PLANTING SEEDS

Mother Nature has her own way of germinating seed. In the field, she provides warmth from the sun, moisture from the clouds(or your garden hose), and nutrients in the soil.

Any authentic seed house can be looked upon for fine seeds; but however, there is a big risk in seeds. A seed may to all appearings be all right and yet not have within it life force enough, or ability, to produce a robust plant.

If you save seed from your own plants you are able to pick out carefully. Suppose you are preserving seed of aster plants. What blossoms shall you decide upon? Instantly it is not the bloom only which you must consider, but the entire plant. Why? Because a weak, untidy plant may produce one fine blossom. Looking at that one blossom so truly lovely you think of the countless equally lovely plants you are getting to have from the seeds. But just as probably as not the seeds will produce plants like the parent plant.

Therefore in seed selection the entire plant is to be considered. Is it tough, strong, well formed and harmonious; does it have a considerable number of fine blossoms? These are queries to ask in seed selection.

Whenever you should bechance to have the choice to visit a seedsman’s garden, you will see here and there a blossom with a string tied around it. These are blossoms chosen for seed. If you look at the whole plant with care you will be able to see the tips which the gardener held in mind when he did his job of selection.

In seed selection size is another point to put in mind. At present we acknowledge no way of saying anything about the plants from which this special collection of seeds came. Therefore we must give our whole idea to the seeds themselves. It is quite obvious that there is some alternative; some are much larger than the others; some far fatter, too. From altogether implies select the largest and fullest seed. The reason is this: When you burst out a bean and this is very observable, too, in the peanut you see what appears to be a little plant. So it is. Just under the right circumstances for growing this ‘little chap’ grows into the bean plant you know so well.

This small plant must depend for its early growth on the nourishment stored up in the two halves of the bean seed. For this use the food is stored. Beans are not full of food and goodness for you and me to eat, but for the little baby bean plant to feed upon. And so if we take a large seed, we have taken a larger amount of food for the plantlet. This little plantlet feeds upon this stored food until its roots are prepared to do their work. So if the seed is little and slim, the foremost the food supply is too little, and there is a possibility of losing the little plant.

You may care to notice the name of this buttery of food. It is called a cotyledon if there is only one portion, cotyledons if two. Thus we are aided in the categorisation of plants. A few plants that bear cones like the pines have several cotyledons. But many plants have either one or two cotyledons.

From the large seeds the strongest plantlets comes out. That is the reason why it is better and safer to prefer the large seed. It is exactly same case as that of weak children.

There is often another problem in seeds that we purchase. The problem is impureness. Sometimes seeds are mixed with other seeds which are same in appearance that it is hopeless to observe the fake. Pretty poor business, is it not? The seeds may be dirty. Bits of foreign matter in with large seed are very easy to discover. One can simply pick the seed over and make it clean. From clean is meant freedom from foreign matter. But if small seed are dirty, it is very difficult, almost impossible, to make them clean.

The third affair to look out for in seed is viability. We know from our examinations that seeds which appear to the eye to be all right may not grow at all. There are reasons. Seeds may have been picked before they were mellow or mature; they may have been frosty; and they may be too old. Seeds hold their viability or seed developing power, for a given number of years and are then useless. The viability for a seed limit in years which is differs for different seeds.

By the examine of seeds we find out the germination percentage of seeds. Now if this percentage is low, don’t waste time planting such seed unless it be small seed. Immediately you question that statement. Why does the size of the seed make a difference? This is the reason. When small seed is planted it is normally sown in drills. Many amateurs scatter the seed in very densely. So a great number of seed is planted. And enough seed germinates and arises from such close planting. So quantity comprises for quality.

Just take the case of large seed, like corn for example. Corn is planted with great care far apart and a few seeds in a place. With such a method of planting the matter of per cent, of germination is most important so.

Tiny seeds that germinate at fifty per cent. may be used but this is too low a per cent. for the large seed. Suppose we examine beans. The percentage is seventy. If low-vitality seeds were planted, we could not be perfectly sure of the seventy per cent coming up. But if the seeds are lettuce go ahead with the planting.