The gardeners from ‘Life is a Garden’ conducted this family-friendly, insightful little seed germination experiment during the lockdown days.
Our gardeners set out to grow some spinach in a glass jar, allowing them to enjoy every step of the growing show, from above to below ground. Our gardeners watered each jar differently to determine how much water is too much, too little, and just right. The results may surprise you!
What you need:
• Large spinach seeds
• A glass jar
• Kitchen roll
• Water
Setting up your seed experiment:
STEP 1: Get your little-handed scientist to assist you here, by folding and scrunching up a few pieces of kitchen roll. Place the folded kitchen roll inside the perimeter of the glass jar, then stuff the scrunched pieces into the middle.
STEP 2: Carefully push seeds down into the paper towels around the edge of the jar so they can still be seen. Make sure they are firmly held in place.
STEP 3: Gently water your seed jar to wet the paper towels. Be careful not to flood it as this spells certain disaster for our seeds.
What do you see in your seed jar?
• You are looking for a root to pop out of the side of the seed.
• Next, you are looking for roots to push down into the towel.
• Also, you are looking for root hairs.
• Next, you are looking for the seed to push up while the root hairs push down.
• Lastly, you are looking for the shoots to come up.
Our watering findings:
Our gardeners wanted to see how much water would be best for the spinach seedlings. They set up their three jars and measured the same amount of water to be given to each jar. The water quantities were the same; however, the frequency of watering is what made all the difference:
– Jar one: Watered once a week.
– Jar two: Watered twice a week.
– Jar three: Watered three times a week.
What would you guess are the different watering results? Our gardeners concluded that the seedling stems grew the following amounts during 12 days:
– Jar 1: 6 cm
– Jar 2: 5 cm
– Jar 3: 3 cm
As you can see folks, the spinach seedling grew the most when watered only once a week, with twice a week watering coming in second place. In jar 3, there was half the growth and the roots were over-watered, beginning to rot.
You can also try growing sunflower seeds, peas, and beans in a glass jar. Try out this little experiment for yourself and get to know your greens up-close and personal. You could also investigate whether seeds need water at all to germinate by setting up 3 jars and measuring how much water goes into each so that one is fully wet, half wet and one has no water.
Good luck and happy experimenting!
Visit www.lifeisagarden for more fun gardening ideas!