Gadenin日本語Get the appSow into cool soil, spring or late summer
Salad burnet germinates over a wide but distinctly cool range, roughly 50 to 70F (10 to 21C), and moves fastest at about 60F (16C). Seedlings appear in eight to fourteen days in that band. Above 75F (24C) germination goes patchy and slow, so the middle of summer is the one time not to sow.
That leaves two windows. Early to mid spring, as soon as the ground is workable and no longer sodden, gives the plant a full season to build a taproot and a crown, and you will be picking lightly by midsummer. Late summer, once the worst heat has broken, is the better window if you want a plant that comes through winter cropping: seed sown then makes a small rosette that hardens off, sits through the cold and starts producing early the following spring.
The seed is unusually easy to sow. Each unit is a hard, four-angled, corky husk about an eighth of an inch (3 mm) across, big enough to place individually with your fingers. There is no need to thin a broadcast sprinkle if you simply space the seed properly the first time.
| Sowing window | Soil temperature | Days to emerge | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early spring | 50 to 60F (10 to 16C) | 10 to 14 | Full first-season crown, light picking by midsummer |
| Mid spring | 60 to 70F (16 to 21C) | 8 to 12 | Fastest emergence, still a full season ahead |
| Midsummer | Above 75F (24C) | Erratic | Patchy stand, weak seedlings; avoid |
| Late summer | 60 to 70F (16 to 21C) | 8 to 12 | Small rosette that overwinters and crops early |
Depth, spacing and the surface
Cover the seed by about a quarter of an inch (6 mm). It needs darkness and firm contact but nothing more; sown deeper than half an inch (12 mm) it emerges thinly and unevenly because the seedling has to push a lot of soil with a small pair of seed leaves.
Space at eight inches (20 cm) between stations and thin to one plant. Final spacing for a mature clump is twelve to fifteen inches (30 to 38 cm), because a settled plant makes a rosette a foot or more across and a flowering stem two feet (60 cm) tall. Crowded plants produce fewer of the tender central leaves that are the whole point of growing it, and a congested block holds damp against the crowns through winter.
Firm the surface with the back of a rake after covering. Salad burnet seed is corky and light for its size, and on a loose fluffy seedbed it sits in air pockets and dries out. A firm, level surface watered once with a fine rose is worth more than any amount of later attention.
- Prepare a firm, free-draining bed Rake to a fine tilth, remove stones larger than a marble, and firm by treading or with the back of a rake. Do not dig in fresh manure; rich soil produces soft leaves and a short-lived plant.
- Place the seed by hand Set two or three seeds per station at eight inch (20 cm) intervals, or space evenly along a shallow drill. The seed is large enough to handle individually, so there is no reason to broadcast it.
- Cover a quarter inch (6 mm) and firm Draw fine soil over the drill, tamp lightly, and water once with a fine rose. Keep the surface just moist, not wet, until emergence in eight to fourteen days.
- Thin to one plant per station When seedlings have two true leaves, cut the surplus off at ground level with scissors rather than pulling. Pulling disturbs the taproot of the seedling you are keeping.
Sow where the plant will stay
Salad burnet makes a taproot within weeks of germinating, and that taproot is why the plant tolerates drought, chalk and thin soil so well. It is also why the plant resents being moved once it is established. Direct sowing into the final position is far better than raising a tray and transplanting, and a plant sown in place will outgrow a transplanted one within a season.
If you must start under cover, use deep cells or root trainers rather than shallow modules, sow two seeds per cell, and plant out while the seedling still has only three or four true leaves. Beyond that stage the taproot has hit the bottom of the cell and the plant checks badly on planting.
Choose the position with winter in mind, not summer. This is a plant you will be picking in cold weather, so put it somewhere you can reach without walking across a wet bed: an edge, a path side, a raised bed corner. Full sun is best, though it takes light shade without complaint.
Salad burnet wants free-draining, neutral to alkaline ground. On chalk and thin limestone soils it thrives with no help at all. On heavy clay it will sulk and rot at the crown over winter unless you raise the bed or work in grit.
What to record about the sowing
Write down the sowing date, the position of the row, and the date the first seedlings broke the surface. Those two dates together give you the germination interval for your own soil, and it repeats closely from year to year. Once you know it, an unbroken bed on day sixteen tells you something is wrong rather than leaving you guessing for another fortnight.
Also note whether you sowed in spring or late summer, and how the plant behaved the following season. Most gardeners find one window clearly suits their site better than the other, but you cannot tell which without the record. Mark the row itself with a label, since seedlings in their first weeks look a good deal like several common weeds and are easy to hoe off by accident.