Sowing early greens

the posh box, putting in the feb seed and taking out the jan ones

Today was a leaf day on the biodynamic calendar so when I looked out and saw it had finally cleared I took it as as a sign to get sowing. This year I am trying a new seed system that I read about in an article Bob Flowerdew wrote in Amateur Gardening Magazine in the December 24/31 issue.

He advises you to group your seeds not by their families but according to the month in which they need to be sown. He also writes about the virtues of going through your seed boxes to throw away all out of date seeds and fit in the new ones.And of course to locate the runaway seeds in the bottom of the box!

Inspired to clear out all my seed boxes once and for all I sat down and followed his advise. So I still have my family boxes with their seeds but each packet is grouped with the others that can be sown the same month.And now I have one posh storage box that holds this months seeds for sowing. As the month ends out go the that months seeds and in come the next months. Simple, easy, and so far so good! and no mouldy old seeds in the bottom of the box or out of date packets trying to trick you into sowing them!

i'ts a bit rough, being multipurpose, so it needs sieving

This year I am trying to stick with organic compost as much as possible so I had a bag of new horizon peat free organic compost to freshly open today. Try as much as you can to use fresh compost, buy a small bag if you don't sow much, just don't use stale stuff, recycle it in the garden as a mulch. I got the new horizon in Gardeners world, it's actually hard to find, but Heather, if you are reading this and B&Q are stocking it please post it in the comments below!

I'm using the windowsill heated propagator with it's six separate compartments. As these are all small its perfect for sowing small amounts of greens like rocket and lettuce that need to be succession sown. As each compartment is self contained once one lot of seeds have begun to germinate I can whip them off to the cold frame for better light leaving the others to continue "cooking" on the gently heat. I realised today that one type of lettuce I am sowing will not germinate over 18c! so there is such a thing as too much heat!!

first time trying this brand

love the tea this makes

spinach, very healthy stuff

there can never be enough rocket

more new seeds, this time from Rossinver

new oriental greens to try out

Anyway all the seeds were broadcast onto the seed trays. Only the spinach seeds were large enough to merit being sown slightly deeper, all the rest were sown just mm from the tops of the trays.A light dusting of well sieved compost finished the job, although I did have to really clean each little compartment on the outside before I could take them accross the kitchen to the propagator. I'd be banned from indoor sowing if I got compost on the floor! Makes you wonder what happens to Ginger when I'm not here? Is he hoovered in my absence when he comes back from patrol? We did wash the cat in the bathroom sink and dry him with the hairdrier as children but then he was the most unusually relaxed cat. There is NO WAY you would have the use of your hands left if you even attempted that with Ginger!!

the six seed trays waiting for a final sieving

 

 

 

 

 

a LIGHT sieving, not a recreation of what happened to Pompeii when Mt Vesuvius blew!!

 

 

The heated propagator fits nicely on the windowsill

So remember! Sow seeds at the right time of year, to the correct depth. Small seeds like a small, barely there covering of compost, larger seeds go deeper, and most seed packets contain specific depths for each type of seed. If you have no sowing depth given go shallower-not deeper!!