The seeds of time...

Our seed germination experiment has been a wild success. Total germination ran at about 70%, which isn't bad for sunflower bird seed.

After "planting" the seeds on Monday, we were already seeing activity the next day. By Wednesday, the emerging root was clearly visible on nearly all the seeds.

Today, the plants have nearly pushed off their seed coats entirely.

Tomorrow we will probably take the opportunity of Joe's 5th Birthday party to keep the kids busy potting up the viable plants.

Germinating Idea

My 5-year-old, Joe, is deeply interested in understanding how the world works. When we planted our native wildflower mix over the weekend, I explained that we had to keep the seeds damp so they would germinate. After a few minutes of trying to explain this concept, I decided to show him instead. A few sunflower seeds, a damp paper towel and a plastic container is all it takes.

Thanks to school science fairs, there is a host of information on seed germination available on the Internet. (See the results of a Google search on the topic.) I even had Joe plant 10 seeds so we could easily do a little thinking about percentages when the seeds start to sprout. We are now eagerly awaiting the results of our experiments, both inside and out in the recently planted garden beds.