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If you’ve struggled with starting plants from seeds, I’m laying out the most common seed-starting mistakes you may be making—and how to prevent or fix them.
Many seeds don’t last as long as we think. Onion seeds, for example, are only good for a year at most. Maybe you were able to get that two-year-old onion seed to germinate, but chances are, it won’t reach its fullest potential as a plant.
A good number of people probably don’t pay attention to the confusing “days to maturity” label on their seed packets. But if you live in a region with a cooler or shorter growing season, this is one term you need to know.
If you sow your seeds outside too early, they could rot in the ground while they wait for soil temperatures to warm up. Meanwhile, indoor-started seedlings could become large and overgrown before it’s time to transplant them in the garden.
Stratification (also known as cold stratification) doesn’t apply to all seeds, but it’s the number-one reason some seeds take their sweet time germinating (or refuse to germinate at all).
Let me be clear that all seeds can be started in native soil… as long as they are outside. But if you’re starting seeds inside, most native soil (that is, the regular soil in your garden) is simply too dense for the tiny, closed environment of a seed-starting tray or seedling pot.
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