Many gardeners, myself included, have that stash of old seed packets or saved seeds from garden seasons past, just waiting for the right time to be planted. They may be shoved in a drawer, a box, or in the fridge/freezer. Maybe you’re pulling some out of storage to start this spring – will they even germinate? Are those seeds good indefinitely? Do they ever expire? The answer to that really depends on what plant it is and how they are stored.… Continue reading this article “When Good Seeds Go Bad: How long can you store seeds?”
Category: propagation
Supplemental Lights for Home Seed Starting and Indoor Growing: Some Considerations
Whether you’ve already got seedlings growing away or getting ready to start your annual indoor seed starting, one of the important factors in seed starting is light. (Last month I covered heat, which you can see here). Questions like “Do I need to use supplemental light or can I use a window?” and “What kind of light do I need to use?” are ones we often get from gardeners – new and seasoned alike. So I thought I’d take a little time to talk about light – the factors that are important for plant growth some ways that you can make sure you’re providing the right kinds and amounts of light to your new seedlings. … Continue reading this article “Supplemental Lights for Home Seed Starting and Indoor Growing: Some Considerations”
Feel the Heat: Temperature and Germination
In most parts of the country it is time to dust off the seed starting trays, pick out your favorite seeds, and get a little plant propagation going on. There’s definitely a lot of science (and perhaps a bit of art) to successful seed starting. While the process starts (and relies on) the imbibition of water, one of the biggest factors that affects the success, efficiency, and speed of seed germination and propagation is temperature. … Continue reading this article “Feel the Heat: Temperature and Germination”
Compost in Seed Starting Mix: Recipe for Success….or Failure?
A recent question posted to the Garden Professors blog Facebook group (a place where you can join and join in conversation of garden science) asked about the potential for compost added to seed starting media to cause failure in germination. It is a good question, and one that seems to have several different camps – from garden hero author folks swearing by it in their (non-peer reviewed) books, to fact sheets saying it isn’t a good idea.… Continue reading this article “Compost in Seed Starting Mix: Recipe for Success….or Failure?”
Starting Seeds with Success: Best Practices
As we edge closer to spring it is time to start getting ready for the active growing season. Many gardeners kick off their gardening year early with indoor seed starting to prepare for the upcoming season.
Starting your own seeds is an excellent, and often economical way to prepare for your year of gardening. Whether you grow vegetables or flowers (or both), starting from seeds can offer many benefits. Of course, there are some dos and don’ts for getting the most mileage from your seed starting endeavors.… Continue reading this article “Starting Seeds with Success: Best Practices”
Creative Lighting for Seed Starting
As we get close to the time to start tomato, pepper, and other seedlings indoors, I thought I’d share this picture of my older sister’s seed starting setup from few years ago:
Two desk lamps with compact florescent bulbs. Not traditional, but worked great. Just a reminder that you can get creative when it comes to lighting for seedlings, using whatever fixtures and layout works for your space. The only rules are to use florescent or LED bulbs, not those old fashioned incandescent bulbs which have poor light for plants, and err on the side of more light rather than less to make sure you get compact, healthy plants that will transition to the sunny outside world without drama.… Continue reading this article “Creative Lighting for Seed Starting”
Why you (probably) shouldn’t be starting seeds yet
As a beginning gardener I learned that to give plants like tomatoes and peppers more time to grow and produce the largest possible crop, it was best to start the seeds early indoors.
As soon as I learned that, I wondered: Well, if starting my tomatoes 6-8 weeks before transplanting them outside is good, surely 10 weeks would be better, right? Or 12? Or 16?
Turns out, earlier isn’t always better, and here are some of the reasons why.… Continue reading this article “Why you (probably) shouldn’t be starting seeds yet”
Cold Stratification for seeds
You may think of spring as the time for seed sowing, but I do a lot of seed planting now, in the fall. The reason is that most of the cold hardy perennials, trees and shrubs that I like to grow produce seeds that require cold stratification.
This simply means that they require a period exposed to cold temperatures while the seeds are moist and hydrated before they will germinate.
The requirement for cold is a pretty straight-forward adaptation to life in cold climates.… Continue reading this article “Cold Stratification for seeds”
Cactus grafting fun
I’ve been grafting cactus this summer, and made this:
It is a seedling of the gorgeous hardy cactus Echinocereus reichenbachii, grafted onto Pereskiopsis spathulata, an odd, leafy cactus I wrote about earlier.
Why do this? Other than the fact that it is darn cool? Well, because that vigorous, fast growing rootstock pumps a lot of energy into the cactus grafted on top, making the grafted cactus grow a LOT faster than left on its own roots.… Continue reading this article “Cactus grafting fun”