How to Germinate Calendula Pacific Beauty Mix Seeds

Germinating Seeds Indoors

• 1

  Fill the seed container with growing medium or seed starter mixture. Use seed flats, individual peat pots or plastic inserts for flats, called cell flats, that have individual sections for planting single seeds. Moisten the growing medium or seed starter mixture. Add more growing medium, if necessary, after the water is absorbed and the medium settles into the containers or flats. Leave 1/4 inch of headroom in the containers or seed flat.

• 2

  Place one or two seeds on top of the medium in each individual pot or cell, or lay the seeds on top of the medium in the seed flat in neat rows. Use a spoon or hand trowel to cover the seeds with 1/4 inch of growing medium or starter mix. Calendula seeds do not require light to germinate.

• 3

  Mist the seed flat or containers liberally to moisten the medium. Pacific Beauty calendulas need temperatures of 55 degrees F to 60 degrees F to germinate. Keep the growing medium moist but not wet. Use a mister or water the containers from below. Germination takes one to two weeks.

Germinating Seeds in the Garden

• 4

  Use the shovel to turn and break up the soil in the flower bed to a depth of 6 to 8 inches. Spread 2 to 4 inches of compost or organic matter and add 2 teaspoons of fertilizer per square foot of flower bed. Mix this into the soil with the shovel or, if the flower bed is small, with the hand trowel.

• 5

  Lay seeds on top of the soil in the flower bed in rows. Cover the seeds with 1/4 inch of soil and water lightly to avoid dislodging the seeds from the soil. The seeds will germinate in one to two weeks.

• 6

  Thin the seedlings to 8 to 12 inches apart. The seedlings can tolerate minor frost conditions, but if an unexpected hard frost is predicted, cover the seedlings to protect them.

• 7

  Keep the seedlings moist but do not overwater the flower bed. Pacific Beauty calendulas do best in well-drained soil