Growing Nicely

gardening, sustainability, growing food, plants and flowers.

  • Home
  • About
  • Garden Writing
  • Garden Services
    • A Garden Consultation to Reveal the Beauty of your Garden.
  • The Blog
    • Sustainable Gardening
    • Growing Food
    • Gardening & Plants
    • Garden Design
    • Garden Visits
  • Contact Me

My Guide to Sowing Seeds.

January 21, 2017 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

Our garden is frozen solid, & has been for a few days now, which is fine because staying inside & planning what to grow this year is a lovely thing to be getting on with.

One of the easiest & cheapest way to get lots of plants is to grow them from seed, more than that though, it’s such a satisfying thing to do. Watching a speck of seed grow into a plant is a magical process.

My Guide to Sowing Seeds - hardy annuals-sunflower

sunflowers are hardy annuals

My Guide to Sowing Seeds.hardy annuals-orange Icelandic poppy flower

Icelandic poppy

My Guide to Sowing Seeds.-green dill flowers & blue cornflowers

acid green dill flowers & corn flowers supplies by Higgledy Garden

We’re talking about annuals here, those plants that grow from seed, flower & die all within the space of a year. There are 2 types:

hardy annuals, these will put up with some cold,

half-hardy annuals, which as the name suggest are a bit more fragile & won’t grow outside untill all frost has definitely gone. Anyone, experienced or not, with a garden, balcony or just a windowsill can do it.

I’ve started preparing for sowing, even though I won’t be starting untill March, because I’ve found that being organised is the key. Seeds like sweet-peas can be sown now, but as we’re going on holiday at the end of February, it’ll be March before I sow anything.

March is a good time to sow most seeds, plants from earlier sowings have to stay inside & be looked after for longer. If they’re growing on a window-sill they’re likely to grow tall & spindly for lack of light, when what you want are stocky little plants.

This is what I’m lining up:

Compost:

Potting compost, preferably peat free

Buy it now & keep it in the greenhouse or shed so it’s a reasonable temperature for seed sowing

Containers:

I’m using modules & small plant pots this year.

Modules are big trays divided into individual cells. They’re ideal for small seeds, you sprinkle a few seeds in each cell. Once they germinate, the spindliest, weakest seedlings are gently pulled out leaving 1 strong one. The advantage of modules is no fiddly pricking out. This is when seedlings have been sprinkled into tray without cells, they grow cheek by jowl & soon become overcrowded & have to be tipped out & planted into another container. Growing in modules misses out this time-consuming step.

The small pots ( I use the 4inch size) will be used for bigger seeds, like courgettes. I plant 2 seeds in each pot & pull out the weakest one, leaving the strongest one to flourish.

My Guide to Sowing Seeds.coldframe full of small plants

small plants in the cold-frame

cold-frame-courgette

a sturdy little courgette plant

My Guide to Sowing Seeds.-tomato seedlings-potted

tomato seedlings

Plant labels:

I like using a white or silver pen on black labels, because they look so smart, but I have lots of plain white ones, they last forever, so I’ll have to use them too.

When I’m very organised, I write up the labels in advance & attach them to the relevant seed packet.  It’s what super organised people do, & sometimes I like to kid myself that I belong to that group. It is highly recommended, because somehow I never have a pencil/pen nearby when I’m seed sowing, & stopping & writing as you go along seems such a faff.

Last year I went to the fabulous Port Eliot Festival, & gathered up the sturdiest wood shavings from the man who was making clogs. I have a bundle of them ready for labels, not sure how practical this will be, but they look great & I like the sustainability of it. I honestly wish I hadn’t bought any white plastic labels …. but they are so practical!

Planting plan:

Essential, especially for growing vegetables to make sure the same type of plants aren’t grown in the same space each year. It makes them more susceptible to disease. Most annual plants grow best in sun, especially half-hardy ones. You can also plant in containers in a sunny spot, but containers do need more care, watering etc.

Soil preparation:

Cover bare soil for vegetables with fleece to warm the soil, this way seeds will germinate more quickly.

