Sowing

Managed to grab a couple of hours yesterday, and of the many tasks that need attending to the most tempting was sowing the first major batch of seeds of the year (not including the early broad beans I sowed out in the allotment last month - which I was pleased to see this week have now all come up). So I gave the ground inside the cold frame a quick clear up and hoe, and a good watering as it had got rather dry, before sowing leeks, brussels sprouts, cabbage and kale in shallow drills. It's important not to bury these small brassica seeds (and the leeks) too deeply or they will struggle to make it through to the surface. I've had perfectly good results before just sowing cabbage seeds on the top of moist compost in pots in the greenhouse without covering them at all. These plants all benefit from being transplanted once they have reached a good sized, so this is currently just a seed bed to get them off to a good start under the cold frame.

My general philosophy with regard to sowing is to sow early and sparingly. I don't mean so early that they are out of season, but as early as is indicated on the packets and with regard to your local climate (i.e. earlier in warmer areas, later in colder areas). Although people often say that later sowings will catch up with early ones anyway so there is no rush, I am not convinced by this. It is true that given warm and moist favourable conditions later sowings will thrive and may well catch up with earlier ones, but in my experience this is a rare occurrence. Given the very free draining soil that we have here in Cambridgeshire, and the dry spells we have been experiencing in recent years, it is my belief that earlier sowings will benefit from getting their roots down into moist soil, which will then be able to follow the moisture down when the top soil begins to dry up as the season progresses. Later sowings will be struggling to establish their roots in dry soil, and no amount of watering is ever going to make up for the difference. Water is everything for vegetables, and if you can get the roots established early enough you will save yourself hours with a hose or watering cans, and you will have healthier crops to boot. Plants suffering from water stress will be more susceptible to attack from pests and diseases as well, so getting them in early can make a real difference. Of course if you live in an area where your soil stays moist all year then this is less of an issue, and then later sowings make more sense.

However, by sowing early and, as I mentioned before, sparingly, then if your first sowing fails you still have time and spare seed to make a second sowing without it being too late. Sowing the whole packet of seed in one row is rarely a good idea unless you have very few seeds in the packet. Firstly, you will probably sow them too thickly and are then just creating work for yourself in thinning them out at a later date. Secondly, if conditions are bad for germination you have put all your eggs in one basket and may therefore have wasted all your seed in one go. Thirdly, successional sowings every few weeks will mean that your crops will mature in stages, meaning that you will be picking perfectly ripe crops over a longer period, instead of having a glut all at once that will probably end up going to waste, or at least being eaten when they are past their best. So early and sparingly means that you are increasing your chances of success, while reducing the amount of work you will have to put in and ensuring the longest cropping period.

I also sowed celeriac in rootrainers (more on these another time) in the greenhouse and aubergines, two types of tomatoes, chillis and sweet peppers into heated propagator trays covered with plastic lids with the vents fully closed.

The vents are closed in order to preserve the moisture in the trays to aid germination and to prevent the warmth causing the compost to dry out. If the compost dries out then water will have to be added, which will disturb the seeds which are just covered with a fine layer of vermiculite, so it's best to avoid having to do this if at all possible. However this does mean you have to check the trays for germination day and night as it is essential to open the vents as soon as the seedlings appear, otherwise they will be prone to attack from a fungal disease called "damping off" which will destroy the stems of all your seedlings where they meet the compost. The best bet is probably to remove the lid altogether to ensure good air circulation if your propagator is in the house, as it is unlikely to get cold enough to damage the seedlings and the increased amount of light getting through will help to prevent the seedlings getting tall and leggy. In fact the tray can be removed from the heated propagator altogether and placed in the sunniest position you can find, otherwise the seedlings will almost certainly end up looking very straggly.

The varieties I sowed were: leek musselburgh (reliable proven favourite), cabbage Brunswick (huge, for the show), kale Red Russian (supposedly something of a gourmet selection), brussels sprout Trafalgar (very sweet flavour), celeriac Giant Prague (good size), aubergine Moneymaker (well suited for British climate), tomato Ailsa Craig (good flavour), tomato Stonor's Exhibition (for the show), chilli Prairie Fire (seed gathered from last years crop, small bushy plants ideal for a windowsill with lots of small fiery chillis great for cooking), chilli Cayenne (seed gathered from last years crop, excellent general purpose culinary chilli), sweet pepper Marconi Rosso (reliable, tasty, long red pepper).