Coconut: The perfect answer for the idle gardener
The largest seed most of us have had to handle in Guyana is the coconut. It’s as hard as old boots and the perfect answer for any gardener who is basically bone idle. It falls off its tree, and germinates where it falls. It just happens to be one of the most useful crops in existence. No special seed compost required. No need to worry about shade or watering. All you have to do is to raise your glass to it occasionally! I am talking about the private garden. The orchid, petunia and busy lizzie seeds are at the other end of the scale, being very small by comparison to the coconut. When you buy a packet of seed there is generally another packet inside. The outer packet is generally brightly coloured and designed to attract the eye. The price is generally in very small print unless it is a ‘bargain.’
The packet inside is hermetically sealed to keep the seed fresh until it is opened. This is particularly important in Guyana. Larger seed like peas and beans and those of similar size can be sown using ordinary compost having the ability to survive much better and are not sealed hermetically. Lettuce seed can be sown in ordinary compost, whereas very fine seed needs to be sown in very fine compost. Fine seed like petunia, begonia, and orchids require a steady hand and the complete absence of breeze. Even a cough can result in you losing what might be an entire packet of expensive seed. It is always a good idea to make sure that the surface of the pot/box you have prepared is a different colour to the rest of the compost so that the fine seed shows up clearly as they are sown. Always give the surface a light dusting of chalk or finely ground brick dust. All seeds will show up on these surfaces as they are sown. Some of us open the packet and gently tap it until the seed starts to fall onto the compost. Others empty all the seed onto a piece of white paper and fold it so the seed has a tiny channel to move along as the paper is tapped. Whatever method is used, the seed has to be allowed to fall gently and evenly as it is moved over the surface of the container, but even so most of us get it wrong occasionally.
Having sown your seed it has to be watered. The only safe way to do this is to place the container in water so that it can be taken up by the compost. This is especially important with fine seed as watering with a can may result in seed being washed away completely or washed to the side of the pot/box. Larger seed such as lettuce and tomato can be sown easily by most of us.
Germination
Fine seeds present you with a different problem once they start germinating. Whilst most ‘ordinary’ seeds are handled (pricked out) as soon as the first leaves are large enough to pick up seedlings from fine seeds germinate less quickly, and remain smaller for longer. They are normally ‘patched’ out in small clumps of several dozen to give them the chance to grow without so much competition, using the tip of a knife, and placed in a small depression made by the reverse end of a pencil.
Eventually they all grow up and behave normally. Until next time take it easy and may your God go with you.