Seed Beds

[Producer]

Hi whats the reason for people having specific seed beds? Ive seen these on example plot plans in books.  Cant you just add seeds straight into the particular bed where they will grow?  Or do you have to start some plants off first in a seperate bed?  Sorry if Im being stupid

[Producer]

[Old bird]

Hi - yes you do put seeds in a seed bed like leeks, purple sprouting broccoli, kale and brussel sprouts and then in the summer time they are moved to their permanent homes.  As in all the above it would be silly to put them out in their permanent places as they need about 18inches between each plant.  If you are planting in a seed bed they can, as they are small, be packed close together until they need to be moved!

Old Bird

[flowerlady]

Couldn't have put it better myself!!    ;D

I often put my flowers up there too ... then I remember where I put them and they dont get howed in the garden !!  ::) :-[

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've never used them as I plant most things in pots or trays.

[PurpleHeather]

I read your eminent title then the apology for stupidity.  ;D

Old bird is quite right.

Some people finely dig soil so that it is fine enough to grow seeds in. This can be enriched with feed to give the babies a good start. The seeds need to be watered every day so a lot of people with allotments who cannot go every day will often sow seeds in pots at home and take them to the allotment when they are toddlers or adolescents.

Often people have nursery beds too. This area is for larger plants which have to be planted early in the year but do not need to be put into their final planting position until say early August for a yield the following Spring.

Purple sprouting or winter broccoli is a good example. It needs to be sown as seed quite early in the year. It's final planting area has to ideally be spaced three feet apart and that takes up a lot of room, so when the seedlings are strong enough to transplant, they can be placed in a nursery bed for a few months until another crop is lifted, like early potatoes.

You can use the space between the broccoli plants placed in their final planted area for other plants like late lettuce. That is 'Inter-cropping'.

Seed packets are usually marked with time for sowing/planting and time for harvesting. If you are short of space, you can plant things that go from seed to maturity in a few weeks in-between things that take months to mature.

Reading the information on seed packets makes good bedtime reading
It begins by being informative then bores you to sleep.

[Barnowl]

....... The seeds need to be watered every day so a lot of people with allotments .....

Great explanation Purple Heather: I would just query the watering remark. We don't water our seedbed every day, just give it a soaking when sowing and usually leave it from one w.e. to the next.  The sort of things we sow (lettuces, leeks, spring onions and brassicas) don't seem to mind and I think it encourages them to get their roots down away from the surface. Doesn't daily watering keep the roots near the surface?

The seedbed is covered with enviromesh on hoops so that may help reduce evaporation and perhaps the soil is more akin to potting compost than seed compost so has better moisture retention.

[bupster]

Was just going to say the same. I plant at home if things are frost tender and need a headstart or only germinate above a certain temperature, or I don't have many seeds and need a high germination rate.

In fairness, also if I'm bored.  :)