Seeds want to grow.
This is the time of year, as the catalogs arrive in the mail and seed displays pop up in the garden centers, when experienced gardeners start to think about seeds. This is also the time of year when we will be subjected to at least one heart-felt missive from a magazine editor, TV show host, or blogger, describing the magical moment when as a child they discovered the miracle of seeds. Although there is certainly something special about the idea of a full-sized plant, be it a zinnia or an oak, originating from something as small as a seed, it is foolish to carry your sense of wonder any further than that initial bean-sprouting-in-the-cup-on-the-window-sill moment of amazement.
The misconception that seeds are mini-miracles does not serve a gardener well. It perpetuates an ill-conceived notion that making more plants from seeds is better left to professionals like horticulturalists and farmers. Don’t think it. While some seeds are difficult to prompt into action, the majority of those kinds you can buy at a garden center are not.
The best seed starting advice I ever got was from Panyoti Kelaidis, a horticultural philosophizer and avid seed starter from Denver, Colorado. “Seeds want to grow,” he told me. That’s what they are designed to do. All they require of us is that we give them the opportunity. Panyoti’s technique for starting seed is to sow as many as you have in seed trays filled with a nice, light, soil mix. Then set the trays out in the garden and wait. Some seeds, like store-bought annual flowers and vegetables, will sprout right away, while others like self-collected, native perennials may need to go through an entire season exposed to the elements before they finally do their thing. The basic idea is to provide them with the right conditions (nice soil and a sunny spot) and step aside.
This advice has always struck me as more valuable than all those tips and techniques taught and touted on-line, on TV, or in books and magazines. It seems to me that overthinking our faith in a seed only mucks up the works, especially when success can be achieved simply by purchasing a few packets, sowing them in some decent soil, and allowing that miracle–that is really no miracle at all–to take place. Like everything else in life, some seeds will work out. Some won’t. And afterall, aren’t uncertain outcomes part of what makes life interesting in the first place.
By Daryl Beyers
What seeds have you had the most success–or the most trouble–with? We’d like to know.
Send us a comment and we will post it online.
FYI: Panyoti Kelaidis is Senior Curator and Director of Outreach at the Denver Botanic Gardens. For more sage advice from him and the rest of the staff at DBG you should visit their blog at the following link:
Here are links to some reputable seed companies:
Great stuff. Perhaps a little off topic, but would you mind if I write something about this on my tomato plant blog? I will of course, cite original source and link back to your page.
Sure.