5 Steps To Successful Seed Sowing

One of the questions I often get asked is how to sow seed from scratch.

Often there is a lot of conflicting information out there and to be honest, most of it is true. They all work but sometimes when you’re new to something you just need someone to hold your hand and say “this is what you do”

I’ve sowed many seeds over the years. I will also admit to being very impatient so when it comes time to plant something, I’m often buying punnets of already grown plants to put into my veggie patch.

To be honest, there are some things, that are just better value and do a lot better when you sow them from seed yourself. The obvious being any root vegetable, seems to do better from seed, directly sown into the garden, verses being planted from an overgrown punnet.

Also, a packet of Beetroot costs around $4 and you get 200 seeds, when a punnet of Beetroot has 8 plants for the similar price…… makes sense to me. Plus I love beetroot and 8 would not be enough.

I’ve made a video, where I am sowing seeds of different shapes and sizes. I talk about what potting medium to use, how deep to sow the seeds and which ones are best to sow.

1. The potting medium.

There are many suggestions of what to use and I can tell you that seeds want to germinate. It is their purpose, so you can use new potting mix, seed raising mix, old potting mix, sand and peat mixed together, Vermiculite and potting mixed, dirt from the garden with some mulch. It all works (the only problem with dirt from the garden is the amount of weed seeds already in this mix, but it is free)

I’ve experimented with a few kinds of mediums with the same seed and got the same results.

2. Method:

Fill your punnets or shallow pots with the potting medium then depending on what size your seed is, is what you do next.

For fine seed like carrot seed, beetroot, parsnip, in fact most of the seeds are small, gently trickle a 8-20 seeds per punnet as evenly spread out as you can. Then put a fine layer of the same potting medium on top. Gently press down and water in and that’s it!

For bigger seed like beans, broad beans & pea, the seed needs to be twice as deep as it is deep. So push each seed down with your finger. They aren’t delicate. Because these are bigger, you allow less per punnet. I would put about 6 broad beans in a punnet or small pot. About 8 beans or peas. Gently cover any holes that you’ve made by pushing the seed down and water. That’s all there is to it.

3. Position.

My best place is up against the house on a table. When I had them on the ground next to the house, they were eaten by millapedes, slaters, earwigs, ant, slugs and snails. As soon as I raised them off the ground, my germination rate went through the roof. Also by having them next to your house, you are providing them with shelter and warmth from the big building. If you have a hot house or designated area you are in an even better position.

4. Timing.

When you sow seed, you really need to be a bit ahead of the season as it takes a few weeks for your plants to be big enough to plant out into the garden. So you need to think of when you’d like to plant Tomatoes for instance and work backwards 3-5 weeks. Upon saying this, I’m having the most fantastic time breaking all the rules of timing and planting a lot of crops more than once in the garden. I’ve been planting Zucchini, Tomatoes, Egg Plant, Corn, Capsicum and so much more, once at their normal time which is spring and then again mid summer and I am getting an abundant harvest like no other. You see some of these vegetables really give you a huge burst and then die off and if you plant another crop, you can get this same burst of growth and be harvesting more bumper crops. I give you permission to experiment and break the rules and I think you’ll be surprised about how much more you can get out of your garden.

5. When to plant out.

If you’ve ever bought seedlings from a nursery you can tell a young and healthy punnet. The leaves are fresh looking and they are healthy. Once a punnet is overgrown and run out of nutrient, it looks ratty and in the case of bok choy, can already be going to seed.

So what you’re aiming for is around 2-3 weeks after germination. Before they get a chance to exhaust nutrients and cause the punnet to dry out quickly.

One of the highlights of sowing from seed into punnets rather than direct sowing is that you don’t waste any space in the garden.

Once your seed has germinated, you are planting out growing plants, and there are no gaps. For instance, sometimes when you plant carrots, the germination is patch (thanks to ants that love eating the seeds).

When you sow carrots in a punnet, you can plant them out with good spacing without wasting a spot in the garden. If space is limited, this is a brilliant efficiency tip!

The most important thing is to try it and have fun.

With love, from my garden to yours.

xx Cindy