Will you help me grow catnip?
Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at
9:24 am
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Filed under: Catnip
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I don’t know if seeds from kitty-catnip are viable. It would be worth a shot. Since you’ve already got it, it isn’t going to cost you anything but a little time.
Catnip is simple to grow from seed. Start in the spring, 6-8 weeks before last frost, in your greenhouse or start them outdoors after frost. Just use a standard seed mix (I LOVE Scott’s Ready-mix) and keep moist but not waterlogged. Plant on into larger pots as the seedlings develop. Harden off by taking the seedlings outdoors for longer and longer periods before actual planting-out. Make sure your young plants are big and sturdy enough for life outdoors. Wimpy plants continue to do poorly. Keep them in their pots until they get up to size.
There is also Catmint which is a fine plant for walls, larger rock gardens, or edging in the borders. It attracts cats like crazy, too, and has the advantage of being an acceptable flower garden choice, with blue blossoms and there are also named varieties available. Common Catnip is not the most decorative of plants.
Both Catnip and Catmint are sun and heat lovers.
By the way, you’d better REALLY want cats to visit your garden if you put in these plants. Cats get a "buzz" off the plants, and they roll around, fight, and have unprotected sex all over the vicinity under the influence of their drug of choice, and not just at or on the Catnip plant itself, which you may as well be prepared to see completely chewed, slobbered on, and trampled. They have annihilated whole sections of my perennial bed with their orgies, destroying valued plants which were just innocent bystanders.
have some mini condoms to pass out to the cats
Here is a nice video explaning how to grow catniphttp://catalpatreeseeds.com/growing-herbs-growing-catnip/50
You might not have much luck indoors unless you have a really good south window. Catnip is an annual so the "shelf life" isn’t that long, meaning it is supposed to grow, bloom and make seeds over a 4-6 month span. Using seeds from a commercial mix is a gamble too. You are better off waiting until 6-8 weeks before your frost free date to start them indoors.
Here is a very funny site all about catnip –
http://www.squidoo.com/good-catnip