Deno’s GardenMy Garden
Deno’s Garden helps you grow plants from seed, with germination instructions and a sowing calendar based on your last frost date.
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Germination instructions for anything that isn't a vegetable are published in about five incompatible notations, most of them abbreviations — and none of them tell you a date. A protocol that reads 70L(90% in 10-14 d) is exact, useful and unreadable, and it still doesn't say whether you have already missed this year.
This site stores each protocol as ordered steps with durations and temperatures, then walks them backwards from your last frost date to say when to begin. Some species need starting ten months ahead, and the ones that take two seasons are the ones every other tool gets wrong.
One sentence, worked through
How a line from Deno’s book becomes protocols and dates, using his entry for American Cranberry.
What the book says
Vaccinlum (Ericaceae). V. macrocarpum germ. 70L(95% in 1-3 w), 70D GA-3(95% in 1-3 w), 70D(10%in 5th w), and 40-70D(50% in 1-4 w). Although the seeds are enclosed in a fruit, they are not in contact with the juices of the fruit and WC had no effect.
N. C. Deno, Seed Germination Theory and Practice, 2nd ed. (1993), Ch. 20, Vaccinium. Quoted exactly.
- 70, 40
- degrees Fahrenheit: room temperature, and a refrigerator
- L, D
- in the light, in the dark
- GA-3
- soaked in gibberellic acid first
- 40-70D
- one after the other: cold first, then warm and dark
- (95% in 1-3 w)
- how many came up, and over how many weeks
What we read it as
Four results in one sentence, so four separate protocols. Nothing is averaged.
70L(95% in 1-3 w)
- Sow on the surface — do not cover · 70°F 21°C · light
95% germination in 7–21 days.
95% on the surface in light. No cleaning needed: the seed never touches the juice of the berry.
70D GA-3(95% in 1-3 w)
- Gibberellic acid soak
- Sow and cover · 70°F 21°C · dark
95% germination in 7–21 days.
GA-3 does the whole job of the light: the same 95%, buried.
70D(10%in 5th w)
- Sow and cover · 70°F 21°C · dark
10% germination in 35 days.
10%, and slow with it. Buried and untreated is the worst of the four.
40-70D(50% in 1-4 w)
- Cold moist stratification · 90 days · 40°F 4°C Deno gives no length for this period; three months is his standard cycle.
- Sow and cover · 70°F 21°C · dark
50% germination in 7–28 days.
A cold period buys back half of what the dark costs -- 50% against 10%.
When to start, for a last frost on April 15, 2027
Each protocol walked back from that frost date: time to germinate, plus four weeks to grow on before planting out.
Protocol Start Sow Seedlings by 70L(95% in 1-3 w) February 25, 2027 February 25, 2027 March 18, 2027 70D GA-3(95% in 1-3 w) February 25, 2027 February 25, 2027 March 18, 2027 70D(10%in 5th w) February 11, 2027 February 11, 2027 March 18, 2027 40-70D(50% in 1-4 w) November 20, 2026 February 18, 2027 March 18, 2027
Every protocol shows the sentence it was built from, in the source's own words, one click away. Where two sources disagree, both are shown — nothing here is averaged. Where a record hasn't been checked by a person, no protocol is published at all.
1644 species have a reviewed protocol so far. Browse them all, or plan a sowing calendar from your zip code.
Worth knowing this week
- Quercus alba (Stave Oak): Sometimes called stave oak: its wood makes tight barrels for whiskey and wine, and it went into ships in colonial times. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Quercus alba
- Quercus coccinea (Scarlet Oak): Best known for its brilliant autumn color: the leaves turn a rich scarlet red. It occasionally reaches 150 feet. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Quercus coccinea
- Quercus phellos (Willow Oak): Its narrow, unlobed leaves look like a willow's, but the acorns and the tiny bristle at each leaf tip give it away as an oak. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Quercus phellos
- Quercus rubra (Northern Red Oak): The northernmost eastern oak, and the most important red oak for lumber: flooring, furniture, railroad ties. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Quercus rubra
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