Soaking seeds

Last spring I accidentally left my box of seed packets outside, and they got rained on. Realizing that they were therefore probably ruined, I hurriedly planted every single seed, sometimes hands full at a time, in every corner of the garden as well as in dozens of old pots. 

Imagine my surprise when almost all came up with a way better germination rate than I had ever before experienced!

So I did a little research and sure enough, lots of folks recommend soaking seeds before planting. Recommendations vary from a few hours to overnight. 

So I am trying it this fall. The night before I intend to do any planting, out comes all the little tupperwares:

The first time I tried this was a couple of weeks ago. And after an overnight soaking, what did I see on a bunch of the seeds?

Tiny little sprouts already emerging!  So I was as gentle as I could be, tucking those in the ground. 

Results?  No pictures but most everything showed signs of germination within the first week, some within a day. 

Now if I could get the squirrels to stop digging holes in my freshly planted beds, maybe I could manage to have a real garden!