We’d be remiss not to talk about the most important information that you’ll find on your seed packets! Some might not realize it, but every seed packet contains a manual on how to grow that plant!
You see, people have been growing things from seed since well before the internet was invented. Before the world of information was at our fingertips, we needed a way to communicate how to grow each kind of plant. So, seed providers put those instructions on the back of the packet and they still do it to this day!
Each packet will contain a wealth of information, typically taking you through germination, transplanting and then how to grow that plant in your garden. All the important metrics will be there, plus there’s usually some sort of narrative about the plant as well.
Now, if you look across all your seed packets, you’re likely to encounter very specific instruction and perhaps even conflicting information between plants. For the sake of clarity, especially for you beginners, you do NOT need to create highly specialized environments with absolute precision for each and every type of plant. Most plants have a range of “acceptable” values for most of those things that are called out, so don’t stress too much about getting things exact. Close enough is usually good enough in growing.
That said, interpreting seed packets is a bit of a skill. So, this year, we wrote up an in depth post on the most important things you’ll find on those packets and the items you can sort of “fudge” on. Basically, helping the reader understand where they can use an “average” technique and where they specifically need to do things differently. If you’re interested, you’ll find it in the comments.
Some of our readers have wondered how we’ve become good at growing so many kinds of plants, both from seed and in general. Well, reading those seed packets was a huge part of it! (As well as a ton of experimentation and desire to get better at the process, of course!) Nonetheless, if you find yourself wondering about what a plant needs, that seed packet is one of the first places you should look!
We hope you enjoy our deep dive post on this topic. We think it’s helpful information that we’ve been able to distill out of decades of practice at growing from seed.
