'Little Fingers' carrots passed their germination test. They had a fairly even and good germination in just 11 days. I've read parsnip seed is only good for a year, but did not see the same information for carrots. As the carrot is in the same family and I have a lot of seed from last year, I thought I'd better give some the test, just to be sure. In garden soil with a host of a bit more uncontrollable germination conditions, using good seed is a basic first step.
I have a lot of seed left over because the family garden's soil did not get prepared as well as I would have like. Running out of time, I planted carrots only in the potager. As everyone likes carrots, this was a failing in our garden planting scheme I hope to correct this year.
I like to get the seed I will use lined up by about mid-March. I've already started seeing some see listed as sold out for the 2012 garden season.
A good garden starts with proper planning. Part of proper planning starts with picking good cultivars for my area.
You can perform this same test on seed about which you may be concerned. Place a minimum of 10 seeds in a piece of paper toweling, fold it up, wet it, press out the water and place in a Ziploc bag or Tupperware container. label and place in a warm location. Seventy percent or better is considered a successful and viable germination rate.
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