Topic: Who uses a seed bed?

[nilly71]

I've searched on here and it's been a few years since it's been asked...
Who uses a seed bed?
what size is it?
How deep?

I have some rootrainers coming, would i be better off using a seed bed then moving them to a rootrainer?
Thanks

Neil

[tonybloke]

 I do
It's 6 foot long, 3 foot wide
 Edged with 4" timber.
No perrenial weeds
low fertility, good drainage (add leafmould)
Rootrainers are a lot of 'faffin' around, useful if you only want one or two plants, but a 'gadget' none the less! just use loo roll tubes,  Its a lot easier, and cheaper!! ;)

[caroline7758]

I have some rootrainers coming, would i be better off using a seed bed then moving them to a rootrainer?
Thanks

Neil

I thought the idea of a seed bed is that you can move the baby plants straight to their growing positions?

[nilly71]

I don't know thats why i asked :)

I thought the seed beds had a different compost (seed) and the rootrainers would use potting compost.

Neil

[tonybloke]

for seeds, use seed compost, for potting on, use potting compost (the hint is in the name) ;)

[caroline7758]

Now I AM confused!

I always understood a seed bed to be an area of the allotment or garden where you prepare the soil really well so that it's fine enough to sow seeds in (obviously adding compost etc if necessary) and then grow them on until they are big enough to move to their permanent growing positions. So you wouldn't need seed compost or root trainers (or any kind of pot).

Tee Gee's advice on sowing outdoors:

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Seed%20sowing%20outdoors/Seed%20Sowing%20Outdoors.htm

[tonybloke]

TeeGee's advice is for preparing a bed for outdoor sowing, not the same thing as a seed bed.
A seed bed is one where you sow plants that you intend to move (transplant) later on. Plants for this bed will include Leeks, Brassicca's, Lettuce. these can be sown quite thickly in rows, then transplanted out to final positions / spacings.
Seeds have a food store in them, enough to start growth, and need very little fertility, so I just add leafmould to my seed bed. (a low nutrient soil improver)
hope that helps to clear that up! ;)

[asbean]

yes, tho that's for seeds started off outside.  Root trainers are for seeds that have long roots (beans, peas etc), are started off inside and which can't be planted out till there is no danger of frost.

Stuff that doesn't like root disturbance (carrot, parsnip etc) is sown in the place where they will be grown and thinned out as necessary when the shoots come through.

Re: root trainers vs loo roll tubes - a set of root trainers takes up the same space as one seed tray and has 32 cells.  They take up a hell of a lot LESS ROOM than the same number of loo tubes, and use less compost too.  If you only want a few of each plant, it's possible to label the rows and grow 4 each of 8 varieties, for example.

But I used loo roll tubes forparsnips last year and it was a great success, and will do the same with carrots this year (we seem to have used a lot of loo paper last year  :o :o :o :o)

[flossy]

  Gotta stop tearing up my loo roll tubes for compost     ???

  but I can't !!   I need them for my leeks  -  help !

  I don't know I'm doing it !  is there a number I can call ?    :-\

  floss,x

[asbean]

My goodness, Floss, you've got it bad!  It sounds worse than seed addiction  ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::)

[caroline7758]

I had the same problem with egg boxes- put them all in the compost, now haven't got enough for my seed potatoes!

[KLCG]

I had the same problem with egg boxes- put them all in the compost, now haven't got enough for my seed potatoes!

*sigh*  me too!

[Barnowl]

Our allotment is 55ft x 25ft and we have two 6ft by 3ft seed beds covered with enviromesh on hoops built when we got the allotment nearly 3 years ago. The first year I used the seed beds a lot (my GH was full of chillies and toms). Subsequently I have increasingly moved towards using cells and root trainers for more varieties of veg and so the beds are at least partly now used for things like cut & come again lettuce, spring onions, small cabbages and even some black kale, but I always start leeks in them.

On balance then I would say we've got more seed bed than necessary for our size of plot - but I do have the luxury of a GH and a cold frame at home for cells and root trainers.

One other thing though, I've never had seedlings in the seedbeds get damping off.

[nilly71]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Barnowl
How deep are your beds?

Neil

[asbean]

One other thing though, I've never had seedlings in the seedbeds get damping off.

Good point, that ...

[Barnowl]

There's about two inches of fine seed compost type soil then about 6 inches of ordinary topsoil mixed with compost. Thereafter the soil begins to get a bit compacted since I haven't deep dug the beds since creating them three years ago.

Before sowing I usually work in a little multi compost using a soil miller (see below) which also lightens the soil, then add a shallow layer of seed compost.

This is what Wolf call a soil miller
http://www.tooled-up.com/PopupZoom.aspx?PID=138171