Sowing Seeds
Just how is your garden going to grow? Most plants grown in the garden and greenhouse are going to start from a seed. Planting seeds is going to become an art, a task that you will perform every spring so that your gardens can grow, be plentiful, and bring great joy.

Posted Wednesday, April 12, 2006

How you sow seeds varies from specie to specie. Some are going to require cold, some heat, some moisture, and some are going to require a specific soil type or growing medium. In this article, I am going to tell you more about how to sow seeds for successful growing in containers.

What you first need to do is gather the containers you are going to plant in, the soil or a growing medium of your choice, seeds, a spoon, a sifter, and a piece of newspaper or plastic.

You will fill the plastic seed tray with seed compost, (or growing medium). Do not pack soil in, just lightly fill the tray bottoms so that you have a bit of soil in each cell. Knowing how deep your particular seed needs to be when you first plant it will help you decide on how much soil should be in each container.

Some seeds need to be planted three inches deep, while other seeds just need a light dusting of soil. Still others are going to be planted on the top portion of the soil without being covered at all.

Use your fingers to make sure the soil is loose as you put it into the containers or seed tray. Fill the soil to the top most portion of the container that is appropriate for that type of seed. Level out the soil in the container, using a ruler, a straight edge or by shifting the soil around.

Put your seeds into a piece of folded newspaper, just a small amount of seeds at any one time. If you want to spread out your seeds or if you want just one seed in any cell the newspaper is going to aid in your quest of limiting how many seeds are in any one particular growing area.

Use the handle portion of the spoon to make a hole in the soil to place the seed into. After you have put the seed into the soil, turn the spoon around and move the soil ever so lightly to cover the seed as needed. Remember that each seed does not need the same amount of soil, so be sure to read about the type of seed you are planting before getting started.