Quick Start Guide
(For Seed Planting!)

You found a package of seeds... now what?

We find gardening very enjoyable. We hope we can encourage you to give it a try!

Look in Little Free Libraries around your home for seed stashes, then, sprinkle + dust + water + grow!

Sprinkle

Sprinkle the seeds on the soil. Seed packets are notorious for over complicating things. First, look at your seeds. Look at how big they are. For seeds that are smaller than a peppercorn, just scatter them on the top of the soil, but If they are larger than a peppercorn, you should bury them a bit deeper. And if they are teeny tiny you won’t want to cover them at all! You want your seed planted at a depth 2-3 times its widest point (but error on the side of too shallow!)

Dust

Dust dirt over your seeds to cover them up. See the above note about how deep (or how shallow!) you need the seed to be. If you bury them too deep you will have poor germination rates. Likewise, if you don’t cover them up enough you will have poor germination rates. Additionally, some seeds actually require light germinate (Snapdragon, we are looking at you!) – we will identify these seeds in the seed section!

Water

Water the bed. Don’t soak it. Just make sure the top part (where you put the seeds) is evenly moist. You want to lock the soil in around the seeds so they don’t blow away. Right now, you don’t have any plants that need a drink! A great way to do this is to water the bed BEFORE you plant, like a few hours before, then just top it up once you have your seeds laid out. This has the added benefit of keeping dirt out of your eyes while planting!

Grow

Grow the plants! You’ll be amazed at the variety that grows here. From Food and flowers to visually interesting specimens – gardening is beautiful, relaxing and allows you to create a safe refuge for native insects and small animals.

Do you have more questions? Check out the FAQ section!

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If your seed is…

• small (smaller than a peppercorn or a nanking cherry pit) you’ll follow the above instructions.

• medium- large (so larger than a peppercorn or a nanking cherry pit…) you’ll want to make sure you dust enough dirt on top that it’s covered to a depth about 2x it’s widest width.

• super small (more than 5-10 will fit on a dime) you will probably skip the dust phase altogether and just sprinkle on top of your prepared space.