How to Sow Seeds in the Garden

Next to watching the first spring tulip peep out of the ground, sowing the first garden seed is a gardener’s greatest delight. Whether sowing vegetable garden seeds or flower garden seeds, there are a few tips for a gardener to follow that will assure successful germination.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Rototiller, shovel or pitchfork
• Peat or compost
• Soil pH testing kit
• Lime or sulphur
• Seeds
• Water
• Hoe
• Row markers

Prepare Soil to Sow Garden Seeds

1. Plan the garden layout first to determine the type of garden beds: raised, plots or rows. Dig and prepare the garden accordingly.
2. Use soil that is rich and fertile with at least the top 6 to 8 inches turned over, 12 to 18 inches is better. Use a rototiller, shovel or pitchfork.
3. Check the soil moisture by squeezing it into a ball and dropping from a foot above the ground. If it does not break apart, the soil is too wet. Wait a day or two and check again.
4. Add organic matter to clay soil to make the material more suitable for seed germination.
5. Work an inch-thick layer of peat or compost into the top layer of the turned over garden bed.
6. Check the pH of the soil. It should be around 6.5. If it is not, add lime to raise the pH or sulphur to lower the pH.
7. Fertilize the soil prior to planting.

Sow Seeds in the Garden

8. Water the garden bed slightly. Make furrows with a hoe in the prepared soil that are about the depth of the seed to plant. Follow alternative instructions, if given on the seed packet, for seeds you are planting.
9. Sow the seed thinly and evenly in the rows or scattered throughout a plot area.
10. Use a seed planter to plant rows. Wheels of different sizes are available that deliver a certain size seed a predetermined distance apart from each other in a row. Pinch the rows together with fingers when done.
11. Label the garden bed with type of seed and date planted.

Water Sown Garden Seeds

12. Water the garden with a fine mist. Water daily if possible so the seeds do not dry out.
13. Reduce the amount of watering once the seeds have sprouted.
14. Provide shade to the seeds and early sprouts if sown during hot summer months.
15. Thin the sprouts and weed the garden after watering or a rain. The plants are easier to remove then.

Tips & Warnings

• Sow seeds for annual flowers in the fall for spring blooms the following season for succession planting.
• Use companion planting techniques when sowing seeds. Plant items together that complement like tomatoes and carrots or lettuce and beets.

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