Growing Vegetables From Seed

GARDEN · GLOBAL

Growing Vegetables From Seed

What to sow when, seed viability, sowing depth and hardening off

Growing from seed is far cheaper than buying plants and the failures cluster around a few points, almost all of them about timing and temperature.

Sow at the right time

The packet gives a sowing window for a reason. Sowing tomatoes in January produces leggy plants that sit in a windowsill for months; sowing them in March produces better plants that catch up.

Soil temperature matters more than the calendar. Most seeds need the ground above about seven degrees, and many warm-season crops need considerably more.

Depth

The usual rule is roughly twice the seed's own width. Small seeds such as lettuce and carrot need barely covering, and some need light to germinate.

Sowing too deep is the most common reason seeds fail to appear.

Light and legginess

Seedlings stretching towards a window are short of light. A windowsill is rarely bright enough in late winter, so sow later or use a grow light, and turn trays daily.

Watering

Water from below where you can, keeping compost damp rather than wet. Damping off, where seedlings collapse at soil level, is a fungal problem caused by overwatering and poor airflow.

Use fresh seed compost rather than garden soil, and clean trays between uses.

Hardening off

Plants raised indoors must be acclimatised over one to two weeks — outside during the day, in at night, increasing exposure. Skipping this checks growth badly or kills plants outright.

Wait until the last frost date for your area for anything tender.

Seed viability

Most seed keeps for two or three years if stored cool, dry and dark, and parsnip and onion are notably short lived. Test old seed on damp kitchen paper before sowing a whole row.

What is worth growing

Things that are expensive to buy, taste far better fresh, or are hard to find — salad leaves, herbs, tomatoes, beans, courgettes, chard. Maincrop potatoes and onions are cheap in shops and take a lot of space.

Grow what you actually eat, which sounds obvious and is exactly where most beginners go wrong.

Small spaces

Containers, windowsills and grow bags produce a surprising amount. Herbs, salad leaves, chillies and cherry tomatoes all do well in pots.

Pests and protection

Slugs, pigeons and carrot fly account for most losses. Physical barriers — netting, fleece, collars and copper tape — work better and more reliably than most treatments.

Encourage predators with a pond, log piles and flowers, which does more over a whole season than any single intervention.

Successional sowing

Sow small amounts every few weeks rather than everything at once.

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