I have tried making seed tape from newpaper and flour water mix as the glue. It works wonderfully. Carrots, spinach lettuce and other small seeds are a breeze with this method. Give it a try.

Soaking seeds prior to planting not only speeds up germination, but also give you higher germination rates. However, some seed needs to soak 12 to 24 hours while other seeds (peas and beans) are higher in protein and absorb water quite easily and should be soaked for only 2 to 4 hours.

Some seed is easy to pre-soak and other seed is not, depending mostly on its' size, but also on how pre-soaking affects the seed.

In general, pre-soaking will help almost any seed sprout more quickly. However, very tiny seeds clump together when wet, so pre-soaking makes them very hard to handle and plant. You can get around this by soaking them for a while and then letting them dry on a paper coffee filter or paper towel for a little while(but not until they are completely dried out, obviously). Some of the excess moisture will drain off, making the tiny seeds easier to handle, but the seeds still will be damp when planting.

I often base a decision on whether to pre-soak seed on what kind of soil it is going to be planted in. If the ground is heavily saturated, I am less likely to pre-soak seed. If the soil temperatures are less than 50 degrees, I am less likely to soak seed of cool-season crops (those that you can plant prior to the last frost). If the soil temperatures are less than 65 degrees, I am less likely to soak seed of warm-season crops UNLESS the soil is very, very dry. If the seeds are going into heavier, slower-draining clay soil AND the soil is wet, I don't pre-soak that seed because seeds rot more quickly in heavy, wet soil.

Deciding whether or not to pre-soak seed is more of an art than a science. You just have to try it and see what works best with YOUR soil and YOUR temperatures. Over time you will find that pre-soaking seed often improves the speed with which SOME seeds sprout under certain conditions. Keep notes of what seed you soak, how long it is soaked, whether it was planted in soil that was wet or dry, warm or cool, and how quickly it sprouted. Note also if you had great, average or poor germination. These notes will be helpful next year when you're preparing to plant your spring garden.

For the very tiny seeds that stick together when wet, making and using your own seed tapes like Mary mentioned above is one way to get them planted and spaced properly. They work best if you spritz the seed tapes with water (I use a squirt bottle) before you cover them with soil, and then water the soil well once the seed tapes are covered. If the soil is very dry and the paper seed tapes stay dry, the seed will germinate more slowly than if it is wet.

We had a thread on making your own seed tapes a couple of months ago (and, we actually have at least a couple of threads on this topic every year). I've linked it below in case you haven't seen it before.

If you have questions about specific veggie types you're planting, post your planting list and other gardeners can tell you if they pre-soak those specific seeds or not.

Finally, pre-soaking seed generally is a beneficial practice, but only if you are planting the seed at the right time and under the right conditions for it.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Making Your Own Seed Tapes

I hate to ask again, but I have been looking for an hour and kind find the answer. Which seeds are best direct sown into the ground? And when you soak seeds, is it best to add some seaweed solution, or just plain water?

Sheri,

Do you mean which vegetable seeds are best direct seeded into the ground? Or flowers too?

For veggies, the following are usually direct sown: beets, carrots, beans, corn, summer and winter squash, southern peas (black-eyed peas, crowder peas, cream peas), spinach, lettuce and other greens, okra and melons.

Must they be direct seeded? No. I have experimented with each and every one of them from transplants, and have had success with them all, even carrots (planted them in cardboard tubes like paper towel tubes and toilet paper tubes one year, and transplanted them, tube and all into the garden--it worked). Direct sowing usually works well for all these, but in some cases, transplants work well too.

There are very true crops that MUST be planted from transplants and, for most of these, the reason transplants are preferred is a timing issue. Look at tomatoes as an example. You can direct-sow tomatoes but you normally don't because direct-sown tomatoes usually won't begin to flower until July or August and then they can't set fruit because the high temps affect the pollen's viability. Peppers and eggplants are the same way. For some cool season crops, like broccoli, cabbage or cauliflower, setting out transplants instead of direct seeding enables you to harvest a crop before the heat causes them to bolt.

I prefer starting seeds in little paper cups and planting them, cups and at, when the soil conditions are right. For me, it is an issue of having full rows. I have to do a lot of soil enrichment to turn my red clay into something in which crops will grow, so I don't want to "waste" an inch of it. When you direct sow, there always will be "holes" or "gaps" in a row where a seed or seeds didn't sprout, so setting out transplants (with a few held back as backups in case something happens) helps utilize all the space available without gaps.

Direct seeding works just fine too, though. You can always go back a week or two after plants sprout and sow more seed to fill any gaps or holes.

Dawn

Dawn

Yes, I was just asking about the vegetables. I am making my tomato plant beds at least a foot taller than the ground, and probably 18 inches across, big hills, kind of flattened on top. If I am going to mulch them with newspaper then some wood chunks to hold down the newspaper, how can I direct sow carrot seeds into the hills? Should I leave part of the ground exposed? hmmm.....sounds like a recipee for disease.

Do you plant your companions in between the tomato plants?

Also, If I make rows of direct sown seeds, like carrots, beans ect, AWAY FROM THE TOMATO PLANTS, do those have to be mulched before they sprout or just after, and can I water them by sprinkler until they get sprouted? Sheri

To sow carrots, leave the soil bare and then mulch it later with pine bark fines or grass clippings after the carrots have been thinned to their final spacing.

I plant companions in various places, sometimes in a row on either side of the tomatoes, sometimes in between the tomatoes, sometimes only at the ends of the rows.....just wherever.

Anything you sow away from the tomato plants can be mulched after they've sprouted and are a couple of inches tall.

I don't worry tremendously about soil splash this early in the year. About all you'll get from soil splash at the temperatures you're having might be a little bacterial spot or bacterial speck and they are not that serious. As long as your beds are mulched before June, you should be fine. It is when the real heat arrives in June that soil splash seems to bring worse diseases...like early blight.

Dawn

Dawn,

Thank you so much for clarifying about the soil splash!! I didn't realize the heat had anything to do with it. That is a big relief. I planted some of my plants and now have been overstressed and thinking that was just stupid, because we still have alot of tilling to do, and have soil flying everywhere. Sheri

Sheri,

A lot of the diseases that are present in the soil (and water and air) just don't achieve a high enough level to infect the plants and harm them until the temperatures reach a certain level too.

You sometimes will see diseases like bacterial spot and bacterial speck in May, but usually at a fairly small level. And, a couple of years, I have seen Early Blight by mid- to late-May, but it was a very hot May. So, in general, diseases really become an issue in June. Is it smart to mulch before that? Sure. But I don't think it is critical!

If you have a heavy rainstorm or two and you start worrying it will affect the plants before you can get them mulched, just mix up a baking soda spray and spray them. It alters the pH of the leaves and helps keep disease from getting established. Is it as effective as preventive spraying with something like Daconil? Probably not. But it is organic so it is safer.

I've linked some recipes from Fort Worth/Dallas's DirtDoctor, J. Howard Garrett, whose newspaper columns, books and radio show converted me to organic gardening in the late 1980s to early 1990s. If you have or can find Potassium Bicarbonate, it is slightly stronger and more effective than baking soda. In his recipe for the Baking Soda Spray, he recommends a horticultural oil (or orange oil) because it makes the baking soda spray stick to the plants. If the weather is warm, though, I substitute a very, very delicate castile based soap because even summerweight oil can burn tomato foliage. I might use the summerweight hort oil on something like hollies that have tougher foliage, but not on veggies.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Recipes

Ok Thanks Dawn. I did use the baking soda recipe and the serenade last year. My plants came out of any problems they were having after I started using the sprays on a regular basis. Thanks Again. Sheri