Is there a trick for growing lovage from seed? It's possible I got bad seed but I've planted it twice and don't see anything.

10 to 14 days sprouting...might be too hot?

It must be one of the more difficult plants from seed I have collected seed a couple times over the years but not been successful , just thought my seed no good

I sowed some lovage from seed last year & got 9 healthy plants. I gave 7 of them to my sister & the two I kept returned this year. Don't give up!

A chilling might help?

I sowed mine in a flat in the greenhouse on April 27th 2021 & they sprouted May 3rd. I did nothing special to them.

I grew them once. Also did nothing special but maybe the seed has to be fresh?

I used fresh seeds but planted them directly into a bed. I'll try flats first next time.

Some seeds need to go into a packed medium, at the right time, you guys are all zone 5 and 6, not much difference in temp tho.

Urban ~ Here are the directions from Annie's Heirloom Seeds

https://www.anniesheirloomseed...

Seems like many plants germinate by a surprising variety of germination methods. In the beginning, plants known to germinate around room temperature and thought to be "easy", didn't always germinate for me at all. Over time I learned how to adapt to this or that pitfall of germination, but the one method of germination that gave a clumsy germinator like me better odds of success was wintersowing (2).

Being a member of the carrot family (apiaceae), lovage, which germinates around room temperature (1), also germinates like its relatives (dill, coriander, fennel) with wintersowing and might also self-sow (if allowed) and bring swallowtail butterflies to the summer pageant.

(We used to bake fish laid on Bronze Fennel (3) stalks (loved the coppery colors among chemical-free roses) - another bonus for the clutz I am in the kitchen.)

(1) https://tomclothier.hort.net/i...
(2) https://garden.org/forums/view... (I learned originally from Trudi Davidoff's website www.wintersown.org, which seems to have moved to facebook, but there might be key words for googling there that might also be helpful.)
(3) https://0201.nccdn.net/4_2/000...

I forgot about Tom Clothier's website. I always referred to him in the past and had good results. As for wintersowing, I always had to adjust from the original method.

evelyninthegarden said: Urban ~ Here are the directions from Annie's Heirloom Seeds

https://www.anniesheirloomseed...

"Plant ¼" deep in full sun deep after last frost." Is pretty standard but I got nothing following that or slight variations.