How to Sow Seeds

Sowing seeds is considered by many "gardeners" as a complicated, difficult and time a consuming job.

And sowing seeds is also considered, by these same "gardeners", as a waste of time with little or no success at the end of it all.

Well, don't you believe a word of it, it is just NOT true!

Why?

Because these so called "gardeners" just do not know how to sow seeds.

Sowing seeds is easy peasy.

We have successfully sown thousands of seeds. So just follow our advice and guidance and you too will succeed.

Once you have sown your first seeds, watched them germinate and grow healthily into mature plants you will want to do it again and again and again.

You will experience the same sheer joy and pleasure that we do.

We get so much pleasure every time we sow seeds and watch them germinate.

We are still completely amazed to see seeds germinate and grow into mature plants. And all with the help of our own fair hands!

Even after all the years we have been sowing seeds, the enjoyment, pleasure and amazement has never diminished.

You want to feel the same as we do?

Allright then how do you sow seeds successfully?

Just read on……..

But we prefer vermiculite as it is light in weight clean and easy to use, freely available, reasonably priced and it does the job superbly.

Now this is the time to decide if you want to sow your seeds in trays, inserts, pots or plug pots.

It is also time to calculate how many trays, inserts or pots you will need to sow the number of seeds you are going to sow.

As rule of thumb, you can easily sow up to

30 small seeds or

10 medium seeds or

3 large seeds in a 75mm (3 inch) pot.

Or up to 100 small seeds or

30 medium seeds in a half size seed tray.

Or up to 200 small seeds or

50 medium seeds in a full size seed tray and any combinations in between.

If you use plug pots or tray inserts you will want to sow one medium seed or one large seed in each insert or plug pot.

Sieve enough compost, on to your potting bench, or potting tidy/caddy, to fill all your trays or pots.

Don't discard the sieved out lumps and bits. These can be used in the bottom of larger patio pots when planting them up with your own home grown plants.

(Save the lumps and bits in an old compost bag until needed).

Fill the plug pots, inserts , seed trays or pots with compost to about 5mm below the rim (this does not need to be exact - about 5mm will do).

Lift the plug pot, insert, tray or pot to a height of about 15cm (6 inches) and gently tap it on the bench. Do this a couple of times.

This will settle the compost into the plug pot, insert, tray or pot to about the correct level.

The compost should now be about 10mm (1/2 inch) from the top of the plug pot, insert, tray or pot.

This does not have to be exact so don't worry if it is a couple of mm higher or lower. It will make no difference to the end result.

Take your correct size tamper and gently level the surface of the compost.

DON'T push the tamper with any force. All we want to do here is level off the surface of the compost, NOT compact it.

*This gives an ideal surface to sow the seed on.

That's it. You have now successfully filled your first tray or pot with compost.

Now Fill the rest of your trays or pots in the same way.

*(Doing this correctly will increase your propagation success rate).

This is the fun part, sowing the seeds.

But some seeds, such as antirrhinum, are quite small and fine and to count out the number of seeds you want is not really practical, or indeed even possible.

So this is where practice and experience really helps, (don't worry experience will come with practice).

Ok, how do we sow small fine seeds?

Well the easiest way to sow small fine seeds is to take a pinch between your thumb and forefinger and gently and lightly sprinkle the seeds over the surface of the compost.

The idea is to get the seeds spread out across the compost and not bunched up in patches.

The problem is once you have sprinkled the seed onto the compost it is difficult, if not impossible to see them.

So, you can practice sowing seeds quiet easily without using the seeds.

Take a pinch of sand between your thumb and forefinger and sprinkle it over the surface of the compost. (Use dry horticultural sand only).

The sand will show up on the compost, this gives a good idea of how well you will spread the seeds.

Mix the sand into the compost with your finger, dibber or similar, until it has disappeared and try again.

The sand will not harm the seeds or the emerging seedlings, in fact it will assist with opening up the compost and provide additional drainage.

Do this as many times as you feel necessary until you are happy with the results.

Now do it for real with the seeds.

There you go see how easy it is?

All that is needed now is to cover the seeds with a very light "dusting" of sieved compost. Just enough to cover the seeds and no more.

If you are using medium size seeds, such as iberis, or large seeds, such as lathyrus, sowing is much easier.

You can pick up medium and large size seeds quite easily making them easy to handle and sow.

You can easily sow 10 medium size seeds or 3 large seeds in a 75mm (3 inch) pot. Or 30 medium seeds in a half size seed tray. Or 50 medium seeds in a full size seed tray.

If you are you using inserts or plug pots, recommended, you should sow one medium or one large seed in each insert or plug pot.

Inserts and plugs are highly recommended for medium and especially large seeds.

They prevent any root disturbance at transplanting time, which is ideal.

When you have sown all your seeds don't forget to label them with plant name and date of sowing.

Water your trays or pots with great care.

With you mist sprayer, set at it's finest spray, filled with tepid water and held at about 100mm (4 inch) from the pot or tray, lightly spray the surface of the compost.

Don't get to close, or overdo it here, you will disturb the seeds which is exactly what you don't want to do!

