Sowing, different ways to sow seeds

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A seed splits, a pale shoot lifts the crumbs of a soft, light compost, and within weeks there is a whole plant where nothing stood before. Sowing is the cheapest and most satisfying way to fill a garden, and it rewards two simple disciplines: a fine seedling mix, and sowing at the right season.

There is nothing that a gardener enjoys more than the pleasure of watching a seedling grow.

This growing technique is actually very easy, and is often the most affordable
and the most satisfying for all gardeners alike.

Although it is a plant’s most natural way of reproducing, sowing does need to follow certain rules that are easy and effective to maximize growth of the plant and provide the best environment.

Rules for perfect sowing

• Prepare high-quality soil: choose a seedling soil mix that is soft and light.
• Time your sowing well: sowing is mostly performed at the beginning of spring, but some plant species require sowing in fall or at the end of winter.

Label each pot and row as you sow it, because many young seedlings look confusingly similar, especially within the same family, and memory alone rarely keeps track of several sowings.

Moisten the mix before sowing and keep it damp afterwards with a fine spray, as a heavy jet washes small seeds out of place.

Sow thinly and thin seedlings early: crowding makes them stretch for light, and the trapped humidity and poor air circulation around packed stems favour the fungi that cause damping off.

Which sowing method suits which seeds?

The choice comes down to three things: where the seed is started, when it goes in, and how fragile or fine the seed is. The table below sets the main methods side by side.

At the other extreme, sowing over water handles the largest seeds of all.

Different types of sowing

Here are the methods that explain each type of sowing:

Click to learn more on each type of sowing:

• Sowing directly in the plot, or direct sowing – This is when you sow directly in the ground, after any risk of freezing is over, directly where the plant is expected to grow and mature. You can either sow in rows, or toss and broadcast seeds in the growing bed.
• Sowing in a sheltered place, or under cover – This is performed at the end of winter, before spring has arrived.
  This is done outdoors, but under some type of protective cover, often glass, that is designed to trap the sun’s rays and increase temperatures.
• Sowing in a nursery – This is mostly for the most fragile and cold-fearing plants.
  It is most often performed in a greenhouse.
• Sowing in trays – This is a detail on the best manner to sow under cover or in a nursery.
  It is used for sowing tiny seeds.
• Sowing over water – this works for large seeds