Complete Your Gardening Cycle: Growing Seeds
(Page 5 of 7)
August/September 1993
By Andy Van Hevelingen
An annual herb completes its life cycle in a growing season, which is typically a year. After flowering and setting seed, the original plant dies. Most annual seeds have no special requirements for germination; once ripe and dry, they will germinate if given sufficient warmth and moisture.
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A biennial plant completes its life cycle in two growing seasons or years. Most biennial herbs belong to the parsley family (Umbelliferae). They include caraway, parsley, and angelica. Such plants should be grown either from fresh seed that has been dried thoroughly and then planted immediately in early fall or from seed that has been stored in the cold to ensure high germination.
Perennial plants live for more than two years. All perennial herbs produce dry, hard seed except for French tarragon, horseradish, and true peppermint, which do not produce viable seed and must be propagated vegetatively. Gardeners may become frustrated trying to propagate perennial herbs from seed because many perennial seeds contain chemical inhibitors, or dormant embryos, or have impermeable seed coats or other characteristics that prevent germination unless the seeds are specially treated.
Viability Testing
I find it fascinating to see a seed develop into a living plant, but it’s extremely frustrating when I plant a large number of seeds and only a few germinate. I try to use my own collected seed as much as possible because I know its history and can attest to its parentage, but often I must rely on commercial seed companies, friends, and seed exchanges through garden societies and botanical gardens (see “Desperately Seeking Seeds?” on page 43). In all cases, unless I test the seed for viability, I have no idea whether it is alive, has been properly stored, and has met its dormancy requirements for germination.
Testing seed is not hard to do: just take a sample (perhaps two dozen seeds) and place it on a pad of wet tissue or moistened paper towel in a closed container and see how many germinate, and how quickly. However, not all seeds are alike; germination for some may depend on the presence or absence of light, the actual spectral quality of the light, and/or the temperature, including the fluctuation between night and day temperatures, and some seeds may require pretreatment in order to germinate.
Scarification. Some seed coats, such as those of hibiscus seeds, are initially almost impermeable to water or air. To promote germination, you must open or soften the seed coat by either nicking it with a knife or sanding it lightly with a file or sandpaper. Extreme care should be taken to cut through or abrade only the seed coat and not injure the embryo. As soon as the seed coat is penetrated in this way, the embryo is susceptible to fungal infection, and the seed must be planted immediately.
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