The need for seed
IT’S SPRING PREP TIME SO TAKE YOUR CUE FROM THE WEATHER, START SCATTERING SEEDS AND YOU’LL SOON SEE THE OUTSIDE WORLD WAKING UP
MARCH in the garden is ready, set, sow. And the more seeds you can get in the ground, the more you will see bursting into life during the growing season. Let’s take a look at how you can get a hop, skip and a jump on sowing seeds for spring.
WAYS TO PROPAGATE
GROWING from seed is an inexpensive way to fill your garden – and hugely satisfying.
Packet seeds are specially prepared to germinate. They’re disease-free and create super seedlets, so I always recommend buying them rather than gathering your own.
Large seeds can be sown by hand. Place them on their side at the right spacing distance and then cover over with soil to the correct depth. Each packet will give specific instructions.
You can buy a special tool called a dibber that creates the indent in the soil to help you along the way, or use a pencil. My top tip is to save your old wine corks and stick these at the right spacing requirements along a 30cm ruler to create five indents at once.
If you’ve got small seeds, a scatter approach means good coverage but isn’t quite as accurate. Hold the packet and tap the side with your finger as you run it along the soil for more precise dispensing.
When sowing seeds, you are usually working with planting a large number to increase the chances of success so it’s also really important to label them at this stage.
MAKE A MOVE
SMALL seeds are grown in seed trays, as these are easy to fill and ensure that watering remains consistent.
Eventually, these will be pricked out or transplanted into larger pots. You can do this with a nifty tool called a widger, for mess-free transference.
These young seedlings may not be ready for planting outside. But at this point, their root systems have developed enough to need a larger pot to spread out into, as they require more access to water and nutrients.
If you are re-using old pots, wash them thoroughly. It is important not to spread diseases that may be lurking from previous growth.
INS AND OUTS
AT THIS time of year, the biggest risk to young plants in the garden is frost, so plants can also be started under protection in order to get a jump on growing for spring interest or harvest.
You may decide to grow under a cloche or in cold frames to protect them outside. But these methods aren’t foolproof, so pay attention to young and tender growth.
Early carrot varieties, such as the baby chantenay carrots in my Mr Fothergill’s range, are perfect for this. Beetroot can also be grown under cover to great effect. Check out more seeds at mr-fothergills.co.uk
Inside your greenhouse now, you can have tomato, cucumber and even pea seed sown. Come May, these can be moved outside to plant in veg beds.
You may want to move them out for a few hours each day until they acclimatise.
FLOWER POWER
TO ENSURE early flowering, get Antirrhinums – snapdragons – sown now. These are great plants for kids, being bright and unusual in shape.
Just fill your seed tray with compost – you’ll need to get some specifically for young plants so the structure is loose enough for delicate root systems. Their seeds can be left on the surface of the soil – you don’t need to cover these over.
When they’re large enough, you’ll transplant them to grow in a cooler climate and, as long as there is no risk of frost, these can be positioned outside in beds about 30cm apart.
Meanwhile, get summer bedding plants on the go in the greenhouse. Sweet peas are a lovely flowering plant.
Annuals can be sown from late January, ready to plant out in April and flower throughout summer.
Perennial sweet peas, which return each year, can be planted in spring.