Seed Starting

Seed starter mix getting some water before going into flats.

This past week, I opened the fridge and started to bring seeds out to sow.  As I collected them last fall, I kept them in an assortment of envelopes and plastic bags (i.e. perforated Ziploc).  It's usually important to "clean" seed as you store it--in the case of some plants, seed is in a "fruit," the juicy flesh of which needs to be removed before storage to prevent bacteria buildup, pest attraction, and in some cases, to remove germination inihibitors (for example, some seed won't germinate until it's fleshy pulp has been removed through either digestion--think birds eating berries, etc--or manual intervention such as hand cleaning).
 But most of the seed I collected needed little intervention; composite seeds (aster family) can be stored pretty much dry, so I didn't "clean" any of most of the seeds--just kept them in their envelopes, sleeping the winter away in the crisper.

Two seeds flats (of eight) with starter mix.  I cut water jugs and salad containers into dividers to make three sections per flat; it's an attempt to save limited space.

Some of the woodies I colllected--trees and shrubs that produce wooden stems--did have fruit though.  The tiny groundcover Mitchella repens (Partridge Berry), for example, sets seed in small red, fleshy berries that grow in pairs along shaded forest floors.  Arctostophylos uva-ursi (Bearberry), another small groundcover native to much of north America, does similarly.  Amelanchier canadensis (a tree/shrub of many common names) sets beautiful "Juneberries."  These seeds were "cleaned" prior to storage and kept in plastic with some moisture in a soilless mix.

And here is the miracle; come Spring, the fridge is full of lifeforce.  No kidding--when I checked the cold crisper to pull out some of the seeds to sow, I reached first for the Amelanchier bag.  Keep in mind that the crisper is a closed drawer as it is, tucked into the bottom of the fridge.  Keep in mind too that our fridge, a modest, small, no-name model, has been without light inside since we moved in.  Neither I nor my fridge partner apparently has felt enough need to replace the bulb, which has caused much needless squinting and searching for this salad dressing or that particular beer.  All of this is to say that there is no light in the icebox.  Despite this, cleaned and tucked into their bag in the bottom of the fridge, the Amelanchier seeds had begun to germinate.  I could see the little cotyledons, first seed leaves of such plants, pressing against plastic.  They were reaching upwards, where some rumor of light had prompted their clocks.  Or, regardless of light, their clocks started a rumor.  In any event, seasons wait for no one.  They begin and proceed with indifference to us, which can be amazing to observe.  This week there was truth in the bottom of the refrigerator.

Some of the seeds sown, l-r: Euthamia graminifolia (Grass-leaved Goldenrod), Deschampsia flexuosa (Wavy Hair Grass), Schizachyrium scoparium (Little Bluestem).