I have been researching gardening for 40 years now, and this is the best video I've seen on seed starting.

The top of a refrigerator is also a warm spot to get seeds to germinate

I don't have fancy lights or heat mats but instead use polystyrene sheets that I have recycled from previous deliveries to make an "incubator" for my seeds. The sheets help with keeping things warm and because they are white they also help with light reflection back onto the seeds to keep them straight. I simply put my seeds on a table in front of the window and make a fence around the seeds with the polystyrene and some tape. I've been reusing the polystyrene for years now and it seems to really help.

Beginners can really get caught up to speed just by spending 15 minutes with Ben here. Even experienced gardeners can benefit from a refresh and a new tip or two. Well done sir!

When he said birds eat seeds then spread them in their droppings and then said he puts seeds in a cup of Camomile tea and drinks the tea I thought he was going to show us a novel way to spread the seeds.

Soaking seeds before planting helped me tremendously.

Hmm seems to me like this is all just a thinly-veiled plot to have a cup of chamomile tea... not that that's a bad thing

Lots of tips and tricks. I appreciate your putting up lists and charts to help!!! Seeing it visually helps a lot!

Laughing at myself at how much the ice cube tray idea made me happy. Love the brilliant simplicity! I'm going to put it into practice as soon as I've finished watching the rest of the video. Thank You :)

A few years ago I started converting my backyard into a cottage inspired kitchen garden. Your videos have a great source of knowledge, humor and inspiration. Thanks for sharing with the rest of us!

Your demeanor and ways of presenting…including your humor…informative ways to handle seed starting, planting, tending, and harvesting the garden items is very well received. Your straight forward and brief-to-the-point advice has helped us get better and abundant harvests. Much appreciated. Oh, and I learned a few things in this video. Keep them coming.

I'm saving this video as a reference when I begin to sow my seeds this year. Another tip I use is to have a fan gently circulating air around tomato seedlings. Makes them grow nice, thick stalks. ~ Sandra

I’m so glad you said use the tea bag again, I thought it might be drink the camomile tea then collect your wee!

I soak basil and use a pipette with the tip slightly cut off to make the opening a little bigger, and use it to suck up seeds, then squirt them into the soil.

Thank you Ben for all the hard work you put into your videos. They are a delight to watch and full of such helpful information, I'm getting so much from watching them!

Such a great, peaceful gardening video. Thank you. A friend and I have had so many gardening adventures in our desert gardens. The first year, the mice ate all the watermelon seeds. We had to replant three times. Once the plants finally started growing, the early morning 'desert dew,' that is humidity, caused the young plants to wilt. As the weather changed, the intense sun burned the fruit ! We have moved on to peppers and some herbs which do well in the sun, and started growing grasses for the animals. Sometimes we just have to be guided by the land itself.

Your videos always arrive at the perfect time Ben 💪👍🌱

I saw a video on how to start my canna seeds. It said to nick them with a saw. I tried and tried to no avail. Then I decided to soak the seeds in a glass of water over several days. Lo and behold roots began to poke through! Into a pot they went. Success without losing any fingers. 😂

Brilliant, thank you Ben. I’m a relatively experienced gardener and there are some great tips in there that had never crossed my mind. Really useful…a video that I’m sure to revisit. Ps great that you’ve posted lists. Again, really useful reference point and no doubt helps to make this video evergreen (pardon the pun) 😊

I wish I had seen this video sooner! This is exactly the sort of video I have been looking for! Starting from seeds can feel daunting, but here it’s broken down easily. Next I need a good video like this about preventing pests

While we don't condone violence on this channel ... but let's rough up our seeds! That cracked me up! I started watching your channel in August, when me and my husband bought our first garden in very bad shape. I have made an awesome compost heap that is now half full thanks to the many leaves of the fall and all the kitchen scraps we've collected and dumped there. This February will be my first ever time trying to sow seeds! I can't wait to see the results! Thank you for the awesome videos that kept me entertained on boring winter days!

This is by far the best gardening video on the web, spot on with everything. The practices shown are tried and true, and it's awesome you are sharing them, so cool, thank you so much, I hope every gardener watches this. If I could just mention my own technique (sorry), which is using "old school" christmas lights as heat source. Has to be c7, the stuff from us old-timers' childhood. Table/lights/a rise (2x4), grates/pots. Obviously cant regulate heat via thermostat, but can lower or raise with the addition of extra strings of lights. I have been doing this in unheated areas for more than a decade, and am currently using it to heat a simple but effective hydroponic setup. I hope I'm not sounding arrogant, just trying to help. Thanks again for all you do, most righteous.

H202 is absolutely one of the best, PROVEN (in research) assister in germination rates.

