Broccoli Seeds Sprout into Plants that Kids Like a Whole Bunch

Today’s kids know better than to argue with their parents about eating green vegetables. Families now accept the fact that green vegetables, such as brussel sprouts, broccoli and (ugh) spinach are good for you. Yet, still tolerated over spinach by a wide margin, freshly cultivated broccoli produced from broccoli seeds is the vegetable garden planting of choice by kids of all ages. And always chosen by their parents as one of the heartiest green vegetables to plant from seed.

Planting seeds properly and growing them into edible results is an art. For most types of vegetable seeds, like broccoli, best results are obtained by using a small pot, filled to the neck with standard potting mix. After watering, cover with sphagnum moss. No, we didn’t add the seeds yet, but we do now. Sprinkle the seeds over the moss. Mist gently. Cover with clear plastic wrap. Place under fluorescent lights—2” away.

Seeds Have Problems Raising Their Offspring Too

Don’t expect every broccoli seed to germinate into a plant. It’s a sad fact of life in the world of seeds that even under the most optimum conditions, there will be a high seed fatality rate. You’ve got seed age and seed genetics working against your success rate. But those seeds that do make it, are on their way to being a healthy, viable plant. That is, if they can survive the next phase—the transplanting procedure.

Each tiny seed planting, complete with whatever root ball there is, must be carefully lifted and transferred into your growing pot with a tweezers. Any contact with your fingers and the plant at this stage is almost certain to be fatal. To the plant, not you. Be careful and this future broccoli plant will live to see the light of day.

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