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Lets get ready to sow some seeds

February 5, 2015 By Jill Anderson 2 Comments

Freezing temperatures and occasional snow flurries are making gardening impossible at the moment, so I’m more than happy to wrap up warm and head to the greenhouse to get everything ready for seed sowing in a couple of weeks time.

There are a bewildering selection of containers and composts available, so here’s a run-down of what I do:

  • Compost: Some gardeners make their own compost from a mix of worm-castes and home-made compost, it’s cheap, but too time-consuming for me at the moment. I buy bags of seed-compost, keeping one in the greenhouse to warm it up so the seeds germinate more quickly. I used to use multi-purpose compost, but seeds like a nice fine soil to push their way through and last years lot was fibrous and lumpy.
  • Labels: I get plenty of labels ready at this stage too, because I never remember exactly what I’ve planted. I use cheap, white plastic ones each, cleaning off last years’ writing with a pan-scourer. Writing in pencil works fine and it’s easy to remove.
  • Clean plant-pots: All my pots get a quick wash in soapy water and a swish in clean water, it’s worth the small effort to minimise diseases that can easily strike baby seedlings.
  • I use different types of containers depending on what I’m growing.  Recycling cups makes me happy, and these are nice and deep, perfect for the long roots of growing sweet-peas, I’ll just need to poke a couple of drainage holes in the bottom of each cup.

recycling cups for seed-sowing

  • Plastic trays from the supermarket are useful, shallow and wide for sprinkling small seeds in, again they need drainage-holes in the bottom.
  • I use these small pots to grow things like cosmos and cleome, I put a couple of seeds in each one and pull out the smallest one after they’ve germinated.
  • small pots for sowing seeds, lets get ready to sow seedsA steaming mug of tea and a radio are essentials.

We’re moving house this week so I haven’t planted any chilli seeds yet, I don’t plant things like cosmos, zinnia, tomatoes etc until next month, so we should be settled in by then and more importantly, I hope to have a new greenhouse for them.

There’ll be more posts about seed-sowing during the next month.

Happy gardening

Jill

Related posts:

Cyclamen hederifoliumPlanting pots to last through winter The Garden In December. borage flowersHow to Collect and Store Seeds from your Garden Sustainable Gardening – One

Related posts:

Cyclamen hederifoliumPlanting pots to last through winter The Garden In December. borage flowersHow to Collect and Store Seeds from your Garden Sustainable Gardening – One
Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability, Uncategorized Tagged With: compost for seed sowing, how to sow seeds

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Comments

  1. rusty duck says

    February 11, 2015 at 3:07 pm

    Good luck with the house move Jill, no wonder you’re busy!

    Reply
    • Jill Anderson says

      February 13, 2015 at 11:10 am

      Thanks Jessica,very busy but exciting too …. a new garden to work on : )

      Reply

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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.
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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.
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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.

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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
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The only thing that works for me, is to choose hope.

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