scarifying pea family seeds

[Diane Whitehead]

Pea family members are so gratifying to sow - up in a couple
of days if you damage them slightly to let the water in.

With big ones, I can hold each seed in my fingers while I
nip very gently with nail clippers.

Smaller ones are not so easy, and I usually rub them between
two pieces of sandpaper.  This is a skittery thing to do, though.

Today I had a few medium-sized ones and found a very easy way
to abrade the seed coat.  The pumice sitting beside my sink
has an oval indentation.  I rubbed each seed in this indentation
with no danger of it shooting away onto the floor.

[Maggi Young]

That's a neat use for an everyday object, Diane.   Perhaps you shouldn't be telling us here, when instead you could be contacting a pumice stone manufacturer to make a special stone just for gardeners and marketing the "next big thing" for the horticulturalist gift business!! 

My way with peas.... no, no, this is not a Cuisine tip... is to soak, not abraid......soaking always seems to work.... it must be the lovely soft Scottish water