How seeds sprout

Dehydration accounts for a dormant seed’s lack of vitality.  A typical annual flower seed contains less than two percent of its weight in water.  Compare this to 95 percent water-weight in growing plants.  Lack of moisture give the seed protection from freezing.  It’s extreme dryness allows no ice to penetrate.  Tiny as they are, seeds will not succumb to icy fingers of frost that can tear apart boulders. 

It is only in spring, when conditions are perfect for growth -- ample water, warming temperatures, and lose, frost-free soil, -- that a seed allows moisture to penetrate its tough outer coat.  As the covering ruptures, the seed used stored food to accomplish its first important task: aligning itself with the earth’s gravitational field.  Here us a video of radish seeds as they sprout.

I was no help in the fall.  Though each seed has a bottom, out of which a root will grow, and a top, which sprouts a shoot, I could not identify top from bottom when I planted.  I simply sprinkled a handful of the tiny seeds in shallow rows and patten them in.  Now that the seed has burst its coat, roots and shoots tumble and twist to arrange themselves with gravity.  Roots grow downward into the soil in a positive response to gravity, while a shoot launches itself upwards, moving away from gravity in search of sunlight. 

I am hopeful I planted the seeds as the right depth.  At the correct distance, a seed with have sufficient reserves to feed itself until it establishes food independence.  Here is the reason seed packets suggest specific planting depths.  Plant a seed too deep and it will lack the resources to support itself internally on its way to sunlight.  Once newly formed leaves encounter the sun, the seedling drops its dependence on internal food sources and initiates the process of photosynthesis.  

Sprouted seeds of radish or alfalpha are nutritious foods... and easy to fix at home.  I especially like them during the winter when fresh greens are harder to come by.