Cilantro is one of those seeds that is on par with marigolds for ease of growing from seed. I don't "smash" open cilantro or beet seed. I put both in the ground as is and grow without any problems. You can always thin as needed, using the young beet and cilantro plants that are thinned out.

I've never grown hops from seed. I've only grown hops from bareroot stock of named varieties so no experience there.

Lavender has particular germinating needs. Search through posts here for good advice on that.

In my experience, thyme takes a while to sprout but was not overly difficult.

FataMorgana

My sprouting conditions are 3 paper plates with 2 coffee filters on top, seeds on top and are separated, but named above them only one, two, or three seeds per type, and I have on paper plate covering them so they won't dry out so fast. I'm only testing their viability and trying to save the bulk for next year.

The hops and cilantro seed are still hard, so last night I busted the hops seed open and it split in two, did the same with the cilantro. They crackled in my hand like a dry peanut shell. I've never separated my beet seed before planting either, but I know when the seed sprouts there is more than one seed inside the other seed, that is what I mean, are there seeds inside the cilantro and hops?

I know lavender takes cool conditions, so at night it's not cold enough for heat, but it's cool enough during the day, maybe 70-75 though out the day, cooler in the night.

I guess I should start researching each herb to see how to make them grow.

Thanks for the help!

How old are the packs of seeds? Probably has a lot to do with germination. Other than a few herbs that really need cold weather you will not be able to plant anything outside until next spring which will make the seeds at least two years old or older. Other things that would make the seeds unable to sprout is how they have been treated during the time since they were placed in the containers. Did you keep them in the dark? In a cool place? Dry but not too dry?

Most seeds will split in two it is what they normally do. Use dry beans as an example. When they are soaked and the skin removed there are two pieces in each bean.

I don't know what type of hops you are trying to grow but in my opinion are a nasty vine to handle and can become very long. Most hops leaves have hairs on them which can catch and abrade your skin and anything that the plant comes in contact. In the PNW the enclosures for hops are at least 25 ft tall or taller.

Doing some learning about how things grow and their growth requirements are really important for raising anything.

Most seeds in my experience, with notable exceptions, have pretty good viability and germination rates if kept under average conditions for 2-3 years. Some have longer shelf lives and some shorter. It varies with the plant in question. Conditions that seeds are stored in can add or subtract from the shelf life and viability.

Seeds can still sprout well past the good shelf-life range for them but the percentage of seed sprouting drops off as the age increases.

FataMorgana

I bought them for this past growing season, so next year most will be 2 years old, but a few are a little older, very few. My room was very hot, but they were kept in a red cloth book bag in their original plastic containers. I didn't see mold on any package.

I am going to have to get them growing for next year for sure. I wanted to plant a few to flower for next year, to attract parasitic flies. I truly must be doing something wrong because none of them sprouted including the penny royal I just bought a few months ago.

I'll do some research, but the first list was this:

Penny Royal
Cilantro
Hops
Garlic
Onions
Thyme
Eggplant
Milk Thistle
Hyssop
Lavender
Yarrow
Caraway
Hot pepper
Cilantro
Jalapeno
Chives
Summer Savory
I only tried to sprout about one, two, or three of each, so I have the package. I have more to test. None that I planted in the ground grew at all. It was a total bust and what I thought was what turned out to be a wild weed I let grow. I'm talking about the Snake root, but they attracted a swarm of soldier beetles that I never saw, still they weren't what I wanted.

I'll research the ones I tried, milk thistle should have been easy to grow by instructions I found. I bought those this past year for next year, out of 2, no sprouts. I was trying to use those for a fence around my garden. They were important, but nothing. I'll start a few of each that I have a lot of in trays, maybe one or two, just want to get them to grow. If I don't practice, next year, I won't have anything again.

Thanks for the replies. I hope I didn't damage the plants with the hot weather.

Let me give you a little advice about seeds that I did not realize when I was trying to grow from seed. When a packet states the seeds need be be covered 1/8th inch this means that the seeds either need direct sunlight or darkness to sprout. The depth mentioned on the package is in direct porportion of the amount of heat and light that that particular plant needs to grow.

Onions and garlic and perhaps chives will grow better is started in the fall rather than spring as most need the freezing and thawing temps to break the shell.

Coolness is 40F or below for plants.

It is best to look at the package and really think what the package is telling you. If it suggest to start very early the seed probably needs coolness to start but not freezing. Some and I think the Milk thistle is one of these needs a period of warmth followed by coolness. Translation plant in the soil in late summer and allow to rest during the winter. With luck it should sprout next spring.

