Easy steps for planting seeds and seedlings

It’s a great move to start your own vegetable garden Just think of all that fresh, home-grown produce. There’s lots to learn though. These steps will help you with seeds and seedlings.

The cheapest way to stock the vegetable patch with healthy plants is to raise your own seedlings from seed produced by the previous season's crops.

• If you grow non-hybrid varieties it is possible to save more than your own requirements of seed each season, eliminating the need to buy new commercial seed.
• You can store surplus seed for future plantings or spread the joy by sharing with neighbours
• If you don’t have the time to sow seeds or don’t have the patience to wait for them to germinate, buy nursery-raised seedlings that are ready to transplant into your garden.

• Plants usually grow better when sown in the ground where they will mature. This prevents setbacks they usually suffer after being transplanted and encourages the growth of strong roots.
• You should sow small seeds in seedling trays and then transplant them in order to protect them from the extremes of the weather and insects as they grow.
• It’s best if you plant large seeds like those for pumpkins, broad beans, silver beet, cucumbers and peas directly in the ground.
• Sometimes it may be impractical to sow the seeds directly. In cool climates, you can get a head start by raising tender seedlings such as tomatoes and eggplant indoors. When the weather is warmer you can plant them out.

When sowing seeds in trays use a specially formulated seed-raising mixture.

• Sprinkle them finely and evenly across the surface, covering them with a thin layer of the mix.
• Press down firmly and keep the soil mix lightly moist until germination.
• Keep the trays anywhere warm and sheltered from overnight frosts — a sunny window ledge is ideal.
• To keep the mixture moist, cover the trays with a sheet of glass or enclosed in a plastic bag until germination. A pasteurized seed-raising mixture will not grow molds or fungi that normally thrive in such humid conditions.
• After the small shoots emerge, remove the cover and water the trays daily.
• When the plants look sturdy and upright enough to withstand the rigours of the open garden transfer them to their bed. At this point they are usually six to eight centimetres tall.

Managing weeds is difficult around small plants in a garden bed. Prevention is the best order of the day.

• Before transplanting the seedlings, eliminate weeds from the bed.
• Mulch well to prevent weeds from returning.

In order to reap the rewards of your hard work, follow these steps and you'll have a thriving vegetable garden.