Gardening: Preparing Successful Seedlings

Preparing Successful Seedlings

Written by Judy Williams

Growing your own seedlings is very gratifying and far more economic than purchasing them. It also gives you far greater control over your existing growing conditions.

Vegetable seeds need a light, friable soil that will hold moisture, to grow. Seeds must absorb 40-60% of their weight in water to trigger germination. They also need air. When they sprout, they take up moisture from repparttar film of water around repparttar 113380 soil particles, they take up air from repparttar 113381 space between those particles. So soil quality is extremely important. Compacted soil will not allow your seeds to sprout.

A good seed raising mixture could be repparttar 113382 answer if you are unsure of repparttar 113383 quality of your soil. Individual 'peat pots' are a great invention because repparttar 113384 whole pot goes into repparttar 113385 ground without disturbing repparttar 113386 roots of your baby plants.

Warmth is also important to growing from seed. Most garden seeds will germinate if soil temperature is around 20C. For colder climates seed beds must be kept warm either by having them in a sunny protected spot in or near repparttar 113387 house (like a porch or garage, out of repparttar 113388 elements) or in a glass covered cold frame. For most vegetable seeds you can expect a germination time of 6-20 days. In another 4-5 weeks, those seedlings should be transplanted into your outdoor no dig garden bed.

Building a No Dig Garden

Written by Judy Williams

The no dig garden is exactly what it describes...a fertile garden bed with no digging at all. It involves layering clean, organic materials that will literally compost around your plants as they grow.

The No Dig Garden is built on top of repparttar ground, so you can build a garden anywhere. This makes it extremely attractive for those sites that have poor soil or are weed infested. It's also a great method of gardening for those who can't (or don't want to) dig a garden patch!

The site you choose for your garden must get at least 5 hours of sunlight a day. Drainage will be good because of repparttar 113379 materials that will be used in making repparttar 113380 garden.

If you are planting over lawn or weeds, mow them to ground level. If you are planting on a hard surface, put down some cushioning organic material first (like seaweed or leaves).

To build your no dig garden start with a layer of newspaper (no colour printing), at least 6mm (1/4 inch) thick. Surround repparttar 113381 garden with some sort of border material. This can be bricks, logs, planks or rocks but should be at least 20-25CM high (8-10 inches) to contain repparttar 113382 organic material within.

Lay down a layer of lucerne hay leaving no gaps, to a height of 10cm (about 4 inches). Layer some good organic fertilizer on top to a height of 20mm (1 inch). This can be just about any sort of good quality material like chicken, horse, cow or sheep manure.

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