It could be assumed that after years of gardening one might become complacent about the whole process. Certainly, tasks like weeding and digging are chores I could do without, but the entire growth process from seed to harvest has never lost it's magic for me. No matter how many times I sow seeds in soil, I am always astounded by the miracle of germination. On Easter Sunday I started my seeds, and now only five days later I have mini plants! Each variety growing at it's own individual pace. These tiny plants are going to feed me abundantly throughout the next six months. Squash seedlings looking enormous next to the tiny Wild Arugula shoots. The heirloom Tomatoes still holding out below the surface of the soil. I always find it interesting that seeds that are saved from home gardens take much longer to germinate than commercially packaged seeds, and I would like to find out why that is the case. Is there something added to commercially prepared seeds to enhance germination? I'm not even referring to commercial Hybrid seeds, but even high quality organic seeds such as those sold by Renee's Garden seem to germinate much quicker than the seeds I save from home. For several years now I have been growing some heirloom Italian Roma tomatoes from seeds given to me by my friend Robert, who lives in Upstate New York. These seeds are always the last to germinate, so slow in fact that the first year I grew them I thought they had failed to germinate because all of the other seeds that were sown at the same time were well under way by the time these Roma's decided to poke their heads above the soil. If anyone has an answer to the reason for this difference in germination rate I would love to hear your comments on the subject.
Laura Pedrick for The New York Times
