Its seed sowing time, my all time favourite time of year, there is a certain magic involved in it. So simple, just a bit of soil, little tiny seeds, some water and thats it, bring that all together and just wait. You can grow a whole garden. Then you have the excitement of watching those new shoots peeping out of the soil. A joy that never goes away. It might seem a bit scary if you’ve never done it before but there are just a few things to think about and if you haven’t had a go then maybe this year could be the time to get started.
There are a couple of main ways to sow seeds, you can sow directly into your beds in your garden or allotment. This is the simplest way, you don’t need any equipment you just need to prepare the bed by clearing any weeds and raking over so that the soil is nice and loose and friable (posh word for crumbly and light!). Then you can either broadcast sow, this is where you sow seed over the whole area, or you can sow in rows. The advantage of sowing in rows is you can spot any weed seeds that germinate in between the rows and can confidently remove them! Useful if you don’t know what your little seedlings are going to look like. Don’t sow the seeds too deeply, use the size of the seed to judge how deep to sow, no more than 2 or 3 times the size of the seed in depth. Most just like a light covering of soil. Best to water the bed or row before you sow. The thing to be aware of if you are sowing direct is it needs to be warm enough for the seeds to germinate so after the spring equinox is best for hardy annuals and after the last frosts for half-hardy annuals. Also newly grown seedlings are magnets for snails and slugs and they can devour your plants in such a short time. So keep an eye on them and night-time slug patrols might be needed. Have a look at the Higgledy garden seed sowing guide for more information on specific flower seed sowing.
I do have slugs and snails in my garden and so I don’t tend to sow much directly. I also have a troublesome kitty cat who can dig up my beds and ruin all my hard work in a flash. So I like to sow undercover, prick out and pot on my seedlings till they are a decent size for planting out and then are more robust and resilient to what the slugs, snails and crazy cats can throw at them. You also know exactly what you have and don’t have gaps where seeds might not have germinated. It also means that you can often sow a bit earlier, so I sow undercover either in my unheated greenhouse or if they need more warmth than that inside on my windowsill.
You don’t need masses of equipment, just some kind of pots or trays. You can be creative and reuse yoghurt pots, mushroom trays or the little trays you get tomatoes in. You can use eggboxes, toilet rolls for seeds like sweetpeas that have longer roots. I tend to use the common square 9cm pots, plastic I know but I just keep reusing them so I don’t buy them. Garden centres or nurseries will often have spare pots if you ask them nicely. They are sturdy and I use them for sowing in and for potting on seedlings before I plant out. I also use the little half seed trays if I want to sow more seeds or if I’m sowing especially tiny seeds and also the module trays that I sometimes buy plants in these can be useful for seedlings that don’t like too much disturbance. You can sow singly in those and then plant straight out. I have a smallish garden and like growing small amounts of lots of different varieties so I tend to sow in small amounts and then only prick out what I need which is usually only about 6 to 8 of each variety. I also like trying new varieties so I can have a big range of flowers for cutting.
I use peatfree compost and specifically I like to use Sylvagrow multipurpose compost from Melcourt I’ve used it for years and have had great success with it, you can sieve it to remove any chunky bits if needed but I find it lovely and light. You just have to be aware that it can dry out on top but still be moist underneath but you soon get a feel for that. Place it in your pot or tray, tap the pot to settle the soil so nice and flat surface the sown your seeds. Take your time, it can be a lovely meditative process. Seed is precious and if possible you should sow the seeds individually, some seeds are so small that this is almost impossible but in this case just sow as thinly as possible. Tip a few in to your hand (marvel at the beauty of these little capsules) and then place on the compost not too close together so that the little seedlings will have some space to grow. Just sow what you need, I rarely need to sow the whole packet especially with smaller seeds. Just tip any you don’t sow back into the packet and the rest will keep for a second sowing or for another year at least.
Once sown it’s better to water from below so sit them in trays of water to allow the water to soak upwards through the compost. If you water from above you can move the seed around, especially light seeds they can get washed to one end of the tray and all germinate there in one big mass! I’ve done that once when sowing Foxgloves which are tiny little seeds. Label your seed trays well, you will think you will remember but you never do. Again speaking from experience!
So there you go, its simple, just give it a go and experiment, everyone develops their own way of sowing seed this is just some guidance and works for me. Here at Higgledy garden, myself, Higgledy Gemma and (our leader!) Ben all have different plots and gardens with different plans for the year ahead. We will be posting about on here and on Instagram. So excited for a flower filled summer.
There are a number of flower seeds that we sell at Higgledy that are super easy and great to get your sowing adventure going. For sowing now I’d say go for Sweet peas and some hardy annuals like Cornflower, Calendula and Nigella. The Higgledy Easy-peasy early sowing bundle is a good starter.
Then a couple for sowing later, Sunflowers, nice big chunky seeds easy to grow, and so bright and cheerful. Cosmos, quick to germinate, a true cut and come-again-flower that will keep you going with lots of flowers until September.
Higgledy Anne
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