This post was originally published in the Spring of 2013...I'd like to share it with you again since Spring is almost here and it's time to get those seeds started! The photos aren't great, my nails look awful, but it works, so I'm going to share it again anyway ;)
I love flowers! There is nothing better than having coffee on my patio in the mornings, surrounded by all of the vibrant colors in my garden. I especially love flowers that climb trellises and fences. This year, I decided to add some new climbers to my garden, and I wanted them to grow quickly. To be honest, I just forgot to do my usual indoor seed planting weeks ago like I was supposed to. So, when I saw a tip in Southern Living Magazine last week, I decided to try it. Now I am going to show you how to start seeds in 3 days! No kidding...
Pick out your seeds. I chose morning glories, moonflowers, and cypress.
Pour your seeds out.
Clip the end off of each one...this can take a while, so get comfortable.
And...please excuse my hideous nails.
Once you have clipped them, put them in a glass of water and let them soak overnight.
This softens the seed coating and allows it to germinate quickly.
Plant your seeds in a pot or straight in the ground like me, and within 3 days, you will have sprouts!!!
I cannot wait to watch these babies grow and start to vine up the trellis!
Do you have any easy gardening tips? I would love to hear them!
Happy gardening!
Find all of my gardening and outdoor tips and tricks HERE on my Gardening Page!
Katie says
How awesome! I was wondering if I should just bypass all the seeds I just bought because I was late too but I think I'll try em!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
Andrea at Opulent Cottage says
I'm so glad you showed this! I nearly severed a digit trying to "nick" my seed with a paring knife :) Duh. I planted those same seeds too, and the soaking really does help! Will love seeing your garden when it grows.
xo, Andrea
Rose says
what a great idea! I will definitely try this.
Jeni says
This method might work for larger seeds, but sometimes seeds are way too small to do this!
Paula Parrish says
Great tip for starting seedling, I am definitely going to give it a try. ;o)
Debra says
This is awesome!
Chelsea @ Making Home Base says
Great tip Jess! My husband is the green thumb between the two of us and he had me start his veggies seeds a few weeks ago and I totally failed lol! Definitely trying this out!
Janet says
My zucchini seeds didn't germinate in the ground for some reason so I decided to try them using a method I used with my third graders to let them see seed germination. I soaked a paper towel. Inserted it in a ziplock bag. Then I laid 8 seeds on the wet towel and taped the bag to a sunny window. Two days later the seeds are all germinating! Now to get them into the ground before they grow long spindly stems.
Stacy Risenmay says
I always soak mine too but I have never tried clipping them. I am going to have to do that this year :)
Ricky D says
Fold a couple of paper towels in half.
Lay them in a cookie sheet.
Spread your seeds inside the paper towels.
Pour cup of water on the towels to dampen.
Place in oven, on low, over night,
Keep moist
Seeds should be sprouting after 10 hours.
Kim Parker says
Ricky D, I have never heard of the low oven idea. I have several veggies to start in the next few weeks and I will give this a try. Thanks for sharing.
Yolanda says
ReallY? Can I do this with sunflower or pumpkin seeds? I try planting them outside and the squirrels dig these out to eat them.
Kathy says
what do you consider low oven? Overnight - how do you keep them moist? Using your method what would you say the length of time you would use in the oven? THANKS - can't wait to try both of these methods!!!
Vetsy says
That's a good tip to know... especially if you do not have a lot of time on your hands these days like myself. Sometimes I mean to do it, but can't get to it! This will help me in the future... Thanks for sharing.
Meg Sluyter says
So pinning this! I was about to give up on all the seeds I bought last month, I thought it was too late, now it's not! Thanks so much for sharing this tip. :)
Terri says
This is Great! Thanks for sharing. Also I would love to know the name of the climbing vine with bright orange flowers in the picture, so pretty.
Thanks, Terri
Kim says
@Terri,
They look like they may be Black eyed Susan vines. Do a search and see what you think. They come in different colors. I hope this helps.
Kim
Nancy says
They are the Cypress. They run ALOT!!! I think I heard they can be a bit of a problem for animals so you might want to research them if you have pets that like to eat flowers.
Carla says
Can I also do this with veggie seeds ????
[email protected] says
Wow, great idea! Pinning!
Dee says
Is it too late to do this now?!? I just found some seeds I bought late January and misplaced. ;-(
Jessica says
I don't think so! It never hurts to try :)
Cheryl says
Hey Jessica,
I read your comments and started a few seeds using your suggestions; I decided to wait and do some of the seeds during the right sign of the moon and the 2017 Farmer's Almanac! My hubby has a hobby farm so I thought I would listen to his suggestions too!!
Either way, we will see what happens and hopefully we will all be eating fresh veggies like Mustards at Thanksgiving and the Rutabagas later in the year thanks to you!!
Enjoying your articles and all the comments!!
peggy says
Im for sure going to try this with my morning glories!!!!!!!! especially since Ive been told I cant have morning glories in ARIZONA!!!!!!! they grow wild in texas, but I cant have them in arizona???????? watch me!!!!!!! My family mailed me some seeds, and Im DANG SURE GOING TO TRY IT. One more thing off my bucket list!!!!!!!!lol
Im sure going to have fun trying. had beautiful ones in colorado!!!!!!
thank you so much for the info.
Lynn Perez says
It also works well to just hold the seed and rub it a few times on a nail file, then soak.
television options says
This website was... how do I say it? Relevant!!
Finally I've found something which helped me. Thanks a lot!
My website television options
Stacy says
What about poppy seeds? Too little to clip. I have a very hard time starting them. Anyone have an idea to share?
