Success in growing vegetable seeds at home has just one risk - you may never visit the vegetable store again. Because your organic grown vegetables will be low cost, pure and extra nutritious. And you will be eating them straight from the garden - that really is still growing fresh food!

Organic gardening is certainly no gimmick, fashion or chance. Countless gardeners testify to the value and extra flavour of their home-grown crops. So it's well worth the effort to take a little extra care in growing your own with vegetable seeds - and the-organic-gardener.com is here to help.

But what should you grow, how can you plan sowing and planting, and how do you succeed with vegetable seeds? These and other questions are answered below.

Plan Your Garden

Growing vegetable seeds is different. Unlike the settled areas of your garden your vegetable patch should be constantly changing. When mature crops are removed for eating, they are replaced with newly sown seed or transplants.

Every inch of space can be used. Here's 4 methods used by gardeners.

• Successional sowing - sow seed regularly to ensure continuous cropping over a longer period - e.g. spring onions, beetroot, carrots, radish... ... ...
• Cut-and-cum - harvest little and often to encourage replacement with new growth - e.g. salad leaves, chard, pak choi... ...
• Intercropping - grow small shallow rooted plants between larger deep rooted plants - e.g. Celery between Brussels sprouts, lettuce between sweet corn.
• Intercropping - grow quick to mature crops between slower growing plants - e.g. radish between cauliflower, lettuce between tomatoes, broad beans between potatoes.

There's more information on crop rotation and a continuous organic cropping sequence here.

An Early Start Provides A Long Season

Starting seeds in modules and trays undercover and in warmth provides early transplants. These can be hardened off for transplanting when the ground is only just fit for direct sowing. So your plants are well ahead, mature earlier and your garden can be more productive over the season. You'll find what you need to start seed indoors on this link.

Advantages Of Making A Special Seed Bed For Maincrops

• You can more easily protect your seedlings from birds, and slugs when they are grown in one place, See below for netting and slug traps.
• Careful transplanting of seedlings to a new site will confuse pests,
• Concentrate your effort to prepare difficult soils into the fine crumbs needed for good seed germination,
• Select the most suitable site for germinating your vegetable seeds,
• Leave existing crops to grow longer before transplanting a follow-on crop.
• You only need to visit one spot to check your seedlings are healthy - pest-free and watered.

When To Sow Seed Directly On Site

You will want to sow some vegetable seed directly where they are to grow. Root crops - carrots, parsnips and the like - won't transplant well. They need to grow where you sow them.

Intercropping and successional sowing may be better served by sowing direct where plants are to grow. This also applies to catch crops - plants that grow quickly in between maincrops.

Soil Preparation Is Most Important For Success With Seeds

A fine crumb seed bed is vital for germinating small vegetable seeds. Organic matter is a marvellous soil conditioner, so I recommend working in garden compost, or manure and simply growing crops like potatoes to improve your soil.

The soil can only be worked to a fine crumb seed bed when conditions are right. These difficulties will be discussed elsewhere on my website. But let me mention that the Soil Miller available on this link is an excellent tool.
The Soil Crumbler is an good small tool. Both are specially designed for the job.

Methods Of Sowing Seed

Generally cover seeds with a layer about 2 times the seed width.

• Tiny seeds sometimes need little or no soil covering,
• Aim to sow seeds thinly at perhaps half to a third the required planting distance. This reduces the necessity of thinning which itself may attract pests,
• When you find handling seed is too fiddly then try the seed tapes on this link,
• Large seeds can be sown individually at regularly spaced stations,
• In dry conditions, spray the soil surface before sowing, then cover with fine dry soil,

Find Vegetable Seeds And Organic Seeds Here.

Click flag to jump to your country selection: >> 

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• On this link I found a nice range of organic and heirloom vegetable seeds.
  
  
• Pre-seeded mats and seed tapes are available here.
  
  
• Find garden protection for your seeds and plants here.
  • Fleece to protect early or late seedlings from frost,
  • Fine mesh insect netting,
  • Butterfly and bird netting - they're all available on this link.
  
  
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• Organic Seeds are here.
  
  
• Tried and Tested through the generations you can find Heritage Seeds on this link.
  
  
• Seed Mats and Tapes are here.
  
  
• Find garden protection for your seeds and plants here.
  • Fleece to protect early or late seedlings from frost,
  • Fine mesh insect netting,
    
  • available on this link with biological controls.
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More Help At The Home Of The Organic Gardener
For Starting Seeds And Growing Plants

Best Chance For Starting Seeds is Here

Pre-sown Seed on Mats & Tapes

Grow Flower Seeds for Choice

Vegetables for Your Kitchen Garden

Broadcasting Seeds for lawns & wild flowers

Learn About How Your Seeds Grow with the Kids

My Neighbour's Garden Plots

• Video shows seeds being sown - the multi-module trays provide lots of plants
• Extension Horticulture from Minnesota - more information to help you get started with seeds

Do you run a gardening website - with information to interest my visitors? To set up exchange links from/to suitable pages - click here.

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^ Top with vegetables from seed

 By Michael E. J. Scott.
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