I LOVE the idea of using an ice cube tray for soaking seeds....genius! I will give that a shot this season as I'm usually too lazy to soak (except my sweat pea flowers). And it's always great to see Rosie, she's such a cutie. Thanks for the great tips and I always appreciate your videos! I'm so excited to start seeds next month, woo hoo.

I recall sowing a full packet of rosemary a couple of years ago. 2 years of date left. Done in the same compost, same watering and temperature in the greenhouse. Was approx 30 seeds. One germinated. Planned on giving away many to my family and neighbours. Still have the solitary plant today and it's a beauty.

Thank you for covering the two areas that I have always had issues with: hydrophobic soil and how to properly prepare seeds for planting. Your tutorial relieves my mind greatly and inspires me very much!

So many great tips! I always prespout my sweetcorn but never thought of doing cilantro, thank you for the idea😊

Great tips, thanks. After years of doing it, I still get a thrill from seeing seeds germinate. My own tips gleaned through trial and error include learning which seeds need to be out of freshly opened sealed packs. Old parsnip seeds for example are more trouble than they're worth but I've germinated lettuce seeds years after their expiry date. Having an idea of germination rate it useful too. With tomatoes on the window sill, I get 100% germination and rarely sow more than 6 seeds (in a disposable coffee mug) as my greenhouse will only take 6 plants. I get close to 100% germination with hollyhock seeds but lose at least half that die away early in growth, and so always sow plenty. For peas, beans, and especially sweet corn, I do a variation of the damp paper plastic bag but instead of damp paper, I use a sprinkling of damp compost in a plastic bag and keep them there until they sprout and begin to show seed leafs.

0:35 Master Information. Thats what needed. Excellent work

One of the best gardening videos I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen thousands. Great job.

Wonderful timing! did some retail therapy and have quite some seeds coming my way. This is going to help with getting them to germinate.

Excellent tutorial Ben and the team. So valuable is the information here, I just keep on learning from you guys. Thanks very much.

Great video to watch as the snow falls. Very informative too. Thank you!

Even as an Australian viewer, I found so much value in this video. Thanks for sharing the knowledge.

Great update as always Ben. I have never sown celery before and I bought some to try, they were pelleted and the package said soak 🤷‍♀️ so I did. You got it I had a nice mushy sludge in the dish but I sowed anyway 🙏. I’m going to be using the chitting method for lots this year. Have a great day from 🥶🥶 minus 14c 🇨🇦, Ali

I like the ice cube tray to soak multiple seeds. For my chilli's, i used paper mache/ cow pot cells and put them in a small tesco profiterole tub as a dome propagator and placed it on the window sill next to the radiator in the living room and then moved it under grow lights once they germinated a week later.

Already have practiced some of these, but some I had never heard of doing. I'm quite excited to try the new to me ones! My germination for peppers has been low or takes so long. I love tea, especially chamomile. The sandpaper one is also on my list to try! Thank you for sharing!

Thank you so much. I've watched a lot of videos on seed starting but that was by far the best. The lists were particularly useful.

This is wonderfully wise counsel. Thank you very much. I wish I was your neighbor.

Thank you very much for taking the time to research these methods and share them with us all. Much appreciated!!🌱

I knew a commercial Brassica seedling grower. When the plants got to a certain size, he would stop feeding for the last week. Just water. This forced them in to a dormant state. Then when they were planted out, they grew faster than others as they came out of that dormant state.

Thanks my friend!!! Well needed information!!!

You can use warm water instead of a heat mat. I like to pour half a gallon of rain into a pot, boil it and pour it back into the other half that’s cold. This works great to start seeds.

Great idea about the pre-sprouting so you'll know exactly how many germinated seeds you have! I'm off to buy a Matabi now😂

This video has SO much great information! Thank you! I'm just now beginning to try my hand at gardening and found a lot of great advice here!

Most of these tips I already know and use, but I really like your idea of soaking seeds in an ice cube tray. With or without hydrogen peroxide, putting each type of seed in its own little pocket saves a lot of space on the table.

Very helpful, and perfect timing as I plan my autumn garden, thank you 😃

Great tips, particularly soaking garlic cloves, I'm off to do that now!

Timely and great information, Ben! As always, your videos are so informative and get straight to the point. We appreciate that so much! Thanks for these tips!

thanks for this teaching video, it helps a beginner like me.

I dusted off my garden planner this morning, perfect timing!

I just really like how enthusiastic you are! The cool season crops are the ones that are the most difficult to get out because our spring is so wet, it rains right up until it doesn't and then it's just hot lately. However it's never too late to try. Who knows, it could happen.

Many thanks for yet another great video packed full of advice and tips. I have always had problems with seed germination. Hopefully this tear I will have better success 😊

Thank you, Ben! We actually have snow at the moment so it will be awhile before we can plant outside but these tips will be helpful!

