Growing from Seeds and Seedlings.

When you’re at the nursery or eagerly filling your online cart from the comfort of your lounge, it helps to have a list of the plants you want to grow for the coming season. This might include your top five favourite herbs, a few quick-growing salad greens and some long-term root vegetables. Regardless of what your heart desires, you will generally have a choice between buying the plants as seeds or seedlings. Knowing the differences between the two will vastly improve your growing success.

Seeds are far better value than seedlings, and you’ll have a wider variety from which to choose. At the right time of year, some seeds can be planted directly into the garden and have a much greater success rate than seedlings of the same plant. These include plants such as coriander, carrots, beetroot and Asian greens. Some seedlings don’t transplant well, as their fine root hairs get damaged or simply shocked during the move and never recover.

WHICH SHOULD I BUY?

You can buy the seeds of particular plants and sow them into punnets to germinate. Once they grow to seedling size, you can transplant them into the garden. This allows you to raise seedlings in more favourable and protected conditions. Try growing edible members of Solanaceae (the nightshade family) – such as tomato, chilli and eggplant (aubergine) – in seed-raising mix indoors, then move them outside when the temperature is right. These guys are a little more forgiving than other plants when transplanted as seedlings, just make sure to water them in well!

You can also purchase seedlings from a nursery or garden centre and plant them straight into the garden as soon as you get home. This is fine if you buy plants that don’t mind being handled and transplanted at seedling stage, such as various members of Brassicaceae (the cabbage family) – for example, kale, cauliflower, brussels sprouts and cabbage.

If a seed can be sown directly into the garden, this is the best way to go. I find growing from seed is the most efficient, economical and stress-free method for both you and the plants.

RAISING SEEDS

You can have frenzied online shopping sprees as a gardener – it’s not all hard labour and frugality. I realised this when I discovered the colourful world of online seed catalogues! Like my fellow gardener friends, I always end up ordering an array of rare, heirloom, colourful and unique-tasting herbs and vegetables. The local nursery usually provides the tried and tested varieties, which are great but, trust me, it won’t take long before you’re hooked on germinating your own hand-picked seed varieties, too.

A seed contains the DNA of yesterday’s plant generation, and the potential of that seed to provide food for us well into the future is priceless. So, how do we turn this morsel of plant energy into the food we eat? Here are some tips on raising the seeds from your latest shopping spree.

–	Seeds are sensitive to temperature, light and moisture so, if you’re not ready to plant them, store them in a cool, dark and dry place. Keep your seeds with your wine, and you should be fine.
–	In terms of when to plant, the website or individual seed packet will tell you the best months to sow your seeds. But as marketing would have it, that sowing window can get a little generous when a perishable product needs to be sold. The sowing times are generally a good guide, but you’ll learn to be more precise after trialling different plants throughout the year. Succession planting (see here) will help you understand how late in a season you can plant something before it runs out of time to grow or produce a crop.
–	The edible plants we grow come from a range of different climates around the world. As our seasons change, the ambient soil temperature will rise and fall, too. In a natural setting, most seeds have made it into the ground and are waiting in the soil for their optimum germination temperature. As a grower with an exciting new packet of seeds in your hand, you have to know when your local conditions are right for those seeds to hit the soil and start growing.
–	A planting calendar for your climate, words of wisdom from a local green thumb and some good old-fashioned trial and error will all help you get your planting times down to a fine art. A soil thermometer will also aid you in the decision-making process.
–	A popular soil temperature range for most vegies is 20–25°C (68–77°F). Depending on your climate, your soil temperature is likely to pass through this range twice a year – rising through spring into the warm season, then falling again in autumn into the cool season. I tell my garden students that it’s like swinging on a swing – we mostly plant when the temperature is going up or down but not when it’s at the bottom or the top.
–	We’ve found that coriander (cilantro) seeds are best planted well after the summer solstice, when the days are getting shorter. If we plant them around early autumn, they grow into robust, leafy plants during winter and finally flower and set seed in summer.
–	Some larger seeds germinate more readily if you soak them in water the night before sowing them. This moistens the hard or corky coating, resulting in a quicker and more even germination rate.
–	If the seeds are tiny, like grains of sand, it’s likely they’ll only need to be sprinkled on the surface of the soil, where you can then give them a light misting with water. Fine seeds, such as those of lettuce, need sunlight to germinate, so only cover them with a light sprinkling of seed-raising mix or soil.

