When seedlings fail to appear
After a few days of staring at bare soil, it’s tempting to change everything at once. This book shows how to record what you sowed, check the conditions and investigate one question at a time. It uses examples from vegetables, herbs, garden flowers and selected perennials.
What the book covers
Germination and emergence
A seed can grow a root below the surface before a shoot appears. The book follows a seed from water uptake to the seedling stage and explains why unsuitable conditions, dormancy or damaged seed may leave a tray empty.
Check the conditions where the seed sits
How warm is the tray? Is the growing medium moist at sowing depth? The book explains how light, depth and drainage can affect germination. A worked example with lettuce in a warm room shows how comparing two trays can help you narrow down the cause.
Dormancy and the limits of germination tests
Some species need treatment before sowing. The book discusses moist chilling and cases where a warm period comes first. It also shows how to test a small sample from an older packet, what to count and how much you can infer from the result.
Worksheets for sowing
Use the worksheets to record conditions and observations, assess a germination test or compare two growing conditions. If you already have an empty tray, start with the troubleshooting steps in chapter 8.