sowing and growing
Children love to watch seeds sprout and then go on to develop into flourishing plants for the garden. For the best results, help them to sow, grow on, and care for their seeds, as well as maintain new plants in a little plot of their own.
The cost of buying different types of seed can soon add up, so why not consider sharing the costs and splitting the packets with some gardening friends? If you do this, make sure you both have copies of the growing instructions from the back of the seed packets and remember to store the seeds somewhere cool, dark, and dry.
You can buy special seed potting mix, but most general-purpose potting mixes will do the job just fine. Do make sure you firm the potting mix down before and after sowing, though, so that it’s in contact with the seeds.
Once your seeds have germinated, you will see some simple seed leaves form and after that a pair of “true leaves,” which usually look a little different. At this stage, you can prick out the seedlings, which simply means moving them on to individual cells or pots where they have more room to grow.
To do this, hold the leaves very gently and loosen the potting mix around the roots with an old pen, small dibber, or even your finger until you can easily lift the seedling from the potting mix. Make a hole in a small potting-mix-filled pot or seed tray cell, and carefully lower in your seedling roots before covering them over with potting mix and firming it down.
When a plant is becoming too big for its pot, you can “pot it on” to the next size up. Do this by gently squeezing the sides of the pot to loosen it, then place your hand over the top of the container, either side of the stem, and tip it upside down. You may need to pat the bottom of the pot to get it to release the plant. Next, place the plant in a larger container, already partly filled with potting mix, fill around the sides with more potting mix, firm it down, and give it a good watering.
Make sure that you give your plant a good drink of water about an hour before you begin planting. Then prepare your planting hole by digging a space twice as wide as the plant, forking over the bottom and giving it a good watering. Take your plant carefully out of its pot, place it in the hole, making sure it is planted at the same depth as it was in the pot, backfill with the soil and firm it down well. Then, you guessed it, give it another good watering.
You will need to water seedlings and plants in pots very regularly if the weather is dry. The best time to water is early morning and evening because less water will evaporate in the sun in this way. Of course, if you see your plants wilting and flagging in the heat, then don’t wait! If plants are in beds, try watering by placing a garden hose on the ground and letting water slowly trickle out of it until the bed is well soaked. This keeps water off the leaves and allows it to gradually soak into the soil. In general, a thorough watering once a week is better than a little bit every day because it encourages plants to develop roots deeper in the ground, which helps them to withstand dry spells.
Try to have a watering can with a fine rose (the part with holes at the end of the spout) so that it pours a very gentle shower, which is less likely to wash away small seedlings. You can also water seed trays and plant pots by standing them in a bowl of shallow water for about 15–30 minutes (the larger the pot, the longer you leave it).
If you are lucky enough to have a garden, why not give your child a little patch of their own for sowing and planting? It doesn’t have to be very big; most of the outdoor projects in the book take up very little space, but try to find a sunny plot with good soil.
Soils differ immensely. The one thing that all soils have in common is that they can always be improved by adding organic matter, such as well-rotted manure or garden compost. Try to dig this in during the fall ready for planting the following spring. This will give the worms and weather a chance to work all that goodness into the soil.
Just before planting, it is worth digging over the soil. Do this when the ground isn’t wet. Soil is more delicate than you think and walking on it when it’s wet can damage its structure.
Use a fork to lift and turn the soil, and then use the back of the tines (the pointed bits) to beat large clods of earth and break them up. At the same time, you need to be taking out any weeds and large stones that you find.
Once you have turned over the soil, tread it in gently. This involves shuffling up and down the soil like a penguin, using your feet to firm it down and get rid of large air holes. You can then use a garden rake to level the soil and create a nice crumbly texture, which is ideal for seed sowing.
If you are going to grow plants such as herbs that like free-draining conditions, then fork in some coarse sand or horticultural grit to the soil when preparing your beds.
Rake over the soil before planting your beds and borders. This gives the soil a nice, crumbly texture and ensures that your plants will flourish once planted.