. I kept a potted impatien alive for about 8 years. It finally got too woody to bloom well. It gave me beautiful color through the winter months with little care.

 

[Arielle35]

Remember with the impatiens you can stick the tops in the soil or a cup of water and they will root and make more free plants. I kept a potted impatien alive for about 8 years. It finally got too woody to bloom well. It gave me beautiful color through the winter months with little care.

what???? omg...i feel like i need to buy the book gardening for dummies... half the time i thinking...i wish i knew some gardner people in real life... too bad someone on here doesnt live close to me to help me understand all this! lol I learn best by videos and pictures...
so are u saying that if i cut right below the baby leaves and stuck it in the dirt, it would still grow??? and what do u mean make more free plants? im sooo sorry for all the questions, but i feel like i need to be explained things like you would a kid...

i guess this is usually why i only take up hobbies when i learn it from the person im dating...but im single now and wanted to try something on my own...

 

[digitS']

...i wish i knew some gardner people in real life... too bad someone on here doesnt live close to me to help me understand all this! ...

Well Arielle, I am the son of an Idahoan . . .

Contact Thistlebloom! Yeah, she does all that pruning and potting for a living . . . Gardening With Rabbits is in Idaho. Collector is an Idahoan and I know he's around . . . But, I think we are all in the North.

Steve
on the border

 

[Ridgerunner]

so are u saying that if i cut right below the baby leaves and stuck it in the dirt, it would still grow???

No! The plants send out buds where the true leaves are. You need true leaves on both parts so they can develop buds. If you cut it below the baby leaves there is nowhere for buds to come out.

and what do u mean make more free plants?

With a lot of plants you can root cuttings. If you cut off a growing limb you can sometimes root it and create a separate plant. This does not work for everything and some things where it does work can be difficult.

im sooo sorry for all the questions, but i feel like i need to be explained things like you would a kid...

Don't be sorry at all. We all started somewhere. I think part of the problemn is you're getting information overload. There are a lot of things you can do but maybe we're making it sound a lot more compliucated than it is.

i guess this is usually why i only take up hobbies when i learn it from the person im dating...but im single now and wanted to try something on my own...

Don't get any ideas. It's like I told the young lady at the cash register at Tractor Supply when she asked for my phone number. "Won't do you any good. I'm happily married."

 

[897tgigvib]

What ridge said arielle...

Mainly slow down, don't worry

Yes, very special good and wonderful thistlebloom is not too far from you.

Your plants are still babies. Don't do any pinching or pruning on them as babies.

Yes, there is a lot to learn, and you are on a good learning track. Remember please, every single one of us has learned best from failure.

When I google for ingormation about growing a certain plant I type in, for example:
growing impatiens
or
growing asparagus

some things will confuse google growing blackberry might get you stuff about some kind of cell phone

Wikipedia is a great resource I think
Another resource is seed catalogs!

Google up propagation and spend some time on good sites about that.

To have a green thumb, first you have a brown thumb from playing in the dirt

 

[thistlebloom]

what???? omg...i feel like i need to buy the book gardening for dummies... half the time i thinking...i wish i knew some gardner people in real life... too bad someone on here doesnt live close to me to help me understand all this! lol I learn best by videos and pictures.

I know what you mean Arielle, I'm a hands on and visual learner too. You've received excellent advice from everyone, the biggest thing I think, and you've already been told this, is not to worry about making mistakes. Every single one of us has had plenty of failures, and I know for sure, that I have a lot more mistakes to make.

Do you have any Farmers Markets locally during the summer? That would be a great place to connect with other real live gardeners.
Maybe you could even do like Ninnymary and offer to volunteer some labor for a few hands in the dirt lessons.

I'm glad you found your way here, as I think we have a unique group of helpful and knowledgeable gardeners.
I hope you stick around.

 

[Jared77]

You've received excellent advice from everyone, the biggest thing I think, and you've already been told this, is not to worry about making mistakes. Every single one of us has had plenty of failures, and I know for sure, that I have a lot more mistakes to make.

You got that right. I often will start or plant extras if I want to try something new or a new technique so if I fail and the plant dies, I'm not short on anything. If it works than I know for next time or perfect the technique for next time. Its my insurance against my failures which I've made MANY. Don't be afraid to fail, its only failure. So long as you learn from your failure your not making a mistake.