Jessica says
Have you tried soaking them in water overnight maybe, Stacy? I'm not sure it would work, but it just may :)
Barbara Lilian says
Thanks Jessica for reminding me of this soaking tip, for the seeds I haven't sown yet as I've been in hospital with a back problem and my garden has been neglected. it's ok for the big seeds, so I'll just scatter the tiny ones & hope for the best. Enjoy your Easter holiday. not sure when yours is , but here in France where I live, it starts this w/e, there's Choc. eggs & easter bunnies everywhere in the chocolatieres
Jessica says
Hi, Barbara! It's going to be Easter this coming weekend here as well, although I'd much rather spend it in France! How amazing! Hope your back feels better soon! Hugs, Jessica
Louise Checketts says
Hi my name is Louise I found your site a couple days ago and have been hooked ever since. I Love it. I would like to start growing a small plant to brighten up my bedroom but have no idea about gardening or plants. I want it to be relatively small and colourful what would you recommend? and could you recommend any books that would help someone who is a beginner with gardening? I would really appreciate your help with this. Thank you x
Jessica says
Hi, Louise...you are so sweet! As far as an indoor plant, it may be best to buy one that has already been started and does well indoors...maybe a small fern or African Violet. They usually need a little light and to be watered only once per week. I don't really read gardening books, but if you go to google.com and type in beginner gardening, I bet a ton of information will come up! Hope this helps! XOXO Jessica
Michelle says
Great tip! I was wondering if I could do this with rose seeds as well? Please let me know and thank you so much for posting such informative information.
sid chaudhry says
Please let us know for rose seeds
Jessica says
Hi, Sid! I wish I had an answer for you, but I've never planted roses from seeds, I usually buy them established. It's worth a try though!
Jasmine says
This is awesome! Thanks for sharing this! I will definitely be trying this with the sweet pea seeds I just bought :D
Kntuckylady 717 says
Glad to know this, I also have Morning /Glories I want to plant outside also.....never heard of this, but now I will try it......Thanks for the tip....
As for Roses, this worked for my daughter....when she has Roses, and when they start to droop and not perky, you clip that stem, use a root stimulant before you plant it in the ground, and cover with a glass jar and forget about it and you get a rose bush.....DO NOT TAKE THE GLASS JAR OFF the rose until you see that you have a fresh plant coming up, she did (2) last year and now has 2 Rose bushes :) it works..I tried it, but for some reason my jar got knocked down.....so you really need to watch the jar and keep it in the ground....I would suggest use a larger jar than a mason jar like I did, one that you can put part of it in the ground, so it wont get knocked down or blown over :)
danielle berthon says
Hi - Just came saw this post in the nick of time... I was wondering if you discard the clipped end of the seed or do you put it in the water with the other half?
Thanks Jessica and love your site
danielle berthon says
I meant to type"across this post in the nick of time"... darn fat fingers ;)
Jessica says
Hi, Danielle...thanks so much for the sweet words! I just discarded the end of the seed, but now I'm wondering if I should have saved it...hmmm. I'll just throw them in next time and see what happens for sure! Have a great weekend!!
Stephanie says
This would be awesome if it works. I'll have to try it out. Does this only work for flowers or could I use it with herbs? And what if the seeds are round(spherical), where would I cut them or would I just skip that step?
LAURA says
HI LIKE TO TRY WITH CINNAMON SEEDS WHAT DO YOU THINK
Jessica says
I'm not sure what cinnamon seeds are, but it's worth a shot!
Jeri says
When cleaning the dishwasher, do you just set your pyrex cup on the top level and leave it there?
Kathy says
Thanks for the great tip!!! My Mom was the gardener in our family and she always said that you had to start your seeds by St. Patrick's Day of course in vermiculite covered with plastic...this is a great idea also if you find packets of seeds that are really old (my neighbor gave me some that were 5 yrs old). I can try this method and see what happens before I plan out my flower bed.
April enos says
While stratification (water soaking) and scarification (piercing the seed hull) work for some plants seeds, they will cause some not to germinate at all. Some plants benifit/need 1 or the other, both, none, freezing the seed, or other germination protocols. If you don't know which seed needs what protocol to speed germination you really should just let nature take its own time
Kathie says
Thank you for posting this. I’m definitely going to try this. Will this work with rainbow rose seeds?
KAMSY IJEZIE says
THIS REALLY WORKS WELL I WILL TRY IT TODAY.
THANKS FOR SHARING I APPRECIATE IT SO MUCH
FAVOUR says
MY BROTHER WAS RIGHT THIS WORKS THANKS FOR SHARING WITH US,JUST SO IF YOU ARE THINKING WHO MY BROTHER IS KAMSY IJEZIE THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN I REALLY APPRECIATE IT
Lynn says
I don't snip the ends of Morning Glory seeds. I put the seeds in a wet paper towel and put it in a baggie..They sprout in two or three days.
The best Moon Flowers I’ve ever grown planted themselves in a crack in the cement patio and they were huge! Gotta love Mother Nature.
Barbara A Jones says
Thank you so much for this post. I live in an in law apartment and don't have a good spot to start in doors. I am definitely going to do this.
Chris says
Hi. Your picture shows Black-Eyed Susan Vine (Thunbergia). I wanted to let you know that the seeds are big enough that they will work with the soaking method but I also scratch the seeds to rough up and thin the protective outer shell. I hold the seed with a tweezers and run it over an emery board and then soak it n warm water. There are two types of what is called Black Eyed Susan vine. One is Thunbergia and the other is Rudbeckia Hirta. Either can be started with these methods to speed germination.
April enos says
Shaking them in a jar with some gravel works well and is much easier than tweezers and a emery board