Written by Eva, a volunteer on our Sustainable Farming Assistant programme. Read more from Eva’s blog here.
Preparing the soil
At the large wooden table we mix two types of organic multipurpose compost bags, making sure we mix them correctly , smoothly and without any big lumps, we do this manually breaking up any lumps of compost so it has a fine, fluffy consistency or until the mixture is ready to put inside the trays.
Sowing seeds into cell trays
Sowing seeds into cell trays is ideal because each small cell can house one seed and when we come to transplant them into the ground there will be less root disturbance. It also means that the tiny seedlings can be protected from poor weather and slug attacks.
We use clean plastic cell trays for small seeds or individual pots for large seeds, making sure we always label them when we finish sowing the seeds.
Filling the cell trays lightly with the special prepared compost, we then make a small hole in each cell with one finger, were we drop a small organic seed into each individual cell, sometimes if the seeds are very small two seeds may end up in some cells, which is not a problem as sometimes it gives them more chance to germinate, and at a later stage of growing when we are transplanting them into bigger pots we may have two plants instead of one; then we cover the seeds thinly with more compost.
They are ready to be water gently now…… later the cell trays will be taken to our heated propagator shed, were they have a greater chance of popping through the compost.
Sowing seeds into trays
We fill the seed tray until it is overflowing with compost, then we smooth it down with our hand so it is relatively uniform in surface, sometimes we sprinkle the seeds specially if they are very small, at other times with bigger seeds we place them on the tray trying to achieve a uniform spread placing around 30 seeds in a tray. We press down the soil and the seeds together then cover with a light sprinkling of soil. We make sure the label the tray with plant variety and the date it was sown, then when we finish all the sowing we water the trays and place them in a warm place.
Sowing seeds into pots
Filling the small pots lightly with the special prepared compost, we then put around 20 small leek organic seeds on the soil, spreading then around the pot evenly, then we cover them thinly with more compost , we patten down with another pot and is ready to be labelled and placed in plastic trays for easy transportation.
They are ready to be water gently now. Later the small potted seeds will be taken to our heated propagator shed, where the seeds have a greater chance of popping through the compost.
