Early Spring In My Central Florida Garden

I dutifully checked the Moonflower and Nasturtium seeds I set on damp paper towels in re-used plastic cartons that were from some grocery store bakery goods. I love finding second, third, or more, uses for things that are routinely discarded. The plastic cartons are perfect “little greenhouses,” and I’ve used them, or egg cartons, or carryout containers over the last several years to sprout seeds. It actually saves time and money because by sprouting seeds first where I can see them on damp paper towels, I then use space, pots, and soil only for those seeds that are viable. If a seed does not sprout, then, of course, I don’t use a pot or soil for that seed. But if I were seeding directly into pots, then I’d be using a pot and soil for not only the viable seeds, but also the non-viable seeds – because until they sprout, or fail to sprout, I cannot know the difference!
However, when I see the first showing of a sprout from a seed, I carefully transfer the baby sprout from its little greenhouse to its own small pot containing moist (not wet) sterile planting soil (sterile in an attempt to derail damping off fungus), using fat tweezers and being a gentle as possible. I tamp the soil ever so gently so the emerging sprout gets the full benefit of soil contact as though the seed has always been in a natural germinating environment. And I’ve had some amazing results from this process. Not on every type of seed, mind you, but results good enough to keep me at it. What a great way to start spring early even here in My Central Florida Garden!