Seeds are generally planted in the following ways:
Big seeds and root crops planted directly outdoors in the correct season.
Small seeds and ones that yield above ground started in some form of container.
Let's start with direct sowing...
Dig your bed over, remove weeds and add compost. Simply plant your chosen seeds in the correct spacing either in rows or if you have chosen the square foot system in your blocks. Seeds that like to be sown directly are:
Beans incl Broad Beans
Peas
Beetroot
Turnips
Corn
Carrots - Just remember to plant carrots in beds that have a high sand content and one that HAS NOT had any compost added for at least one growing season.
Spinach (can also start early in seedling trays)
Onions
Radish
Squashes and pumpkins
For sowing other seeds, what we do is start them in newspaper pots. We have tried other methods but this works well enough IF you do not leave them too long before planting out. Reading that post hyperlinked above has other tips for starting seedlings.Large seeds take longer to germinate than small seeds so you need to be patient and mark where you have planted what...remember my corn tragedy?
Plants that like to be started in pots are:
Tomatoes (these like to be repotted slightly deeper about 3 times before going into the beds)
Chillies
Brassicas
Lettuce
Asparagus (be prepared to wait 4 yrs!)
Herbs
Aubergines
Plants that need to be started now for spring are (Western Cape):
Lettuce
Onions
Carrot
Spinach
Asian greens
Peas
Potatoes
Sweet Potato
My friend Elastic Mom has a great post on starting seeds...and this video below also has some handy tips.
How are you doing with your spring planning?
8 comments:
I need to hurry up! I just went through my seeds and ordered the ones I was missing, so I will be starting seeds soon.
I've been working on my garden plan for the last few weeks now - this is my first real garden here, so lots of work needs to be done before we can plant! My seeds are probably waiting at the post office and I'm hoping to make my hot box tomorrow!
Much love,
Kelly-Anne
Well done Kelly-Anne, its very exciting to make the plans and order the seeds. And Meg, glad you are also on your way!
Thanks my friend for the link-up. My seedlings are doing fairly well. Not all the heirloom seeds germinated, some of the packets were quite old. But I tend my 'babies' regularly every day, and can't wait to see how they do.
I've planted beet, radish (just sprouted out the ground today!), carrots, peas and swiss chard. How do you recommend planting and growing sweet potato?
Hi Emily
We had great success growing from tubers that had sprouted in our veggie cupboard. I simply cut the potatoes into sections making sure each section had a good growing sprout and then planted them in rich soil. The next year we took some vines from the ground and did this: http://its-our-life-for-six.blogspot.com/2009/04/growing-sweet-potatoes.html which also worked well.
Thanks for visiting my blog,
Wendy
Ooops, I see my son was signed in! That was from me :)
That's super cool, thank you so much. I'm going to try it - my favourite "vegetable"!! All my other seeds have sprouted now - all within 1 1/2 weeks! Very exciting...
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