The idea is to settle the surface of the compost with the fine mist from your sprayer. This prevents the seeds being disturbed.

Now fill a container, large enough to put the tray or pot in, with tepid water *(preferably water that has been standing in a warm place for about twenty-four hours) and definitely NOT rainwater, use good old tap water!

Stand the tray or pot in the container of water and leave it until you see the surface just becoming moist.

This usually happens fairly quickly so don't be tempted to go off and do something else.

*Do not overdo the watering process, you don't want the compost saturated, or your seeds may rot and not germinate.

*(By doing this correctly you will greatly increase your chance of success).

Cover your trays or pots with glass or clear plastic (or preferably, for ease of use, place in a propagator - unheated will do).

Keep your tray or pot in the light, (not direct sunlight) and maintain the temperature range given in your plant page.

When your seeds have germinated and are large enough to handle it is time to transplant them.

The time taken for your seeds to germinate depends on the plant type and the conditions you have provided.

So follow carefully the instructions in these pages to dramatically increase your germinating success.

If you have sown small or medium size seeds in pots, half size seed trays or full size seed trays you will want to transplant your seedlings on in to pots, half size seed trays or full size seed trays. This all depends on the plant type or your own preference.

If you have sown medium or large size seeds individually in inserts or plug pots you will need to transplant them in to individual 75mm (3 inch) pots.

Now if you have used inserts, transplanting is easier. Just push the complete seedling, root ball as well, out of the insert by pushing a pencil, piece of dowel or similar through the hole in the bottom of the insert. Then all you have to do is plant the seedling on in to a larger pot.

Be careful when pushing the seedlig out from its insert so as not to damage the roots or stem!

Now if you have used plug pots, transpalnting is a piece of cake. Simply plant the seedling still in its plug pot, undisturbed, in a larger size pot.

This is ideal, and highly recommended, as there is no root disturbance. Just what seedlings need for the best possible start, just watch them romp away.

You need to transplant your seedlings to give them room to spread their roots and grow their stems and leaves.

As the seedlings develop they need more space as they grow.

They also need air to flow between them to prevent problems such as damping off disease. Common in seedlings that are cramped to close together.

Right let's get transplanting…..

Be very careful handling the seedlings. Do not handle them by their stems as this will cause irreversible damage resulting in the seedling collapsing.

Handle the seedlings very gently and only by their leaves.

If you are transplanting from pots or seed trays you will need to separate the seedlings from each other.

Using a widger, or similar, tease the seedlings roots out with great care ensuring not too many roots are damaged.

Make sure the stems are not damaged either.

Time and care taken hear will really pay dividends giving your seedlings the best possible chance of growing on successfully.

Too many damaged roots or a damaged stem will only result in the collapse and loss of seedlings.

Take you time, be patient, it is really not difficult. With practice it becomes second nature and you will soon be able to tease out seedlings and transplant them quite quickly and without any damage to roots or stems.

Plant them in your seed trays about 5cm (2in) apart in a good quality potting compost. A sieved peat based or peat alternative compost will be fine.

If you have individual seedlings in inserts it is fairly easy to transplant them. Just push the whole root ball out from the bottom of the insert.

(Turn the insert upside down and support the pot with one hand, allowing the seedling to hang between your fingers without damaging it.

With the other hand using fingers or thumb, the choice is yours, push the bottom of the insert gently.

You will find the whole root ball will come out of the insert easily.

You can pot the seedling on into a 75mm (3 inch), or larger if necessary, pot.

If you have individual seedlings in plug pots it's a piece of cake.

Just pot the seedling on into a 75mm (3inch), or larger if necessary, pot.

You don't have to remove the seedling from the plug pot as the roots grow on through the sides and bottom of the plug pot.

Ideal, absolutely no root disturbance. Just what's needed for seedlings to grow on strong and healthy.

Plug pots are highly recommended for medium and large seeds.

All seedlings transplanted?

Don't forget to label them with plant name, sowing date and transplanting date.

Well done you are on your way to becoming an experienced 'plant propagator'!

Ok what's next?

Well you now need to water in your transplanted seedlings.

Water your trays or pots with great care.

Fill a container, that is large enough to put your seed tray or individual pots in, with tepid water *(preferably water that has been standing in a warm place for about twenty-four hours) and definitely NOT rainwater, use good old tap water!

Stand the tray or pots of transplanted seedlings in the container of water and leave it until you see the surface of the compost just becoming moist.

This usually happens fairly quickly so don't think about going of and doing something else. Or you will come back and find your transplanted seedlings over-wet.

Disasterious!

*Do not overdo the watering process, you don't want the compost saturated, or your seedlings will rot and die.

*(By doing this correctly you will greatly increase your chance of success).

Keep the transplanted seedlings in good light (not direct sunlight) and warm (ideally just a couple of degrees below the germinating temperature, or thereabouts) until they are large enough to be hardened off.

Sowing seeds is a real easy and enjoyable plant propagation method for increasing your garden plant collection. And if you collect your own seeds......

Yet another way to get your plants free for life!

If you want any further information on how to sow seeds or how to propagate and grow any of your favourite garden ( yard ) plants please feel free to contact us