Seed shapes and sizes. Seeds come in all shapes and sizes, from dustlike petunia seed to giants like lima beans.
Good-quality catalogs, websites, and seed packets offer a wealth of information. Companies want their seeds to grow successfully in your garden, so they provide as much growing information as possible. Photographs and tempting descriptions are hard to miss, but here are some of the other information and terms you will encounter.
Companies have limited space on seed packets, so the amount of information they contain is limited. Read packets, but also look at catalogs and website listings for the following information about seeds you buy.
Packet size or seeds per ounce. Use this information to determine how many seeds you are buying. Some catalogs offer several different size packets so gardeners with different size gardens can buy the quantity they need. Though price per seed is cheaper with larger packets, resist the temptation to buy large amounts that will last you several years. You’re better off starting with fresh seed.
Germination time, temperature, and timing. You should at least find the number of days from sowing to sprouting and a recommended temperature. Many companies also provide plant spacing and growing guidelines, crop timing suggestions, harvest suggestions, and other information. This information may be listed under the general entry for the vegetable or flower, such as pumpkins or sunflowers, rather than with the descriptions of the individual cultivars — ‘Orange Smoothie’ pumpkin or ‘Valentine’ sunflower, for example — and varies from company to company.
Days to maturity. This is the number of days for the plant to reach harvest size or begin flowering, but it is calculated two different ways depending on the crop. For crops that are typically sown right in the garden where they are to grow — carrots and peas, for example — “days to maturity” means days from sowing to first harvest. For crops that are typically started indoors and transplanted, such as peppers and cabbage, days to maturity is from the transplant date. Read carefully to determine which way days to maturity is being calculated for each crop you’re considering.
Seed shapes and sizes. Seeds come in all shapes and sizes, from dustlike petunia seed to giants like lima beans.
These are common terms that you’ll find in plant descriptions. Understanding them will help you choose which seeds to buy. You’ll find more terms under Easy Flowers Outdoors on page 110.
Heirloom. This term is generally used to describe cultivated varieties of plants that originated before the 1940s, although it is also used to describe selections that are more than 40 years old. Seeds from heirlooms can be collected and saved for future gardens. See Saving and Storing Secrets on for more information.
Hybrid. A plant that is the result of cross-pollination between two distinct parent plants. Hybrids can be naturally occurring, as when a bee pollinates two different plants, or when plant breeders purposely cross two plants. F1* hybrids are created by crossing parent plants from two distinct lines. F2* hybrids are created by crossing plants from two F1* hybrid lines. Since seed from hybrids may or may not produce plants that resemble the hybrid itself, there’s no sense collecting and saving seed from these plants for future gardens. To grow them again, you have to buy new hybrid seed, since the parent lines must be re-crossed each time to produce hybrid seed for the next generation.
Open-pollinated. Plants that are freely pollinated by bees, wind, or other method without intervention by gardeners. Open-pollinated (OP) plants, including heirloom vegetables, are perpetuated by gardeners collecting, saving, and replanting the seed.
Organic. The term “certified organic” has a distinct legal meaning in a catalog or on a seed packet. It indicates that the seed was produced by a grower who has complied with all the rules specified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program. That means the seed was produced on land that has not been exposed to synthetic fertilizers or pesticides for 3 years. The regulation also prohibits use of sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetic engineering.
Treated/untreated. Although normally only sold to farmers for large-scale operations, treated seed is coated with a fungicide to help prevent it from rotting in cold or wet soil. Some companies who sell packets of seed to homeowners offer treated seed. It is not currently an accepted treatment for certified organic seed, although acceptable organic treatments may become available.
Seeds that are pelleted are covered with inert materials such as clay and starches to make them easier to handle. Companies typically offer pelleted seed for vegetables and flowers that have especially tiny seeds (carrots and petunias, for example). Pelleted seed is more expensive than unpelleted seed, but the process makes it easier to sow seeds evenly, which reduces the need to thin seedlings later on. It also makes it easier to spread seeds using mechanized seeders.