Somehow, I didn’t get to planting most of my front porch pots this spring, but you’d be hard pressed to prove it. There is a lovely bunch of petunias in one of them. I think there are three reasons for this:
- I grew the originals from seed, which indicates good germination for the variety.
- I watered the pots during the spring, when they were bare, to keep them from getting rock hard before I planted.
- I weeded out the obvious weeds.
Voila! I have a pot full of petunias! I wonder if this is what the garden of Eden was like?
Growing your original petunias from seed is not difficult, but takes some patience. Like many flower seeds, they are tiny.
- They require light, not just warmth and moisture, to germinate, so just press them onto the top of the well moistened seed starting mix; mist gently to help them settle down onto the soil.
- Cover the tray with clear plastic wrap; if at some point fuzzy mold begins to grow, take off the cover, but it requires more diligence keeping things moist.
- Place the trays under grow lights or in a very well lit window.
- Check them every day to make sure the soil is staying moist (but not soggy).
It usually takes 2 weeks, give or take a few days, for them to germinate. Definitely take the plastic off once that begins. The petunias are still tiny at this point, so I let them grow a bit taller before I pinch and cut to thin them. They stay small for so long that you may be tempted to just go buy some nursery grown plants, but don’t give up! After the weather warms up and you carefully harden them off to accustom them to the sun, you will be rewarded with the ruffles of blooms that petunias are famous for. Then, maybe the following year, petunias will just show up in your front porch pots!
My favorite websites to purchase seeds from are:
Johnny’s Selected Seeds
Territorial Seed Company
Select Seeds
Seeds of Change