Last weekend, I planted seeds — I’m usually overeager to begin this rite of spring. I go through the catalogs and I see what seeds I have on hand from previous years. I try to remember what seeds worked well last year. But this is couch work. Gardening starts calling you outside.
Each season begins with seed starter and seeds, and the idea that warmer weather is not too far off. First, I planted turnips from seed out in the garden. The soil may be too cool for them to start but I thought I’d try sowing two rows.
I also started five kinds of tomato seeds in the greenhouse, along with several other vegetables that can be planted weeks ahead of the last frost date. (I’ve been away for the week after planting them and I came back today to find that many had sprouted.)
There’s a lot to know about seeds — how long they last in storage, for instance, and the different ways to coax seeds to germinate. I followed one recommendation to start seeds on a moist paper towel, which is wrapped up and placed in a plastic bag.
As I was working with a range of seeds, I noticed just how different various seeds actually are from one another — even from plants that you might think would be more similar. So here’s an exercise — identify the seeds in the photo below. I’m practically giving you the turnip to start and there’s two root vegetables in the mix.
Click through to the annotated version of this photo on Flickr to see if you know your veggies and their seeds.
Hi Dale, excellent thoughts about seeds it is time. Thank you. A good friend Michael Cooper (artist http://michaelcooper.us) you have been to his studio and I are interested in your weather station can you give us any information about your setup?
They are really small – until you think about the size of animal ‘seeds’