How To Grow Plants From Seed

One thing that many gardeners agree on is that it’s so darn expensive! An alternative to purchasing grown plants is growing your own plants from seed. It’s much less costly and much more rewarding too.

In order to grow plants from seed, you will need some basic equipment. A tray or box to grow the flowers in should be about 4 inches deep and around 12 X 20.

Next, of course, you will need a suitable seed raising mix. You have two options here, either buy a bag of seed raising mix from your local nursery or make your own. A good medium would be 80-85% washed river sand and 15-20% peat moss. Fill the box nearly to the top and then firm down using a small board.

Rows can now be made across the box. They should be one quarter to half inch deep and 2 inches apart. Pressing a piece of cane or dowel into the soil is a quick and easy way of creating rows.

The seed should be distributed 8 or 10 to the inch in the rows and then be covered. Move the box to a warm shaded place.

Watering your seeds is somewhat of an art form. They must be watered regularly but the soil should not be too wet. Moist is best, if water is running out of the bottom of the box, you have watered too much. In this case, you may cause the seeds to rot and they will not germinate.

If you can cover the box with a piece of glass this will hold the moisture, creating a microclimate, which will hasten germination. Once the seedlings germinate the lid can be removed and the seedlings can gradually be introduced to stronger light - next to a window would be ideal.

When the plants are one inch to an inch and a half high they should be thinned to one or two inches apart in the row, so as to give them space enough to make a strong stocky growth. If you wish to keep the plants that have been thinned, they must be planted two inches apart each way in boxes similar to the seed box.

When the weather becomes mild the box of plants should be set out of doors part of the time so that the plants will harden in preparation for transplanting to the garden later. It is recommended to give the seedlings a good watering just before transplanting so that a ball of earth will stick to the roots.

Raising plants from seed in this manner produces a controlled climate for them to germinate in and results in hardier plants that will blossom in your garden. And, imagine how rewarding it is to nurture those little seedlings into big beautiful plants!