Greetings, dedicated cultivator. We are the vibrant Portulaca, often called Moss Rose or Purslane. We appreciate your desire to nurture our beginnings. To ensure we emerge as strong, sun-worshipping blossoms for your garden, we require a specific, gentle start. Here is our guide, from our perspective, on how to best coax us from our slumber indoors before the outside world has warmed.
Our seeds are tiny and our growth is tender; we cannot abide the cold. Therefore, timing is everything. You must calculate our start date carefully. Please begin the process approximately 6 to 8 weeks before your region's expected last spring frost date. This period gives us ample time to develop our first true leaves and establish a strong root system without becoming overly root-bound in our small starting cells. If started too early, we become leggy and weak, straining for more light than the winter sun can provide. If started too late, we miss our prime growing season. Consult your local frost calendars to determine the perfect window for our awakening.
We are not fussy, but we demand excellent drainage from the very beginning. A soggy, waterlogged environment is a death sentence for our nascent roots. Please provide us with a sterile, lightweight seed-starting mix. Do not use heavy garden soil, as it compacts and may harbor fungi that will attack us. Fill a clean tray with drainage holes with this mix, moisten it gently until it feels like a wrung-out sponge, and then surface-sow our minuscule seeds. We require light to germinate, so simply press us gently into the soil's surface; do not bury us in darkness.
To break our dormancy, we crave consistent warmth. A seedling heat mat placed beneath our tray is ideal, maintaining a soil temperature of 70-85°F (21-29°C). This bottom warmth is a wonderful mimic of the summer soil we desire. Once planted, cover our tray with a clear plastic dome to create a humid, greenhouse-like environment. Place us in the brightest window you have, preferably a south-facing one. Without sufficient light, we will become spindly and weak. If natural light is insufficient, a grow light positioned just a few inches above the dome will serve us perfectly. Keep our soil consistently moist but not waterlogged; a fine mist spray bottle is the kindest tool for this task.
You will see us emerge within 7 to 14 days under the right conditions. Once our green heads appear, immediately remove the plastic dome to prevent damping-off disease. Continue to provide abundant light and careful watering. When we develop our second set of true leaves, we are ready for a slightly larger home. Carefully prick us out and transplant us into individual small pots, handling our delicate stems and roots with extreme care. In the week leading up to our final move to the garden, you must harden us off. This means gradually introducing us to outdoor conditions—wind, sun, and cooler temperatures—for a few more hours each day. This process is critical to prevent shock. Only after all danger of frost has passed and we have been thoroughly hardened off should we be planted in our sunny, well-draining final location in your garden.
