I
spring too!
One of the things I like best about pre-germinating seeds is that I get to observe the seeds as they change. First they swell up a bit, and sometimes the seed even changes colour; I am noticing that many pepper seeds sometimes take on a purple cast. Then when the radicle begins to poke out of the seed casing it feels like a personal victory, and it lifts my mood. Lol. I am also noticing that peppers sometimes have erratic germination, so if I start lots of seeds after a few days or weeks I can pick and choose the most vigorous ones to place in soil blocks. If all of the seeds that I select have visible radicles I know that they are ready to grow, and that most of their cotyledons will emerge from the soil at about the same time. Then any remaining ungerminated seeds just sit a while longer, until they show signs of life.
On the topic of spinach, a couple of years ago I stumbled on to what appears to be a very successful way of pre-sprouting the seeds before sowing them. You soak the seeds for 6 hours, drain them, and place them in darkness overnight to pre-germinate (a bowl with a plate on top of it, placed on the kitchen counter will do the trick). The next day once they show signs of life plant the seeds 1/2" deep outside (good chance that there could be some variation in how long this takes, depending on which variety you select). I have had excellent success with this method; in fact I was shocked to see that many of the seeds had sprouted after just one day. I was also surprised to see that the seeds had more than doubled in volume over night. I think I soaked way too many seeds; I thought that I had only soaked a few, yet in the morning there seemed to be thousands of them. Lol. For this reason I recommend having a planting site or container prepped and ready to go
before you soak the seeds-- because they just take off running. (And if you end up trying this technique please let me know how it goes for you).
My personal preference is to grow spinach in deep containers, so they can be kept out of the elements during poor weather (it can rain a LOT here during the spring). I tend to crowd the seeds in the pot, poking them in just 2-3" apart. Last year I tried spinach in 3/4" soil blocks and it did not go well at all; they germinated just fine, and then did horribly when I set the plants out in the garden. Seeds that were pre-germinated and sown in containers in mid-February produced spinach for us in early May. I think that in our Pacific Northwest climate direct sowing small successions starting in late winter is the way to go. We are also able to sow spinach at the end of August and still get a good crop as well.
fun to read your observations and results.
