Sheri Ann Richerson's exotic gardening, elegant cooking, crafty creations, food preservation and animal husbandry... all on two and a half acres in Marion, Indiana!

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Seed Starting

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Place sealed test tubes filled with seeds inside a glass cloche for an elegant way to start seeds.

Gardeners who start plants from seed know the best way to do it is to pre-germinate the seeds in some type of container such as a bowl, glass dish or test tube. Sometimes finding an elegant way to display those seed starting containers, especially if you have limited space, can be tricky.

Using test tubes placed inside a cloche is a great way to keep the water the seeds are soaking in warmer, germinate a lot of seeds in a limited space and turn a necessary process into an elegant endeavor.

Place multiple test tubes filled with hot water and seeds inside a small ceramic flower pot.

 

Here is how the process works:

Begin with clean test tubes. Sometimes you can find these in the Halloween section of stores.

Place clean, dry seeds in the bottom of the test tubes.

Fill the tubes 3/4 of the way up with hot water.

Place the cork on the top of the test tube.

Place a label towards the top of the test tube so you don’t forget what type of seeds are in the tubes.

Carefully place the test tubes, one at a time, in a ceramic flower pot.

Cover the flower pot with a cloche to help retain the heat.

Change the water once or twice a day until the seeds begin to germinate.

As soon as you see roots begin to emerge, plant the seeds making sure that you don’t break the fragile young roots.

That’s all there is to germinating seeds inside of a test tube.

 

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Canna seedlings.

Learn how easy it is to start seeds and what to do with them once they germinate.

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Watermelon Radish

Watermelon Radish

Radish seed

 

Plant radish in a cold frame or tunnel house.

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Young lettuce plants. Thin them as you transplant them.

Lettuce seeds.

Plant lettuce – plants or seeds – in a cold frame or tunnel house.

 

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Lettuce seeds.

Plant spinach and lettuce in a cold frame or tunnel house. You can plant transplants or direct seed.

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Plant anemone in the heated greenhouse for cut flower production.

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Plant young sweet William plants or direct sow seeds in a cold frame or tunnel house. These plants will grow and flower before the ones grown in the open garden.

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Plant lettuce transplants or direct sow lettuce seeds inside of a cold frame or tunnel house. Any seeds that do not sprout and grow this year will lie dormant over winter and sprout in early spring.

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Direct sow seeds of Oriental poppies, sweet William, cornflower, daisy, snapdragon and chamomile in the open garden. Choose a spot where these plants can naturalize so next year you can allow them to drop their own seed.

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Plant delphiniums – either seeds or young plants – inside a cold frame or tunnel house. The fresher the seed, the better it will germinate. Delphinium seeds require cool, moist conditions to sprout. In cold climates it is essential that the soil have good drainage in order for these plants to survive during the winter. Plants grown under cover will bloom sooner than those grown in the open ground.

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