Gardening

42 The West Dorset Magazine, February 11, 2022 Gardening Horticulture...

...with botanist Dr Dave Aplin

Born and bred in West Dorset, Dave has worked in horticulture and botany locally and internationally, notably in Belgium, Jordan and the UAE. He brings a wealth of practical knowledge with its underlying principles to his writing

Sowing seeds now can cut months of waiting

From a gardening perspective, February heralds a transition month. While still in the depths of winter, the 28 days bring, by its end, two additional hours of daylight a day. This acts as a cue for some plants to stir. Despite this, we need to wait several more months before seeds can be sown outside. That is unless you have an unheated greenhouse. In this instance, February is a great month to start sowing carrots, onions, leeks, rocket, lambs’ lettuce, watercress, lettuce, beetroot and for the flower garden sweet peas. It is amazing that protection from a simple sheet of glass means cropping can begin months earlier than outside, perhaps more surprising is that most people who have a greenhouse don’t cash in on this advantage. Seeds are amazing structures, grains of dormant life awaiting conditions to germinate. Germination requires moisture, a suitable temperature, oxygen and sometimes, but not always, light. If like me, you have amassed seeds over the years that you have never got around to sowing, then this is a good time to test if they remain viable. The length of time seeds remain dormant varies greatly. Storage conditions are important but so too is the kind of seeds stored. Parsnips and parsley tend to be short lived, whereas tomatoes and peas can remain viable for at least a decade. The best place to store seeds is somewhere cool and dry. Under the right conditions some seeds can remain viable for hundreds if not thousands of years. Radiocarbon dating revealed seeds in permafrost survived dormant for over 32,000 years and could be coaxed to germinate. The method for testing seeds basically follows the same procedure whether you are at home or in one of the world’s scientific seed banks. Select a few seeds from the packet at random (ten to fifteen should be sufficient), space them across some moist kitchen roll and place them somewhere warm. Under these conditions, most common seeds will germinate within a few days with slower species taking up to a couple weeks. The selected seeds will either germinate or if dead become colonised by fungi. Using this method, it is possible to test seed viability. If five out of the ten seeds germinate then the germination rate is 50%. If this is the case, simply double the quantity of seeds you would normally sow over a given area. It’s a good way to save money, use up old seed, and if you have children of a certain age, a great activity for introducing them to gardening. n soilvalues.com