Ready for the warm sowings?

Almost every year in February I write a post about starting to sow various species that will germinate at room temperature, indoors under lights.

For those in a cold climate where spring arrives late, the benefits of starting these species somewhere around mid-February to March are easy to understand. Not only we gain at least 2-3 months for their growth cycle, we can also dedicate the early spring for other important garden tasks.

For this year, a repeat post from previous writings, with few changes, updates and recap of the seeds treatment that can be applied for the warm germinating species. Almost all regions in Canada are ‘under’ piles of snow right now; sowing few seeds sounds very attractive!

Prepare small pots, the sowing mix, seeds of ‘warm germinating’ species, if necessary read a bit more and get started!

When sowing indoors it is best to to wash your pots to avoid bringing indoors eggs of various insects which can remain attached to pots, and who knows what else. It is enough that we have to deal with the fungus gnats, which are almost impossible to avoid indoors.

For those who don’t like to go back and read older postings or the Germination page ;) I recommend to amend any sowing mix you purchase with vermiculite (even my favourites brands, Fafard and Promix, contain too much peat). For more ‘pretentious’ species I even add perlite to the mix to obtain a ‘stellar’ drainage.

A varied array of indoor lighting is available for all budgets. From just a simple lamp sufficient to cover 4-6 small pots kept on a table/desk corner, to large lighting stands, there are plenty options to choose from. Plants wise, I repeated many times, start with easy to germinate and grow species before trying others more challenging.
An updated list of warm germinating species usually offered in the Seeds List: Ready, start, go 2023!

From the species marked as ‘warm germinators’, some will germinate easily after sowing in a few days to few weeks time. For others, we have to apply various treatments before sowing:
Acid gibberellic treatment – an easy way to prepare a solution: Here
Hot water treatment for species with hard seedcoats: Here
Soaking and nicking the seeds, as well for hard seedcoats: Here
More advice for sowing small/fine seeds: Here

In the gallery below, timelines for Gentiana asclepiadea started in February 2023 with GA3; by Nov. the grown-up seedlings were already planted in the ground, and in 2024 one of the seedlings even produced a few flowers!

While the purpose of this early start is to extend the growing time in our cold climate, where otherwise sowing directly outdoors is not possible sooner than mid-April (or May), it is also a great winter pastime when crazy gardeners crave the feel and smell of the potting soil and fresh growth!
Not all our seedlings will survive (and it’s a good thing!). But most will grow and thrive, and we’ll be proud of them, even if they are very easy from seeds, like Draba, Gypsophila, Silene, Papaver species for example, to mention just a few.

From various species started in February last year (2024), Potentilla porphyrantha, Salvia daghestanica, Phyteuma orbiculare, Campanula glomerata and Nepeta multifida were already planted in the ground by late summer!

Papaver macrostomum ‘Black Magic’ even flowered – what else to expect from an annual Papaver :) Even perennial poppies may flower in the first season when started early.

Ready to start sowing?

*For those who do not like to sow indoors, it is perfectly fine to sow all the ‘warm germinators’ outdoors when the temperatures allow according with your locality (April-May).