a little frost is good
a little frost...
As I write this post – it is freezing cold! But whilst we are wrapped up so snug and warm nature is at work everywhere we look – although possibly unknowns to us….
Vernalisation is the acquisition of the competence to flower in the spring by exposure to the prolonged cold of winter. The word vernalization comes from the Latin word vernus, meaning of the spring. blah, blah, blah….. [courtesy of wikipedia]
Vernalisation is essentially exposing a store of food [a bulb or seed] to a period of low temperatures [usually below zero celcius]. This generally happens naturally in winter time/ spring, but sometimes when I’m sowing seeds i have bought I would first pop them in the freezer for a day or two. In my opinion it speeds up the germination ie. the amount of time it takes for a seed to pop its head above soil level. The period of frost/ cold [in a word] breaks the dormant state of the plant, or as my Mom would say… it makes the seed wake up 
what a great tip, pop those seeds in the freezer!
in Ireland, at this moment – one could simply leave them outside
seems to me the birds might not understand the purpose of one leaving them, they might think the seeds are a special winter snack…here in illinois it’s dreary as heck, balmy…not for long though
i remember wanting to plant wildflowers one year and reading to pop them in the freezer for a week. i thought that was quite odd, but apparently so