Totally agree Ben 🙏🌱

Great video Ben!

I'll be pre-germinating my parsnip seeds this year! I followed "traditional" gardeners advice last year and sowed them direct on the 1st of May. Out of 250 seeds (Gladiator F1), this winter I had a total of 3 Parsnips! I think even if its not "traditional", if I use the paper towel trick or even the old pea-drainpipe trick for parsnips, I'm bound to get more than 3!

Good morning Ben, good advice regarding our precious seeds! I by accident I found by leaving the garlic in just a touch of water makes them sprout and you can judge here to see healthy cloves or dud ones. I also like to soak the hard outer seeds in water, it does help to get them germinated sooner. Almost just common sense. A gardener's work is never done, there is always something to be done, clearing, cutting back, sowing, germinating you name it, hence you will have a flourishing vegetable patch and flower border. Thank you for sharing and showing how to get better results it will even get some to become enthusiastic and start sowing, even indoors. Have a great planting and planning day. Kind regards.

Thank you kindly. Brilliant and most helpful.

So much information, thank you! I appreciate understanding not just what to do, but also the reasoning behind it.

We have a balcony, it is our second year here. This video is the best for beginners, lots of useful information! Thank you for sharing and showing us we have so many options!

Growing down in Florida. Thank you for your knowledge. I appreciated the difference in seed temperature! Here we can't grow what you grow up north but we can grow what you can't up north! And that is awesome. And knowing the difference is key to making a good garden turn into a bad garden.

Thanks for another great video ❤ the dog's expression 😊

Happy New Year Ben and Rosie! Great presentation with the basics and beyond. I'm now a big fan of winter sowing in jugs that act as mini green houses. Nature takes care of much of the process, and the seedlings produced are lush and healthy. I'll try again with some of these methods, but a short bout of inattention (or a weekend away) can result in disaster. As always, you inspire us!

Extremely AMAZING application you have created thank you so much

It’s my first year starting everything from seed. Very helpful indeed 😊

Very good. I love the detailed temperatures, etc!

THE VERY BEST VIDEO I'VE WATCHED ON STARTING SEED!! ❤ I just need those gadgets.

A great recap, reminded me of many things my dad taught me. Always looking to learn something new. I will say, that bit about the camomile tea was fresh for me! 4:53 Awesome video!

Hi! Been enjoying your gardening videos, thank you. Please consider doing a video on growing fruit trees from seed please. I can’t afford the apple trees at the nursery…

Such an informative and easy to understand video, and no unnecessary yapping. You just won a subscriber; I can't wait to binge! Have a great day!

This was a very informative video. Thank you!

Best , most diligent video ive seen on seeds thankyou

Very informative video thank you!!!! Got a lot of useful information watching this as usual

💖 Thank you so very much for sharing your experiences and wisdom!

Great video - exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!! ❤

Very instructive. Thank you

HI there from NZ. This is such a helpful video. I will be watching it again and again. I took heaps of photos. And, I will write down all the tables and make a chart that I can print out. Thank you for taking you valuable time to make a very much needed video!

I think this is your best video yet. Great overview!

Am so glad the temperatures are given in both units, esp for someone like me who never grasped Fahrenheit. Centigrade is the only temperature I can relate to easily. Thankyou.

Thanks for lessons... from across the pond 😊

very helpful video!!! Thank you

Best video ever! Everything explained perfectly! Thanks a lot!

Very helpful, and well done instructional video! Thank you!

Awesome video once again!! I've been watching your videos since you started & seen how your channel has grown... I've always thought every video you've done is top notch & professional. You have helped me out so much with all these simple tips & tricks to make life easier, whilst gardening! I also have a question, where did you get your Hand Sprayer from? as it looks good quality. Also Keep up the good work Ben... 👍🙂

On top of the fridge also. Good tips for cold climates.

Wow! Thank you. Very informative.

Thank you for the charts/tables!

Great video Ben

With such a short growing season here in 6b of the Pacific Northwest, starting seeds indoors is really important. Some seeds I see are just too small, such as milkweed or yarrow. Thanks for the very fine tips sir.

Excellent video and instruction...thanks

THANK YOU!!!! What a BIG help!❤ Starting spring seeds past few days, this info will make it waaaaay easier! Thx!🥬🥒🫑🍈🍎🍅🫛🥦🌶

This is the most interesting thing you have done And that chart at the start is very helpful Thank you

🐝 Thanks for the great video 🌻 this was verry helpfull

thanks Ben

Best video you have ever made! Good on ya!

Most excellent.

Extremely useful video... Thanks Ben! :)

Super interesting thank you! As a beginner gardener this is really useful info 🙏

Wet compost is a great tip! I had a bag of compost left outside in the rain before sewing and had great results, However its was much colder so I made sure to keep the pots warm to balance it all out.