Making seed planting even easier
“Life is a process of planting seeds for the future. This is how Adam (from “adama,” the Hebrew word for “earth”) got his name. For the virtue of earth is found in the plants that grow out of it and in their seeds. From these seeds will come more plants and more seeds and then more plants and seeds, and on and on. So, too, a human being, whose seeds are thoughts and actions from which new thoughts and actions will sprout forth, from one generation to the next, without end.”
The above metaphor, likening human beings to earth, and their thoughts and actions to seeds, was written in the early years of the 20th century by Yaakov Moshe Harlap, a Jerusalem rabbi. But now, what if our thoughts and actions were centered around planting actual seeds? What then?
Sometimes I have this thought: If every person on earth were to plant a few seeds each day, world peace would soon prevail. I simply cannot imagine that people who regularly plant seeds would want to engage in violence. There is no more uplifting experience, no more magical or mysterious encounter, than witnessing the germination of seeds you have planted. Once the baby plants start to grow, your curiosity grows along with them. Your zinnia seeds came from a packet of mixed colors and you wonder what will be the colors of the flowers that develop. Or you have planted seeds of an heirloom tomato variety whose taste is from a distant time and place and you can hardly wait to bite into history along with the ripening fruit. Mostly, though, you are a proud parent following the progress of your offspring, visiting them often throughout the day.
The process is miraculous, after all. Some seeds are so small that you could fit many of them on the head of a pin. Consider that 250,000 petunia seeds weigh 1 ounce, or that 11,000 tomato seeds, gigantic by comparison, weigh the same. So from these tiny bits of protoplasm grow waves of flowers or bushels of fruit. Moreover, there is an even greater mystery involved, since no two seeds are identical and you never know what might grow from them: perhaps a flower color or form or a fruit shape or flavor that has never been seen or tasted before. Seeds are like children, after all, with potentially great surprises in store.
Unfortunately, some seeds are so small that they are not easy to plant. This problem has been solved in two ways: seed pelleting and seed tape. Pelleted seeds are covered with inert clay and dyed a light color so they are easily seen and spaced when planting. In addition, they are universally spherical, which eases handling. When it comes to vegetables, carrot, lettuce and onion seeds are commonly pelleted, but pelleted beet, parsnip and celery seeds are also available. Pelletized flower seeds include lisianthus, dianthus, Canterbury bells (Campanula medium), foxglove, ageratum and bacopa. Pelleted dusty miller and basil seeds are also available.
A new trend in seed pelleting fuses different varieties of the same flower or combines different flowers together in a larger pellet. When such pelleted seed combos germinate together in a container, the effect is dazzling. So-called fuseables include single pellets that contain pink, magenta and purple petunia seeds, together with a pink bacopa seed or lime green and chocolate brown coleus seeds in the same pellet, or yellow viola (Johnny jump up) and orange pansy seeds together. You can find pelleted seeds of a single vegetable or flower at johnnyseeds.com. Find fuseable pellets at harrisseeds.com and parkseed.com.
When it comes to making a trench for your seeds, you will want to consider acquiring a Gardinnovations seed-in soil digger and soil spacer for planting seeds at mygardinnovations.com. This is a tool with 17 evenly spaced, tapered spikes. You can plant to any depth up to 1 ½ inches. The spacing the tool gives you is 1 inch between the spikes, but you can increase the spacing to 2 or 3 inches by dropping the seeds in the holes according to the desired distance.
The least labor-intensive method of planting seeds is by seed tape. Seed tape is a thin strip of biodegradable paper in which properly spaced seeds are glued or embedded. You just roll the tape out into your planting trench or furrow and water. You lay the tape at the recommended depth for the seeds in question and cover the tape up to the soil surface with compost or a fast-draining soil amendment. Park Seeds has a large selection of tapes with seeds including carrot, radish, many types of lettuce, spinach, beet, scallion, chard, zinnia and sweet alyssum. At ferrymorse. com, you can find most of the above seed tapes as well as tapes with seeds of cucumber, mesclun (mix of assorted salad greens) and a carrot rainbow mix, which includes Atomic Red, Cosmic Purple, Lunar White, Solar Yellow, Black Nebula and Bamboo Orange, all growing roots 8-10 inches long.
You can also make your own seed tapes, of course, with any seeds of your choosing. The process is exceedingly simple and you can see how it’s done via YouTube videos. All you have to do is cut 1-inch wide paper towel strips and make dots on them with a felt tip pen, spacing the dots according to the seed packet recommendation. You paste your seeds on the dots with Elmer’s glue, wait for the glue to dry, and you’re ready to plant.
The biggest mistake people make when planting seeds is to plant them too deep, whereupon they rot. Seeds should not be planted deeper than a depth equal to their own length. Keep in mind that, in nature, seeds germinate where they fall, which is on the soil surface. I have found that most seeds will sprout if they are barely scratched into the soil, as long as they are covered with a thin layer of water-retentive compost to keep them hydrated until germination occurs. It is advisable to water daily until at least three true leaves (not including cotyledons, or seed leaves) are seen, if not beyond, depending on the weather.