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Seedy strategies

If the sowing season starts, you may suffer from Sowing Fever. This means yo can't choose between all of the lovely seeds that are available in our garden centre, and you just want to buy them all. With us, of course, that's totally fine. But it may work out the other way. If you have too many seeds and don't have that much time to care for the seeds by watering, lightning and airing the seedlings enough, the plants won't make it. We have some handy tips to make tough decisions like choosing between seeds.

How to sow 

Let's start the growing season with pressure seeds. Sowing under cover means you can grow strong and healthy seedlings. Get ahead starting with sowing under covers like greenhouses. Greenhouses make nights less cold and protect the seedlings from hot sunlight on very sunny days. Start sowing small seeds like basil, lettuce, radish, unions and other small seeds that don't need that much space to sprout. Fill your sowing tray with potting soil and press the soil, after that, add more potting soil without putting pressure on it. Make a hole with your finger and drop the seeds in the loose soil. Add a little potting mix over the top, just make sure all the seeds are covered. Add enough water, so the potting mix is moist all over. 

Seedy strategies - Rushfields

When to sow

The sowing season starts in spring, just when the frost is over. If you can't wait that long, start sowing indoors, in a greenhouse or under cover. Don't try to move seedlings outdoors too soon, this will damage the seedling. Seedlings and shoots need time to establish and to grow. To survive in a bigger pot or in the direct ground, they have to be strong and vigourous. Check the sowing calendar or the package for the precise sowing moment. Please observe the calendar, seeds that are sown too soon won't make it and you will be dissapointed. Just take enough time to design your kitchen and try to keep the Sowing Fever under control.

Tips for Sowing Fever

It's all too easy to get carried away when you see rack upon rack of tempting packets like those in our garden centre: you just want them all. Here's how to make those tough decisions:

  1. Make a desert-island list of flowers, veg and herbs you wouldn't want to be without. This is your initial shopping list: at this stage, it'll probably be too long.
  2. Draw up a plan of your garden to scale, sketching in the areas where you want to sow flowers or vegetables. This gives you a realistic idea of how much space you've got.
  3. Prune your shopping list to fit your plan. This involves some agonising choices – but think how you'd feel if those extra seeds went to waste. And there's always next year...
  4. Decide how much you need: a few annual cosmos scattered through your border won't require many seeds, but if you're planning a big bed of mixed varieties you'll need more.
  5. Strengthen your willpower and armed with your list, come to the garden centre and fill your basket. Add plant labels, seed trays and seed compost, and you're ready to sow.

Buy seeds to start sowing

Please ask the staff in our garden centre in Poynings, Sussex for more information and advice about how to choose which seeds to sow.

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