Project Name: February 2026 – Germinating Ornamental Flowers, Leeks, and Strawberries
Project Objectives: Break the historical curse of failure with ornamental flowers, produce strong seedlings, and once again effectively use the capacity of our Junior PM (older son) and the master of germination, our pet – Floki the snake.
Business Case & Project Scope:
When the first pepper and chilli seedlings successfully germinated and started growing, I wiped the sweat from my forehead in suspense. But in garden project management, there's no time for slacking off. It was time to launch the next sowing phase. This time, ornamental plants, leeks, and strawberries were next in line. Historically, growing ornamental flowers from seeds has never worked for me; it was my personal "Failed Project." But this year, I refused to accept failure, made sure to study the exact technological processes, and deployed a strict PM regime. The result? You'll be amazed!
While the Chilli and Peppers project is running and is basically a chill task that I do every year, with the ornamental flowers and strawberries I hit a hard wall. You see, every plant required a completely different SLA (Service Level Agreement). While some seeds couldn't stand even a millimeter of dirt on top of them and needed plenty of light, others required a deep root, and Verbena even demanded absolute darkness like in a cave. So, I had to divide the lab into specific zones and hope this complex logistics plan wouldn't fail before it even started.
Resources & Target Deliverables:
- Flowers: Verbena, Cascade Red Lobelia, Rainbow African Coleus
- Vegetables: Blue-green Grex Leek
- Fruit: Wild Strawberries, Corsica Strawberries
Critical Infrastructure & Hacks:
- Budget-Friendly Assets: Pudding cups (190 ml) with lids and yogurt cups (400 ml) with lids. The combination of cup + lid = a perfect incubator that holds 100% humidity !!!
- Light Management: South-facing window boosted by a grow lamp
- Darkness & Heat Hack: A paper box and the terrarium with Floki the snake (for the special requirements of Verbena)
EXECUTION PHASE:
Phase 1: Substrate Preparation – the evening before sowing
Our Key Stakeholder – the Junior PM – was called into action again. His task was to fill the prepared cups with dirt in the evening. He completed his task with flying colors and paved the way for the main deployment.
Warning – We had a Critical Failure right in Phase 1:
Because I was sowing the ornamental plants at midnight while watching an Age of Empires II match on YouTube on the TV, a huge mistake happened. I accidentally sprinkled the Lobelia seeds into a cup where the African Coleus was already sown (its seeds are black and couldn't be seen). However, I left it as it was, based on the theory that the coleus grows tall and the lobelia is trailing. Well, it's going to be fun. I'll see what comes out of it in the end :D
Phase 2: Seed Deployment – February 9, 2026
Here it was necessary to strictly separate the processes according to the requirements of the individual plants:
- "Light and Surface" Sector: Wild strawberries, Corsica strawberries, African Coleus, and Lobelia went into the smaller pudding cups (190 ml). I sowed the seeds just on the surface of the soil, misted them with water, but absolutely no covering with dirt. The cups got their lids and went straight to the south window under the grow lamp. These types only need our stable 19–21 °C for germination, but they require a massive supply of light.
- "Deep Root" Sector: The leek traveled to the large yogurt cups (400 ml) because it forms long roots. It went about 1 cm deep, covered with a lid, misted, and off it went to join the others on the south window under the light.
- "Dark Room" Sector: Verbena is a rebel. It needs a lot of heat, but absolute darkness. It went into a 190 ml pudding cup, I lightly salted it with dirt and misted it. I closed the cup, placed it in a non-transparent paper box (so not even a single photon of light could reach it), and put it on the terrarium next to our snake Floki, who once again served as an external heater.
Phase 3: Incubation & Monitoring
The first signs of life appeared as early as February 14! The Lobelia, Verbena, and African Coleus broke their dormancy and started germinating. Like a proper PM, I didn't panic from the success and gave them another 24-hour time buffer so the latecomers could finish germinating. Consequently, on Feb 15, D-Day happened – I took off the lids and moved all the germinated cups (including the Verbena pulled out of the dark) to the south window under full light.
CURRENT STATUS:
Awesome! I am absolutely thrilled. I have never managed to do this with ornamental plants before! Strict adherence to the processes is paying off. Now we are anxiously waiting for the strawberries. It looks like the Corsica is already slowly getting into it, but with strawberries, there is only one rule: patience. And we will wait! :)
