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"This is when the fun starts." You don’t need acres to grow a thousand
or more seedlings a year. You just need the foundation of a high organic soil as
mentioned in my soil page. This high-powered organic soil is necessary for
seedlings to grow to their full potential in a limited, crowded space. As
mentioned before, Roberts Backyard is a typical backyard. We don’t have acres to
grow seedlings, but we get great results planting under crowded conditions.  We
consistently have 90% + bloom of our seedlings the first year after planting. We
contribute this to a very high organic soil, the use of manure.
Alright, let’s suppose you have your iris seeds (if not, you can follow the
related links to the left of this page). The next step is to plant them for
germination. At Roberts Backyard, we use a heavy, wooden frame to start our tall
bearded iris seedlings. As mentioned before, we use a high amount of manure, and
that’s what we start with here in these frames. The first one inch of soil at
the bottom of the 4 x 4 frame is manure. The next three inches we use a
professional peat moss starting soil. You can
purchase this soil at your better gardening stores, brand names like Pro-Mix or
Sunshine Mix. These peat moss starting soils are expensive, but very important
for germinating seeds. Hopefully, come spring time, hundreds of iris seedlings will emerge from these frames, going straight up through the screen. Now is the time for a mild mixture of Miracle-Grow. Usually, by mid-iris season, these iris seedlings will be 4 to 6 inches high and ready for transplanting into your prepared high-organic manure bed. Here again, we crowd the seedlings into rows 11-12 inches apart. The seedlings being planted 6 inches apart. Frequent watering (keeping the ground moist) is required to get the roots well established in our hot June weather. I hope this encourages you, who have a desire to get into iris hybridizing, to realize that you do not need a lot of space to be a backyard hybridizer. "Again, this is when the fun starts."
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This peat moss provides the precise amount of water and
air to circulate around seeds for better germination. Once you have your soil in
place, line out rows three inches apart. Plant the seeds ½ to ¾ inches deep.
Here we crowd ten seeds per inch. We find that we get the same germination
crowding seeds in rows as giving them more space. Cover with soil, placing a
screen over the frame so that the neighbors cat does not think this is a litter
box. We plant our seeds at Roberts Backyard in late October. This frame should
be left open to the elements. 
The cool, winter weather ahead is beneficial for
iris seed germination. If you have snow in your area, continuously pile snow
onto the frame as the cool water melting will aide in the germination.