6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
Try using skewers to plant small seed when starting your plant trays or peat pellets. much cheaper than those $15.00 to $20.00 gadgets that are sold. AND it works good. Here's how there are 2 sizes of skewers the small one works great for small seed, cut off the sharp point for eye safety then cut it in half. Now (1)get a small bowel (2)a clean cloth the size of a wash cloth and (3)a coffee cup saucer. get the cloth soppin wet and place it in the bowel set it on you potting table then sprinkle a few seeds on the saucer and move the saucer or shake very gently to put space between the seed. Next pick up your 1/2 skewer touch it to the wet cloth and flick off any excess water. next touch it to one single seed and the wetness will cause the seed to stick well enough to lift and poke it into your peat pellet or growing medium and tuck soil over it 1/8 or 1/4 inch deep. that's it simple and when you get the swing of it you will just have to tell someone else how neat it works. Edmac
Do most people go strongly by packet for weeks planted indoors before planting out? I am in Mississippi and would like to start broccoli....cauliflower...and collard seeds for fall when the time is right(late SEP or early OCT. plant out date).....THANKS
How much of a seed is buried into the soil? I "buried" about 50% to 70% of the seed and the top is showing very much and dries out quickly within minutes, yet most of the sides and the "bottom" is buried into the soil. Is this the right way to plant these seeds? Also, which "side" of the seed should face up/light? There's an "eye" of the seed - should it be buried or visible? Can someone post photos how exactly to place Dracaena Draco seeds into the soil?
The summer and winter savory will do fine - they are both pretty fast growers. My March starts are huge now. Fennel should also be ok, but you might not get seeds before frost if that's what you're after.
I don't know about caraway as I haven't had any luck with it myself.
Try the link for info.
Here is a link that might be useful: Pelargonium Basics
IMO the best way to germinate seeds...
use those olive garden takeout containers, fill with soil
sprinkle the seeds on the top of the soil
mist the soil so the surface is moist a couple times a day and keep the container covered with the lid it comes with
keep out of direct sunlight
I use old window screens to cover my raised beds when I direct saw. They are still mounted on light frames so they just span across the raised bed frame. They still let the light and water through but no animal or bird gets the seeds.
You dont say where you are, My corn germinated in a week. Dont plant too deep.
Squirrels or chipmonks. you need a tunnel of chicken wire made in a hoop and stuck in the ground--or individual bowl shaped ones. The sunflower will grow up through the chicken wire and The squirrels can't get the seed. Once it's sprouted you can remove the cage
Natanya, there are many columbine/aquilegia, do you know which you have? They have different germination requirements, some will germinate after a chill of a couple of weeks, some with no chill and can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks to several months to germinate at room temp, others need many months at approx 40F.
And the chill (if needed) has to be moist to do any good. Dry in the refrigerator is just storage - a chill to stratify must be done moist.
I don't have any experience with Japanese maples but common sense would say to wait until the maple itself decides its seeds are ripe. i.e. when they start to fall naturally. I have grown other trees from seed which I have just collected up off the ground. Why make things harder?
At least online, just like all the others that have pink poppies. Swallowtail Garden Seeds does not have Linum lewisii. To give them the benefit of the doubt they may be calling it ''common flax''. Their pink poppies are in a mixture, not sold separately.
Since pink poppies are fairly common and Linum lewisii is fairly common it is curious that it is difficult to find both.
I did a lot of winter sowing this winter, and now as I am emptying milk jugs I have been re sowing annauls back into them. I dont fasten the lids down, just let them drape over on their own, and it still allows plenty of air movement, but keeps them from drying out too much, oh, they are also in an area with almost no direct sun, but plenty of light so they dont over heat. Then when they have their first set of true leaves, transplant.Zinnias grow pretty quick. Its been working well for me.
Tammy
I grow lots of these and I believe most zinnias take about 90 days from planting to bloom, so you should have them by September. I have a few hundred zinnia plants set out in the garden, but I will be direct sowing some more for fall use. Keep the soil moist and they should be up in three or four days, as long as your weather isn't too cool.
ThinMan
Lucky you, I can only wish!!!
The best time to collect seeds is when they have seed pods that are ripe and that is usually a month or 2 after they start blooming.
If you look closely you will see a football shaped pod that comes to a point on the end. Make sure it's big and fat. It will be where a flower was, but don't touch it until you are ready to collect the seed. Have a container ready to put the seeds in. Make a fist around the pod. As soon as you touch it, it will spring open scattering the seeds into your fist. Put the seeds in the container and throw away the pod. Let them dry inside for a few days, in a spot out of the sun. Then store in a jar with a tight fitting lid in a cool dry dark place.
Collect Seeds from each color and 3 or 4 times as much seed as you think you will need. Some of it may not be mature and you'll want to experiment with planting them. Scatter the seeds on top of the soil. They need light, and must be kept moist, but not overly wet until they germinate. You might try some in pots too.
Good luck and may you enjoy your new home
I think so but since mine are the mixed ones I couldn't say for sure. After many years I still have all the colors, and they still have the same pom pom flower. I have noticed the size of the flower is dictated by the kind of Spring-- early summer we have. Last year it was cool and rainy and the blooms were big. This year it has been hot and dry and the blooms are half the size. We haven't had more than a couple of showers in 2 months
Every seed has an optimum temperature for germination. With Petunias it'a 80 degrees. That does not mean that they won't germinate at varying temperatures, just that that is the optimum temperature. What your seed package is telling you is that Forget-me-nots like to be germinated cool. The temperature is just a guideline. That cool temperature is why, when they reseed themselves, they come up in the very early spring.
I wouldn't start them now. It is too hot for them to germinate properly. Wait until your weather cools
Ah thank you. That was very helpful :)
Especially considering we are just exiting a drought, lol.