Taking care of young seedlings can help plug gaps
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Gardening on the Edge by Diana Wayland
I sow a lot of seeds every year, and never more than this, as I had to buy seed of many plants for my new herb garden because the plants were unavailable.
Most of the vegetable plants I grow are started off from seed, and I only sow carrots, turnips, radishes and salad onions directly into the soil.
Once a seed has germinated it needs to be pricked out into a larger growing container, and a growing medium rather than the seed compost it was sown into.
Whenever a plant is lifted and transplanted it is inevitable that its roots suffer damage. Most young plants sown in spring just want to grow, and grow away anyway, despite the damage, but others, especially if they are bigger, can suffer a check which temporarily slows them down.
Gardening programme viewers will probably have seen that many presenters now grow in plug trays. These are cellular plastic trays that only one or two seeds are sown in per cell.
Once the plant is big enough it can be lifted out of the plug by pressing the bottom upwards. The rootball suffers little damage and can grow away quickly once it is planted out.
Seeds can also be sown in trays and pricked out into plugs to grow away. I do a mix of both. Sowing direct into plugs is better for wild flower and some herb seeds.
Transplanting into plugs can work better for seeds that require heat to germinate. These include some vegetables as well as ornamental annuals. I start them off in my heated propagator trays, and prick them out once they have germinated and grown sufficiently.
All seeds, when they germinate, put up seed leaves. These are not their true leaves, so they do not resemble the leaves of the plant, but provide the young seedling with nutrients while it is developing its roots.
Usually, seedlings are not pricked out until they form their first true leaves. These leaves look like the plant that has been sown.
Pricking out must be done carefully so the young seedlings are damaged as little as possible. Always hold the seedling by its leaves and never by its stalk. If you break a leaf it can still grow away. If you break the stem you lose the plant
Also, always carefully loosen the seedlings in the compost using a small tool. Even a stout plastic plant label will do the trick. Never try and tug them out of the compost without loosening them first!
Another point worth remembering is that if you plan to grow the seedlings on in the plug they were sown in before planting out, they are better sown in a peat-free general purpose compost.
Seed compost has little or no nutrients and is just there to enable the plant to germinate. I use an equal parts mix of coir and coarse grit seed compost. Once used, it gets tipped on any dry beds because the grit aids drainage. General purpose compost contains slow-release fertilisers which will feed the young plants as they grow before they are planted out.
One final point. Plug trays are, inevitably, made of black plastic. However, they can be washed after use and reused year after year.
Give your seeds a better start. Sow and grow them on in plugs for a healthier, well formed rootball!
