seedbed

To protect the young plants, the seedbed was usually covered with oak leaves, though straw was used occasionally.
Tobacco in Colonial Virginia|Melvin Herndon
I was so impressed with its beauty that I took it from where it bloomed in the seedbed and planted it at my house in the garden.
Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916|Various
The seedbed must be as level as a floor, and compact, for good use to be made of the wheel-seeder.
Hiram The Young Farmer|Burbank L. Todd
But if, from any cause, they have made a feeble growth, it is better to let them remain in the seedbed another year.
The Nut Culturist|Andrew S. Fuller

The usual practice is to keep the seedlings one year in the seedbed and two years in the nursery rows before they are set out.
The School Book of Forestry|Charles Lathrop Pack

British Dictionary definitions for seedbed

seedbed

/ (ˈsiːdˌbɛd) /

noun

a plot of land in which seeds or seedlings are grown before being transplanted

the place where something developsthe seedbed of discontent

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012