Sowing Seeds For Your Garden

Direct seeding

The aim of direct seeding is placing the vegetable seeds directly into the ground where they need to grow, rather than transplanting. Because seeds are formed in various shapes and sizes, this is not an easy task.

Although many gardeners directly seed most of their crops I recommend seeding only vegetables that are not practical or economical for growing transplants. Vegetables that should be directly seeded are root vegetables (carrot, beet), plants with low yield per area (corn, pumpkins), easily sown seeds (beans, peas), and plant that grow rapidly (radish, spinach). One of the main reasons for preferring direct seeding is to simplify the system of growing transplants to fewer varieties.

Now, direct seeding allows us to place a single seed in an exact place. Always take into account the germination percentage, seeds are sold in packets usually have the germination percentage printed on the back, germination is tested under laboratory conditions and should hold a lower germination percentage when seeds germinate in your garden, so for example if you want to grow a plant every 20 cm it would be wise to plant seeds in 10 cm intervals to count for dead seed. Sprouting plants can be dilute to perfection. Additional dilution would be made easy because the seeds are spread evenly in a straight line, not on a tight line or bloc.

Marking rows-

Mark rows using a stretched cord. Keep the first line straight, all other lines will be directed in accordance to the first line.