The big however is that the sprouts often do not look like the plants. Good seed companies are now putting a picture of an emerged seedling on the package to compare with what is coming up so you should save the package.

Caraway is one that will only grow if you plant in fall. The seedlings come up very late often not until July. I have wasted many a package trying to plant in the spring with no success.

Recently I received an email from a company that gave a warning that certain types of seeds especially lettuces will not grow from old seeds.

Some seeds also need a chilling period this could be a freeze or just coolness for a long period of time. Not mentioned in your list but as an example canna's will not survive freezing but need freezing or near freezing temps to start the growing process.

Keeping seeds in a warm place can cause the seeds to dry too much killing the embroyos inside of the seeds.

I would suggest getting a book on growing herbs from your local library or bookstore. Find one that appeals to you, there are many to choose from. Makes sure it includes germination and growing information. You have listed mostly common kitchen herbs and vegetables so the book should have them. Keep notes on what you've tried, what you've learned. If it's your book, make notes in the margins. I started doing that with my cookbooks over a year ago. I find it useful. If I was starting out learning about growing herbs from seeds now, I would do exactly what I just told you.

While its focus is vegetables (with an occasional herb), the book Seed to Seed by Susanne Ashworth is an excellent reference for starting and saving seeds. And The New Seed Starter's Handbook Nancy Bubel is an excellent reference on seed starting.

Of the ones you list, I have direct sown chives, onions, cilantro, and thyme with success. No special seed stratification or needs there. I've started hot peppers (incl. Jalapeno) and eggplant indoors for summer vegetable gardens. Nothing special. Standard indoor seed starting techniques. The others listed you will have to check germination requirements for.

FataMorgana

I looked each up and I have an herb book, several, but they give the same directions mostly accept a few, there are 5 on the list I understand in every way they couldn't have sprouted. I cold treated the hops, as was noted on the package. I really liked the smell of them too, almost like anise. I would have tried them sooner if I had known what they smelled like.

The milk thistle ones say it's easy to grow them, but you describe them as picky as they seemed to be. I direct sowed them in the ground, maybe too early, but I really got nothing accept poppies, fennel, castor bean, mullein, and borage from everything I planted herb wise. The borage got top heavy and died. The poppies didn't make many seeds, and I let them drop.

I was really hoping to get mint plants growing, I know spearmint sprouted in a planter, but died due to neglect of it sprouting way too late once most of everything else had been taken out of the planter, not knowing anything would still grow.

I'm looking for hints like maifleur gave, that is going to help. Direct sunlight is what most of them needed because they all said the same thing on the package.

I'm afraid to plant anything in fall, my garden is under leaves right now, about 67 of them I counted now, but then there were more. I still have about 30 to dump and have to clear some areas of old stalks and the privot that keeps growing wild every where. Between privot and the onslaught of walnut seedlings I'm finding, I'm getting scared.

Fall planting may make the onions rot, so I'll have to start them out in flats.

The lavender sounds tricky, so they sent a big package of those, I'll try again under lamp just to get some sprouted. I'll do the same for the milk thistle under lamp then put in a cool damp, but warm enough spot to get them growing. The hops and cilantro, I've read to score the seed after soaking them 24 hours, then plant, the seed is a hull of 2 seeds, so it makes sense.

I'll be looking each plant and reading blogs on each until I can see proven 100 percent method.

I appreciate this and I hope next year I'll be in check, have a few of each plant at least.

Depending on the poppy some do best if planted outdoors in a sandy mixture. There are annual poppies such as the California ones but the oriental will take at least 2 years to bloom. The tame mullein the few times I have had it come up from seeds it was self sown so it wintered over either before coming up or the seedling was not what I thought it should look like.

Fennel is another plant that has both annual and perennial types. The bronze if it likes the conditions I have been told will send up shoots for years. The shoots may be from the plant or they may be from seeds. The butterflies and bees love them either way.

Just remember that members of the onion family often look like grass when they are coming up.

A suggestion for you is to try to plant things in blocks. If you label the blocks, unless there is heavy rain or melting snow to disturb the seeds, makes it easier to know what you have. It also makes it easier to decide where the plants can go. If you know a plant is supposed to be tall you know that other plants can go around it. Of course some of the plants like your mullein have a low rosette of leaves with a tall stem which is better where it gets room.

Watch where the author is gardening in. A mistake I made was to follow an English garden book which had many good suggestions but timing of rains and heat can be a problem if the writer is living in the NW and the gardener is in the SW.

In time everything you plant will survive. If you have a store in your area that supplies beer makers you can find hops to smell until yours grow.