Vegetable Seed and Sowing

Seeds come in various forms, they range in size and how they are prepared before they are packaged.

F1 Hybrid seeds are produced by cross breeding two parent plants. These seeds tend to be vigorous and good for cropping. They are also usually more expensive.

Pelleted seed is a seed coated in clay. This aids the sowing of smaller seeds, by making the larger and easier to sow individually, thus reducing the need for thinning or transplanting.

Dressed seed is coated with a pesticide or fungicide, or even both, to help protect against some soil organisms.

Chitted seed is pre-germinated seed. It is supplied just after germination when the first root appears.

Embedded seed is where seeds are embedded onto rolls of tape or paper. All you need to do is lay the tape in a seed drill and cover it.

Gel Seed is supplied in a container. You prick out the seed and sow them as seedlings.

Primed seed is brought to the brink of germination, but is then dried and packed. It grows quickly when sown.

Sowing Vegetable Seed
Each crop of vegetables varies in the type of seed, the size of seed, the depth a seed needs to be planted and the temperature required to germinate the seed. So for each variety of vegetable you will need to consult the seed packet and take careful note of the sowing directions supplied.

Vegetables in general are sown in situ, where you want them to grow outdoors, but some can be started indoors, or undercover.

Sowing Outdoors
Sow seeds outdoors on fine weather days. Make sure the soil is moist, but not overly so. If the ground is dry water the day before sowing, or if needs be water before sowing allowing time for the water to drain away.

To begin with the soil will need to be prepared, by digging and raking. Remove any large stones, or lumps of earth and rake until you have achieved a fine tilth (a fine crumbly top soil). Depending on the planting depth and size of seed use a hoe to make a seed drill (tiny trench for seeds to be planted in). To get a straight seed drill use a marking line, or a long stick / cane or edge of a plank as a guide.

With larger seeds plant individually at recommended spacing, with finer seed it sometimes helps to mix in a tiny amount of sand and then sprinkle evenly into the drill. Once the seed is sown rake the soil over the seed, and firm it gently. Don`t forget to put labels on your rows so you know what has been planted where.

Seed beds are sometimes used to grow vegetables. Seed is broadcast onto the prepared bed where it germinates and grows. The

seedlings,  are thinned, then eventually lifted carefully and planted / transplanted to its final planting position. If weather is dry after sowing , then water lightly.

Thinning
As the seedlings begin to grow you may find they are too tightly spaced or overcrowded. This will lead to them competing with each other for water, nutrients and light.  It is best to thin the seedlings gradually until the correct spacing of plants is achieved. The seedlings you remove for thinning should be snipped off at ground level reducing any disturbance to developing root systems of surrounding seedlings.

Sowing Indoors
Sowing can also be done indoors in a greenhouse or even on a windowsill in the house. This is usually done to start growing plants earlier than would be possible outdoors due to it being too cold, or too short a day-length.

Seeds can be sown into seed trays, modules or containers. With seed trays as the seedlings grow (usually when they have two leaves) they will need pricking out and transplanting to a larger spaced seed tray or individual module or container.

Seed is often sown in modules, or containers, and grown on to the stage where it will be planted from the module directly to the bed. This enables the seedling to develop without competition and develop a healthy root system without the need for pricking out.

Planting / Transplanting
It is usually best to plant or transplant vegetables as early as possible into their final position, unless of course they are being grown in modules. Root vegetables should not be transplanted after the tap root has begun to form as this can cause distortion to the shape of the final vegetable.

Before lifting plants from seed beds it is best to water both the seed bed and the planting bed. When lifting plants be sure to pick them up by the leaves, rather than the stem or the roots as this can damage the plant. Make a hole slightly bigger than the roots of the plant and place the plant in. The depth of planting should be so that the lowest leaves are just clear of the final soil level, firm the plant in carefully.

Be sure to water frequently in hot, dry and windy weather.

Plants raised indoors will require hardening off before planting outside. This can be done by increasing ventilation to your greenhouse or firstly through the day and the night time too. Or, move plants into a cloche, or cold frame. The idea is too slowly acclimatize the plants to the cooler temperatures and wind outdoors. This process may take around two weeks.

Plants can then be planted into their final positions.

Vegetative Propagation
Some vegetables are often grown from offsets, corms, tubers or cuttings. This is usually because they are slow to grow from seed, or rarely set seed, or growing from seed is variable in result. Sometimes it is just quicker to grow some plants vegatatively.

Watering
In the early stages where root systems of seedlings are small it is best to water lightly and frequently, but as they grow and root systems reach deeper, it becomes more effective to water more heavily and less frequently.

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