Promote • Educate
24 September/October 2019
[email protected] | http://www.craftygatherer.co.nzOur range of homesteading products have a
positive impact on the earth; they help to improve
your soil health, as well as the efficiency of your
gardening and home life. All hand-crafted in
New Zealand from locally sourced materials.Visit our website to see our Forkstas, garden
belts, aerated compost tea brewers, biochar
burners, pulley laundry racks, seed raising
trays and more!Empowering you to take
action towards resiliency.
The secret life of seeds
The amazing seed is one of nature’s extraordinary accomplishments.
Each fertile seed contains the complete genetic form for a new
plant. Seeds can survive forest fires, freezing temperatures, burial,
even ingestion by humans, animals and birds, sometimes using
these hazards to their own advantage.
Seeds come in all manner of shapes and sizes, colour and in
some instances smell – try carrot! The largest is coconut, then you
go right down to trailing lobelia and begonia with almost dust-like
seed, thousands to the gram. Some seeds are viable for an extremely long time – seeds from
the pyramids have been found and germinated successfully, while
other seed has a very short viable life, only a matter of weeks. Seed
viability rapidly decreases within its viable lifespan.
All seeds require two basic elements to germinate: warmth of
varying degrees and moisture of varying quantities. There are also
secondary factors that may be considered, depending on the seed,
such as cooling, pre-soaking or scarifying seeds before sowing.
Most commercial vegetable and flower seeds (and consequently
commercial seedlings) have been hybridised. While this is perhaps
not too much of a concern if sowing for the home garden, for best
results it’s hard to go past the old and proven open-pollinated
varieties, especially in organic gardens. These open-pollinated
seeds are often referred to as heritage or heirloom.Dave TreadwellVKDUHVKLVWLSVIRUJURZLQJ
IURPVHHGREADY, SET, sow!
Photo: iStock/Jurgal