My Ultimate Guide to Seed Sowing
Now that we’re finally in February, we can begin seed sowing – yay!! This is one of my favourite times of year in the garden, as I love shopping for seeds (and yes I tend to get a little carried away!) and I absolutely love sowing my first seeds of the year. When it comes to choosing what to sow, I’d recommend growing what you like to eat; growing vegetables that are hard to find in the shops, and that includes unusual and colourful varieties such as purple dwarf beans or yellow beetroot.
Growing your own vegetables is also great if you are interested in nutrition, as many of the crops that we find in the supermarkets have been specifically bred to grow big and to grow quickly, at the expense of flavour and nutritional value. If seed sowing appeals to you but you don’t have a garden, don’t worry as you can grow several crops indoors – such as seed sprouts, micro-greens, herbs, and if you have a very sunny windowsill, you can even grow chilis and tomatoes indoors.
Where to buy your seeds
If you want your vegetables to taste amazing and be packed full of nutrients, it’s a good idea to choose heritage seed varieties, as modern varieties have often been bred for size and speed which reduces their nutrition. Therefore, my favourite places to buy seeds are The Heritage Organic Seed Company, Vital Seeds and She Grows Veg as they all offer colourful heritage varieties which can’t be found in supermarkets and are packed full of vitamins and polyphenols.
What can you sow in February?
There are several vegetables that can be sown in February. So far this month, I’ve sown broad beans, spring onions and spinach. You can also sow chilli, basil, beetroot and celery. And don’t forget about seed sprouts! They can be sown at any time of year. If you’d like to know more about how to grow seed sprouts, check out my recent blog post here.
There are plenty of vegetables that I wouldn’t advise sowing yet, as many crops need warmer temperatures and better light levels to get going. For example I’d hold off on sowing your broccoli, cabbage and cucumbers until March.
What equipment will you need?
There is not a huge amount that you’ll need to get started with seed sowing! Once you’ve chosen your seeds, the next most important thing to consider is your compost. What you grow your seeds in is just as important as the plant varieties you pick. I’d recommend using organic compost, as non-organic composts have artificial fertilisers added to them. My favourite organic compost is Rocket Grow which is chemical free, and is available on Amazon. You may want to go for the specific seed and cutting compost as it has the perfect balance of nutrients for young plants.
You’ll also need a seed tray or two; or you can utilise some recycling to sow in, such as an egg carton, or a selection of toilet roll tubes held within a plant pot. It will also be helpful to have a trowel, plant labels, and a pair of gardening gloves.
How to sow in seed trays
When you’re ready to sow your seeds, the first thing to do will be to prepare your compost. You want to make sure your compost is lump-free, and to do this you can use a compost sieve, or you can simply break up the lumps with your hands. Fill your seed tray with your prepared compost until each cell is almost full, and press the compost down lightly. It’s a good idea to water the compost at this stage rather than after you put your seeds in, as you don’t want to wash your delicate little seeds away.
Next, you want to consider how many seeds you’re going to place in each cell. Some vegetables can be multi-sown, meaning you place 2-4 seeds in one cell, and you keep the 2-4 shoots together when you plant them out in their final growing spot. You can multi-sow spinach, radish, leeks and more. Other crops, such as broad beans prefer to grow alone, meaning you might only put one seed in each cell. As you won’t always achieve a 100% germination rate, another option is to sow two seeds in each cell, and once your seeds have germinated you can thin out your seedlings (pull one out) so that only one seedling remains in each cell.
I’d recommend labelling as you go. Plan out which varieties will go in each cell (you might do two rows of spinach, two rows of spring onions and two rows of basil in one seed tray for example) and label as you go to ensure you don’t get confused.
Next, you want to place your seeds in your seed tray, leaving them exposed on the surface until you’ve placed all of your seeds so you don’t forget which cells contain seeds. Once you’ve placed your seeds, you want to scatter a thin layer of compost over the surface, so that all of the seeds are covered. As a general rule, you want to cover each seed with a layer of compost that is around the same thickness as the seed.
Leave your seed trays somewhere warm; you could even leave them on a heated mat to speed up germination, and then make sure to put them somewhere sunny once they’ve germinated, to ensure you grow thick healthy seedlings, rather than weak leggy seedlings.
If you’d like to learn more about gardening, my go-to gardening YouTube channels are Grow Veg, Charles Dowding and Huw Richards; they all offer how-to guides on many aspects of gardening, such as how to sow beans, or how to make your own compost.
