How to Prepare Garden Seeds

Growing garden plants and flowers from a seed is an amazing experience. Seeds are cheap to buy, and sometimes you can even get them for free from friends and neighbors.

If you've tried to grow a plant or flower from seeds before though, you may have had mixed experiences. Some seeds seem to grow without any effort at all, while others seem completely dead. While it is possible to get "bad" seeds from time to time, there's usually something specific that's needed in order to make specific types of seeds germinate successfully.

Here are the three most common seed preparations needed to grow most flowers and vegetables from a seed:

1. Seed Soaking - This is the easiest way to germinate a seed, and thankfully it's the most common method needed too. In most cases you just need to soak your flower seeds for a few hours, then you can plant them in pots or garden beds and they'll be ready to sprout.

In some cases though, a seed needs to soak for at least twelve hours or it will need to soak until it has doubled it's size. Once in awhile you come across seeds which need to be soaked until a sprout pops out of it. Seeds that need extra soaking usually specify this on their packaging, so be sure to read any instructions that may have come with it.

2. Scarifying Seeds - To scarify a seed simply means to nick or scratch it in some way. This type of seed preparation is needed for seeds which have particularly hard shells. If you scratch or damage the outer shell with a knife or nail file, that lets the water soak into the core of the seed easier. So after scratching it you usually need to soak the seed for several hours.

If you do not scratch or damage the outer shell well enough though, the water will not be able to penetrate and the seed may not sprout properly.

3. Cold germination - This seed sprouting method also uses moisture, but it's combined with the cold temperatures of the refridgerator or freezer too. Usually you put the seeds into a plastic bag with a moist cloth or paper towel, then you put them into a cold spot for several months.

All of these seed starting processes are attempts to emulate what usually happens in nature. Wild seeds that drop on the ground outdoors usually do so in late summer or fall. They are then ground into the dirt by wind and rain, and that generally scratches them up a bit and provides a nice moist spot for them to settle. The ground then freezes over in the winter and stays frozen for several months. When spring comes again, there's usually more moisture from rain and since the seed has already been scratched and hibernated in the cold earth for months, it's now ready to sprout strong and healthy.