RickCorey said:I swear they read my mind and do the opposite of what I expect, just to mess with my head!

YES, R ick! I do want to use peroxide and i forgot. i will mix some up tonight! Just water with it, right? Or should the seeds have been soaked before I planted?

i think that, if you're trying to get better germination out of old seeds, the seed soak should also be with peroxide.

That's what I did with salvia seeds, anyway, and it seemed to help them a lot. They swelled up like frogs' eggs, then germinated faster, and more of them germinated.

Or, I just got lucky that year.

Hey, it's worth a try. Thanks!

I have so many seeds from last year that I never even got to try. Plus others that I did plant some but still have lots left in the packet.

Because I tend to start small numbers of multiple varieties, I used a plastic ice cube tray to pre-soak them. One "cube" per variety.

I labelled them using tiny squares of mini-blind slats with just a number written in pencil. That way I could drop the label in with the seeds.

I fished the seeds out using tiny measuring spoons - probably the 1/16th tsp or 1/32nd tsp spoon.

Rick, my mind understands and respects your meticulous approach, but if I thought all that fuss was NECESSARY, I would never start the project at all.....

I sow and see. And my positive results may fall low on the scientific percentage scale, but they satisfy my urges to grow things. I may not get the BEST return on my investment of time and money, but I get more than enough return on my spiritual effort.

You all rock on with the perfectionist thing - I DO like to hear the buzz -and I especially enjoy Rick's narratives - but I'll stick with my "gardening is for relaxing" approach......

SOMEtimes I will want to propagate some extra special thing and I will come back for your peroxide advice. But for everyday, I'll just sow it and see.

>> if I thought all that fuss was NECESSARY, I would never start the project at all

You're very sensible, or more sane, than I am. I would bet anything that you get better results per amount of effort and time spent.

For me the Rube Goldberg aspects and "playing at science" are mostly for delight rather than for necessity.

I did HAVE to discover fast-draining mixes and capillary mats, or I would still be drowning everything in sight. Other than that, the primary excuse for most of what I do is that I like to fiddle.

A few projects might cross over into actual curiosity, and hence have a valid excuse for people with more curiosity about "why" than desire for flowers and vegetables. For some psychological reason, I would rather know "why" (and improve soil) than have lots of flowers or most vegetables. I guess I like snap peas and Bok Choy as much as "why", but it's a close thing.

Are you an engineer?
I like to be around engineers - I learn things!

Engineer or not, hang around Rick and you'll not only learn, but laugh too! He's a trip!!!

he is!

I have a broccoli seed germinated already! Early Dividend.

abhege said:Engineer or not, hang around Rick and you'll not only learn, but laugh too! He's a trip!!!

So true. Smart too and very helpful.

Arlene.

I have not even started my broccoli!

I just finished listening to the latest podcast, which really covered starting tomatoes and peppers from seed quit well. I really wanted to listen to this one so now I have all sorts of great tips on tomato starting. I will not be doing any peppers, will just buy my plants. Just going to trying some tomatoes as I have plenty of seed. I thought it was a really great podcast.

I have never listened to one and it had all sorts of good tips. I planted both peppers and tomatoes from seed last year although I think I also bought some tomato plants. I will be gone from April 10 to May 3 so everything will have a really late start unless I can talk DH into taking care of them. Not sure he can handle it though. He is not a gardener and newly planted seeds and seedlings need such close attention.

Mary Stella, In your location you must have a greenhouse.

i also had to go away for. Week and left DH to water my seedlings, and he's not a gardener. He didn't kill them all.

Burpee sent me an e-mail. They have free shipping today and tomorrow only.

Rita, where do I find the podcast?

It is the third box down on the gardening ideas boxes.

Or directly here-
http://garden.org/ideas/view/d...