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Seed depth and spacing is a common question when getting your hands dirty for the first time. Aim to plant seeds at a depth that is double their size (for example, 5-millimetre [¼-inch] seeds should be 10 millimetres [½ inch] deep). The finer the seed, the more of them will fit into the row or pot. Little helping hands are better off with big bean or sunflower seeds, as they may be tempted to dump a whole packet of tiny seeds in the one hole! Plant more seeds than you need, and then thin out the seedlings.

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‘Thinning out’ is your chance to follow Darwin’s theory of natural selection … leave the strongest seedlings, and gently pluck out the rest. This reduces competition and ensures individual plants are given the best opportunity to grow into strong, mature plants bearing the fruits of your labour.

SUCCESS WITH SEEDLINGS

Buying seedlings can allow you to bypass the time, skills and environmental conditions required to grow from seed. The time of year, your personal ability and the seedling variety might also affect your choice between seeds and seedlings.

–	When you’re choosing seedlings, less is always more. How many sweet basil plants do you really need? One healthy basil seedling has the potential to grow into a small shrub up to waist height and supply your kitchen from spring right through to autumn. But most people buy the fullest punnet crammed with over 50 seedlings! Unfortunately, they proceed to plant all the seedlings into a couple of holes and then let them all struggle. To give your plants the best chance at a healthy life, plant each individual seedling in its own spot in the garden, correctly spaced as per the punnet label. You will more than likely have many seedlings left over, so these can be given to your neighbours or dropped into the compost bin or worm farm.
–	The best seedlings are the ones that have arrived fresh at the nursery that week. Buy the shortest, healthiest seedlings that will allow you to separate them without tearing any leaves and roots apart. If the punnet is hard to press in or roots are growing out of the punnet base, the seedlings are likely to be old and root-bound. Do not take these guys home with you.
–	The seedlings you’ve bought may have been grown in a shadehouse and haven’t yet been exposed to full sun, so avoid planting them on a hot, sunny day as the heat will stress them out. Water the seedlings before planting, and try to keep some of the potting mix around the delicate roots. Hold the seedling by a leaf rather than by the fragile stem, and plant it at the same height as it was in the pot.
–	Water in your babies with some extra-diluted seaweed extract or worm juice from a watering-can. You really have to soak the soil to ensure you flush out all the air pockets. This ensures that the tiny root hairs can make contact with the soil water. Keep the soil moist by watering daily. As your babies begin to establish themselves over the next few weeks, start to wean them onto just a deep watering every two or three days. If the little guys’ leaves are wilting, it’s been too long between drinks.
–	Give your seedlings a dose of seaweed extract, worm wee or other homemade plant tonic every one or two weeks to reduce transplant shock and add valuable nutrients to the soil. If you haven’t already added a light mulch, such as lucerne or sugarcane, do it now because this will lock in the moisture and help maintain a stable soil temperature.
–	About a month after planting your seedlings, you’ll hopefully be left with more than enough survivors. Just select the biggest and best-looking seedlings, and pluck out the rest. It’s better to have five big cauliflower plants with room for good sun and airflow than seven stunted plants all competing for space and light.

Now might be a good time to see what seeds are available online. You can join a club and browse online or just get a catalogue sent to you. Start making a wish list by selecting interesting varieties and plants that fascinate you. The more you are excited by your selection, the more interested you will be in their growth and survival and, hence, the more success you will have.

‘If the little guys’ leaves are wilting, it’s been too long between drinks.’