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Gayton-based gardener Jamie Marsh shares his top tips for sowing seeds




In his weekly Jamie’s Little Allotment column, gardener Jamie Marsh gives his top tips for sowing seeds…

You might be glad to know, that the tomato seeds I sowed in the rubber single-cell trays last week have started to germinate, which is perfect, 7-14 days to see tiny tomato seedlings uncurl from the compost is standard.

I’m going to keep chatting to you about sowing seeds this week as it’s happening on a daily basis this time of year.

Jamie Marsh shares his top tips for sowing seeds
Jamie Marsh shares his top tips for sowing seeds

Last week I was sowing into single cells which I prefer, but today I’ll chat about sowing into seed trays.

There are definitely pros and cons to both methods which I’ll go through in a minute.

Seed trays are generally plastic containers, about 50mm deep with holes in the bottom for drainage.

Some seeds are very small
Some seeds are very small

You can buy seed trays from any garden centre or online for just a few pounds, but to be honest, there are lots of things you can use as a seed sowing tray.

My favourite go-to is the plastic takeaway tubs which your chow mien or chicken korma get delivered in, also a little bonus with a takeaway container is that you’ve got a perfect lid, which instantly transforms the container into a propagator.

A propagator is basically a tray with a clear lid, to keep the moisture and heat in.

Other things I’ve used are supermarket mushroom containers and even the tray from a joint of beef.

I use a small drill bit to put holes in the bottom, but I remember my father doing a very similar thing, he used to heat a nail up on the gas hob, holding it with pliers, then when the nail was hot, melt holes in the underside of the tub.

Please do be careful if you use this method because obviously it’s very dangerous.

Once you have your tray, fill it 3/4 with peat-free seed compost and tap the tray down to firm it in.

This is where things can get slightly different, depending on the seed you are sowing.

Large seeds like beetroot, parsnip or squash are very easy to see and handle and, therefore easy to sow, you can place the larger seeds a perfect distance apart, so when it comes to pricking out the seedlings there’s less chance of damaging any others because they’ve become intertwined above and below the compost.

The majority of veg seeds are very small, but they are still possible to sow uniformly, so as above, this helps with the pricking out.

The last seed I’m going to talk about literally looks like dust. Many flower seeds are tiny, also herbs like thyme are very small.

Before you know it you have sprinkled a whole packet in one clump in the tray.

A good way to get over this is to take a pinch of your minute seeds and mix it with three or four pinches of sand.

Now when you sprinkle your seed and sand mix, you have more chance of leaving the gaps which helps us when we are pricking out.

Another thing we need to know about when we are sowing seeds is, some seeds need light to germinate, the details of these will be written on the packet, but basically, if you do come across seeds that need light, just sprinkle them on the damp compost but this time don’t cover over, always remember with all seeds you’ve sown, not to let them dry out, I use a trigger misting water bottle to keep my seedlings damp.

Back to the pros and cons of both single-cell trays and the larger seed-sowing trays.

As I said earlier I much prefer using cell trays because when the seed has germinated and grown into a lovely little seedling, there’s no need to prick out, like we have to with the larger seed trays, you can pop the little plug plant out, and either pot it on into a pot or even straight into the allotment bed.

The only con about cell trays I can think of is space, if you’re wanting to sow lots of seeds, you will need several cell trays and if you’re growing on windowsills this can become a problem.

But with a seed tray, you can squeeze many more seedlings in the same space but have the job of pricking out.

The last thing which will help a lot when you’re sowing seeds and I mentioned it earlier is a propagator lid.

Most trays will be able to accommodate a clear lid which is great for keeping the temperature and humidity inside, but once the seedlings pop through, remove the propagator lid for a while every day to stop the baby plants from getting fungus growing on them and rotting.

Please feel free to email any questions to Jamieslittleallotment@gmail.com



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