Pretty simple don’t you think?

Higgledy Garden supplies all sorts of wonderful flower seeds, & you may even get a hand-written note along with your seeds.

It probably won’t all go according to plan, but I promise you will get some lovely plants, & it’s a lovely way of introducing children.

More next week about seed sowing.

Jill

all photos: Jill Anderson

Related posts:

Prunus serrula, Tibetan cherry,Trees for small gardens nettles, nettle fertiliserHow to make nettle fertiliser harvesting garlic, fresh garlic,Harvesting garlic What to do in the vegetable garden in June

Related posts:

Prunus serrula, Tibetan cherry,Trees for small gardens nettles, nettle fertiliserHow to make nettle fertiliser harvesting garlic, fresh garlic,Harvesting garlic What to do in the vegetable garden in June
Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Growing Food, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: how to grow annuals from seed

Never Miss A Post

Subscribe for updates to be delivered straight to your inbox.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

plants-gardens-growing-eating

Jill-profile image

Hello, I’m Jill Anderson.
This is where you’ll find good, solid information about gardening, growing fruit & vegetables and how to keep it all looking good.
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
The healing, calming power of nature in one photo. The healing, calming power of nature in one photo.
These wonderful autumn colours won’t be around for much longer. But that’s ok, because now is what matters, & their fleeting beauty makes them even more precious.
It’s easy to see how being among trees & nature is so beneficial for our health & wellbeing. 
Have a great Sunday.
Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it lo Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it look spectacular with this bold front door.
Today has been hard work, after a lovely time last week in Norfolk. The north coast there is spectacular. Realising these last few months, that there are so many beautiful places here. 
Have a nice evening.
Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Vis Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Visiting to see the Anish Kapoor sculptures, which are amazing, but unprepared for the beauty of the grounds & garden. 
Such a treat, worth coming to Norfolk for this alone!
Hope you’re keeping well, & managing to smile some of the time. x
P.S. more of Houghton Hall & Anish Kapoor on my stories
We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberrie We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberries, after coffee & cake, sitting in the churchyard - the cafe was full, & the churchyard is a quiet, peaceful spot..... as you’d expect.
-
One little advantage of lockdown is walking so much more, rather than using the car. Though it shouldn’t have taken something as momentous as this, for me to change bad habits 🙁
Hope you’re weekend is going well.
My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from a random clump of hazel on the garden. Now looking much better covered in winter squash plants, so you can’t see just how ramshackle it is. I like to think it has a certain home-spun charm .

Great for small space gardening, imagine how much room you need to grow these without vertical supports.

I’ve got 2 Uchiki kuri, lovely nutty flavour.
1 Turks turban, for its flamboyant shape & colours, though it also tastes good.
One unknown, grown by my grandsons in their homeschooled science lesson.
Close-ups of the squash over on my stories.
Stay cool my friends x
I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium reg I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium regale) which is flowering right outside our bedroom window. 
It gets sun for about 4 hours only, you can order the bulbs now for planting in September. It’ll reappear every year & waft delicious scent around your garden, or through your windows.
Have a very happy Monday x
It’s British Flower Week, there’s a lot to be It’s British Flower Week, there’s a lot to be said for fabulous seasonal flowers that haven’t travelled thousands of miles ...... & are wonderful for biodiversity
A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-s A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-summer!) & it’s, mostly, all growing nicely.

Spinach, courgettes & garlic in shot here. 
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday x
Hope is a decision I’ve thought long & hard abou Hope is a decision
I’ve thought long & hard about how to view the tumult in the world we’re living in now. 
The only thing that works for me, is to choose hope.

It’s a tall order, but avoiding mainstream news & speculation helps avoid the anxiety, that’s often waiting in the wings.

One day soon there’ll be grandchildren clambering over this again.
Follow on Instagram

Don't miss any posts!

Enter your email address and receive notifications of new posts.

Archive

Copyright © 2021 Growing Nicely | Privacy Policy

Please note this website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent for cookies to be used. For further information on use of cookies please refer to our privacy policy Find out more.