Sowing vegetables into trays Sowing vegetables into trays/pots for later transplanting into the garden extends your garden season by getting you off to an early start and means that you can grow plants that need a long growing season.
Tender vegetables (e.g. lettuce) should be sown under cover in trays or pots so that they can be transplanted into the vegetable garden once the weather warms & the risk of frost is past.
Planting in individual pots causes less root disturbance and plants get away to a better start than planting many to a tray. You can plant two seeds per pot, though, and pull out the weaker plant.
Alternatively, you can use plugs or a similar, proprietary product from your local plant nursery. This is 'cell-planting' where a seed 'tray' is divided up into small cells, which minimise root disturbance when planting out. You can make your own 'cells' with cardboard strips. Before planting the cardboard strips can be removed, leaving the seedlings separated and easy to plant with minimal disturbance.
Runner beans and courgettes, marrows, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, celery and leeks are amongst the many plants that you can start early under glass in this way.
Sowing Vegetables in the Garden If you have wet soil, you can sow other vegetables under glass and move them out when conditions improve.
Starting vegetable seeds under glass gets the growing season underway early
This table is intended as a guide only. Sowing times will vary according region and local climate. Always check the seed packet to confirm sowing time, depths and spacing.
A cloche will enable you to sow and grow vegetables outside earlier in the season
Some vegetables are not suited to transplanting, for example most root crops, need to be planted in situ in the vegetable garden.
Allow soil to warm before sowing seeds. Sowing seeds into cold, wet ground is a waste of time and you may well have to re-sow later.
Many vegetables need soil at 7 C before they will germinate. If sown earlier they will lie dormant, or rot else and have to be re-sown. If you must sow earlier cover the ground with black polythene or cloches, to raise the soil temperature and allow the soil to dry. You can start some vegetables in pots in the greenhouse (see above) - peas, leeks, cucumbers and courgette- and plant them out once the weather improves and the soil warms.
The ideal soil is moist but not wet or sticky, if it is compacted (i.e. flattened) when you walk on it, wait & sow later, or use a plank to distribute your weight. Break up the soil with a hoe and rake until a fine tilth. On dry or clay soils shuffle up and down, using your feet and the hoe to break up any clods, and then rake it. On very dry ground, water the soil sometime before you sow to allow the water to soak in.
Use a line (length of heavy string drawn taut between two sticks) to draw out a shallow drill using the side of your hoe. The depth of the drill depends on the seeds you are sowing. If it is very wet and you must sow, add some fine sand to the base of the drill. Sow the seeds thinly in the drill.
With plants that need space to develop you can sow three to four seeds together at intervals, space the seeds at the eventual desired spacing for the plants. The seeds can later be thinned, but the seed that would have been sown in the intervening spaces has been saved. Try this with beetroot, cabbage, etc. You can sow a fast maturing crop, such as radish, between slower crops. The faster seeds will germinate & act as a marker for the slower crop.
With large seeds (peas, beans) place each seed individually at the correct spacing. Peas and French beans can be sown in drills 15-20cm wide, in effect getting two rows close together.
Mark the end of the rows with sticks and /or labels. Otherwise you may loose track of where your new seeds have been planted. Cover the drill carefully with a rake and tamp down with the back of the rake. Water gently.
If you are sowing in blocks then cover the area with short rows or broadcast the seeds (i.e. scatter the seeds over the area & gently rake in). One way is to rake in one direction, sow the seeds and then rake again, at right angles.
Use a line (length of heavy string drawn taut between two sticks) to draw out a shallow drill using the side of your hoe. The depth of the drill depends on the seeds you are sowing. If it is very wet and you must sow, add some fine sand to the base of the drill. Sow the seeds thinly in the drill.
