Soak your seeds

The purpose of soaking seeds is to soften the outer shell, which can speed up the germination process for seed varieties with a hard coat.

We've put together some helpful tips to help you on your way to seed sowing success.

Not all seeds need soaking, but it helps accelerate germination of seeds that have a harder seed coat such as peas, beans, corn, pumpkin and sweet peas.

Most seeds can be soaked for 24 hours before sowing. Soaking does make handling finer seed difficult so the soaking period for these seeds can be shorter (less than 24 hours).

How to soak your seeds

• Place your seeds in a container with warm water to cover the seed (not boiling water as this may kill the seed).
• Soak seeds for 24 hours. If soaking longer than 24 hours change the water every day to prevent seeds rotting.
• Don't let the seed dry out after soaking, plant them straight away!

Seeds with very hard coatings, such as kōwhai, sometimes need to be nicked or scarified before soaking.

To improve germination, some gardeners soak carrot seeds before sowing and mix them into a cornflour slurry to help distribute them evenly.