Ways of Starting Seeds
to support your plants & gardening needs Below I match plants and gardening needs to ways you can use to make the most of your seeds and the gardening year... Match Gardening / Plant Needs to Method of Starting SeedsCheck my notes and use the links to jump to the relevant sections.
Although the window sill or greenhouse shelf can be an ideal site for starting seeds there is still need for constant care. Warm days or drafts can leave pots dried out. Therefore I'm really excited about new moulded designs in propagators. They include water reservoirs and a designed shelf to support the growing modules on capillary matting. Add to this a Perspex cover and you have a near constant environment that delivers water to roots as needed and without worry. So, no need for expensive automatic watering when you're on an early vacation. Look out for these simple and reasonably priced designs when you follow my links to growing kits & propagation equipment from here. Pots or trays on electrically heated mats save heating the whole place. Ensure there's sufficient light too. The windowsill is a good place for starting seeds if it is sufficiently warm. Long narrow trays are required to contain pots and hold water or capillary matting above integral reservoir. See below - note on light levels. Start simple - plant seed in Jiffy discs. A convenient small size and easy to handle they are enjoyed by children too as they expand quickly when water is added. Use them for individual summer house plants – tomatoes, peppers... or flower plants for containers. They must be kept moist and plants quickly outgrow them. Transfer directly into larger pots or containers / hanging baskets... ... when ready and there's no root disturbance - only a sigh of relief from the growing plant. Kits designed for starting seeds on Jiffy Discs are best. They include trays, capillary matting and a cover to maintain moisture. Find Jiffy discs & windowsill kits on II & get self-watering transplant pots too. Find 2" to 4" square larger modules here on III. Raising larger numbers for bedding, borders, containers, hanging-baskets... ... plant fantastic! also - for fast growing plants moved on quickly The best I've seen is a nutrient enhanced grow mat with 98 holes for seeds plus tray and cover. Simply add water. Also available are jiffy disc holders on large trays (U.K.) and 70+ plastic modules with tray and cover. The grown plugs are suitable for containers and hanging baskets which may be planted up undercover and hardened off before moving outside completely. Find them here on I... They also go into mass flower borders, but should be transplanted into transplant pots for growing on and hardening off.
Your plants will bend toward light from one window necessitating regular turning. A make-shift solution is a light-box you could make by lining the surrounds with reflective tin foil – it’s a bit messy.
Mixed Seeds, Tiny Seeds, and Small Annuals and Perennials for Moderate Sized Beds e.g. pansies, petunias, ... ... also plants that require special composts - ferns, cacti... ... ... Fine seeds can't be handled for sowing in small modules. But conventional seed trays or flats will be most satisfactory. Always sow thinly. When using saved seed, trays can reduce waste on compost given to seeds that fail, leaving blind pots. You need a small dibber to prick out the seedlings into transplant pots for growing on. How I use seed trays is here. Trays provide an opportunity to test your own seed compost made for special plants - e.g. ferns. You can use your homemade leaf mold, sand and worm casts, along with seaweed, as a base. In Grow Your Own Vegetables, Joy Larkcom recommended - 2 parts sieved leaf mold:1 part sand watered with seaweed fertilizer. A small amount of worm casts would also add nutrients to the mix, good for tiny seeds. Don't add inorganic fertilizers. With my organic base material I prefer to add sand rather than perlite or vermiculite. But vermiculite or fine grit are useful for sprinkling over the surface after sowing. These links will take you to seed trays and reliable seed composts. Herbs in your kitchen It's great to have a small herb garden at your finger-tips when you are cooking. Chives, bay leaf, oregano, parsley, cutting celery... are just some of the herbs that you can have to hand growing on your windowsill. Dedicated herb growing packs are specially made for starting seeds on your windowsill. Alternatively, you may be able to get pot sized pre-seeded mats for growing kitchen herbs. Just place them on the pot, water and it grows. The pots are best kept on long windowsill trays for tidiness and easy watering. Find Kitchen Herb Gardens & herb seeded mats here
I've just made room on my windowsill to grow those luscious seed shoots. They only take a few days after watering and include: alph alpha, mung bean, mustard, broccoli shoots, and many other tasty morsels to add to your dishes.
Peas sown inside for early plants Starting seeds in garden soil can be difficult with peas early on. To take advantage of good compost, protection from mice, rot and warmer conditions, sow in a row-tray, or spare guttering if you happen to have some. When grown ready, slide the row of compost with growing seedlings directly into wide drills. Although the row-tray is relatively expensive the open ended row component has the advantage of fitting snugly inside its own tray to make watering easy. Row-trays are here Beans, Sunflower... stump rooted carrots... deep tap-rooting plants that don’t tolerate disturbance... and for cuttings too You can get beans out a little earlier by starting seeds undercover. I find compost filled deep fiber pots good for these large seeds. When grown ready, the whole pot is planted directly into position in warmed soil in the garden. Similarly cuttings struck undercover - perhaps 3 in a deep fiber pot - can go out into garden soil whole without root disturbance. Stump rooted carrots can be sown in groups into pots or containers. However do sow thinly not less than 1" spacing to avoid overcrowding and depending on variety. I also use Root Trainers to stimulate a fine fibrous root ball by air pruning. They open like a book for you to examine root growth directly. More on deep-fiber pots Deep growing modules are available too check out in the next section on propagators. Deep modules & propagators, & temperature controlled propagators & heat mats. Strong roots are the most important factor for planting out strong healthy plants. Consider deep modules and growing larger plant plugs. Gardening catalog. Growth checks happen during spells of low temperature or dryness and can dramatically set your seedlings back. With some this may lead to very poor results. Constant environment conditions: temperature, moisture and good light are important for steady balanced growth. Fortunately, in addition to deluxe propagator models, you can also get small heated propagators for starting seeds on your windowsill. Heated mats are an alternative used with ordinary covered propagators. You can get different sized mats. Gardening catalog Propagators and transplant trays are now available to provide steady water supply from a reservoir and capillary matting. This sets up healthy plants through the important early growth stages. Don't forget too, that stylish lighting units are also available to brighten up your home as well as your plants. You can be sure that the plants need it. Note on lighting above Check these links. Next > How to prepare garden soil for seed & plants -Next > Easy seed starting methods - pre-sown mats for garden & pot herbs, easy grow seeds & coated seeds... ...My Wheelbarrow
Gardening Catalogs - U.S.A.
Power Plant Pro & Seeds -
for Canadian Gardeners
Gardening Catalogues - U.K.
The Garden Seat - books by experts to help you with starting seedsGarden GateFlower gardening the organic way My Neighbour's Garden Plots
Custom Search
^Top of page 
|