Sowing and Caring for Seedlings
There is a lot you can do to raise healthy seedlings which will go on to produce good, strong plants.
Sow at the right time for the facilities you have. If you don't have much space for raising young plants, such as a greenhouse or cold frame, you will need to sow much later or sow direct into the soil. The ground must be warm enough for the plants to thrive by the time they are ready to be planted out. A cold spring can leave you with 100 plants stuck in pots and nowhere to put them!
Give your seedlings the best start by sowing them into a soil-based potting compost designed to provide the right nutrients and with good drainage qualities - or make your own from good quality compost mixed with leaf mould.
Fill your pot or tray with compost nearly to the top. Water, using tap water, then scatter your seeds thinly on the damp surface. Sift a little more dry compost over the top to cover the seeds and leave in a warm, light place. Very small seeds should be just covered. Some, like celeriac, don't need any compost on top at all. A general rule of thumb is to cover to the same depth as the size of the seed you're sowing. If you're just sowing one large seed per pot, like a courgette, sow it edgeways, rather than flat on the compost, to help avoid rotting. Make sure you sow bigger seeds in slightly larger pots as they grow really quickly!
Watering is very important. Use tap water initially for watering seedlings as they may not cope with the micro-organisms in rain water, especially if it's been in a water butt for some time. Seedlings don't need much water while they are small. Water when the soil is very dry and the pot feels light when you lift it. Keep a container of water at room temperature for watering your seedlings: nothing will set them back like a soaking in cold water. You can either water from the bottom by standing the pots in a tray and wait until the water has saturated the whole pot before removing them to drain, or by the careful use of a fine spray. I prefer the first method.
Pot up your seedlings as soon as they are big enough to handle. This is usually when they have their first proper pair of leaves, like the ones in the photo above. They will grow better in individual pots and there will be less interference to their root systems the sooner you can do it.
Make sure your seedlings have plenty of even light or they will grow tall and spindly stems (this is known as 'leggy'). This often happens when seedlings are grown on windowsills, even if you turn them every day. Try to prevent this, but if it happens, pot them on into deep pots and plant so that only a short piece of stem and the leaves are left above the soil surface. Once your seedlings have been potted on and have several leaves you can start watering with rain water as this will now be better for them than tap water.
Keep potting on into bigger pots as soon as the plants' roots appear at the bottom. If the plants become pot-bound they will not thrive and their growth will slow. Pot into compost designed to provide the right nutrients at each stage of growth. Multi-purpose is fine to pot into but don't leave the plants in it for long before potting them on again or they will need feeding. Make sure your compost is peat-free.
Treat it like a race to get the seedlings to grow quickly and into the ground as fast as possible as this is the best place for them once they're big enough and if the ground is warm enough. Use cloches to give young plants extra warmth and shelter. The aim is to clear the space in your greenhouse or cold frame for the next lot of seedlings coming along.
Sow at the right time for the facilities you have. If you don't have much space for raising young plants, such as a greenhouse or cold frame, you will need to sow much later or sow direct into the soil. The ground must be warm enough for the plants to thrive by the time they are ready to be planted out. A cold spring can leave you with 100 plants stuck in pots and nowhere to put them!
Give your seedlings the best start by sowing them into a soil-based potting compost designed to provide the right nutrients and with good drainage qualities - or make your own from good quality compost mixed with leaf mould.
Fill your pot or tray with compost nearly to the top. Water, using tap water, then scatter your seeds thinly on the damp surface. Sift a little more dry compost over the top to cover the seeds and leave in a warm, light place. Very small seeds should be just covered. Some, like celeriac, don't need any compost on top at all. A general rule of thumb is to cover to the same depth as the size of the seed you're sowing. If you're just sowing one large seed per pot, like a courgette, sow it edgeways, rather than flat on the compost, to help avoid rotting. Make sure you sow bigger seeds in slightly larger pots as they grow really quickly!
Watering is very important. Use tap water initially for watering seedlings as they may not cope with the micro-organisms in rain water, especially if it's been in a water butt for some time. Seedlings don't need much water while they are small. Water when the soil is very dry and the pot feels light when you lift it. Keep a container of water at room temperature for watering your seedlings: nothing will set them back like a soaking in cold water. You can either water from the bottom by standing the pots in a tray and wait until the water has saturated the whole pot before removing them to drain, or by the careful use of a fine spray. I prefer the first method.
Pot up your seedlings as soon as they are big enough to handle. This is usually when they have their first proper pair of leaves, like the ones in the photo above. They will grow better in individual pots and there will be less interference to their root systems the sooner you can do it.
Make sure your seedlings have plenty of even light or they will grow tall and spindly stems (this is known as 'leggy'). This often happens when seedlings are grown on windowsills, even if you turn them every day. Try to prevent this, but if it happens, pot them on into deep pots and plant so that only a short piece of stem and the leaves are left above the soil surface. Once your seedlings have been potted on and have several leaves you can start watering with rain water as this will now be better for them than tap water.
Keep potting on into bigger pots as soon as the plants' roots appear at the bottom. If the plants become pot-bound they will not thrive and their growth will slow. Pot into compost designed to provide the right nutrients at each stage of growth. Multi-purpose is fine to pot into but don't leave the plants in it for long before potting them on again or they will need feeding. Make sure your compost is peat-free.
Treat it like a race to get the seedlings to grow quickly and into the ground as fast as possible as this is the best place for them once they're big enough and if the ground is warm enough. Use cloches to give young plants extra warmth and shelter. The aim is to clear the space in your greenhouse or cold frame for the next lot of seedlings coming along.
Submitted by Jane, plot 9
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