I am a long-time vegetable gardener who starts her plants from seeds. But for the vegetables I normally grow, I never had seeds that needed to be surface sowed. But last year I received a free packet of Chinese Pink Celery (Apium graveolens) seeds from a seed vendor I normally order from (they include a free packet of seeds with every order over $10). I do not like celery and refuse to eat it. But I was intrigued by the idea of pink celery, so I decided I would try growing a few seeds, and if the plants grow, I will bring them to the Master Gardener Public Plant Exchange scheduled for April 22^nd.

photos by Kathy Low

The seed package said the seeds need to be surface sowed. It said it sprouts in 15 – 20 days. Only small seeds and those requiring sunlight to germinate require surface sowing. Never having surface sowed seeds before, I decided to look for an authoritative guide on how to surface sow. Unfortunately, I couldn't find one.  The information on surface sowing found on various university websites simply says to press or roll the seed firmly in the soil. There were some random gardeners on the Web offering conflicting advice on the best way to surface sow seeds. So, I decided to go with my gut on surface sowing the seeds.

I sprinkled a few of the celery seeds on the top of a couple of moist seed starting pellets, then gently tried to press them into the soil. I put the pellets in my covered seed starter tray, put the tray on my seed heating mat, and turned on the grow lights. To my surprise and delight, the seeds began sprouting in about 12 days.