Help With Growing Seeds

She does specify a "well fed" pot. I've sowed 5 seeds today, holding back another 10 to try later if not successful. One of my neighbours put up a new fence last year that's still looking pretty stark, so a rampant climber is just what I need.

 

Infradig thank you for your comprehensive list and thank you everyone else, it is a great help.

The overwhelming advice I’m hearing is that I’m going too early, I guess flowers are annuals for a reason and it is not great to circumvent nature with heat mats and led lighting. So going to hold off until March at the earliest.

It is gaoling to prepare seed trays and nothing happens!!! I have overwatered and used to water my seed trays everyday, surely an attentive gardener is a very good one, but wrong. To be fair I need advice on almost everything, I will be asking plenty of questions, if you be so good to help me, that would be wonderful.

Are some seed easier to grow than others? Or some seed manufacturers better than others? For instance I bought some China Aster Seeds from Lidls and never had success with these. I am also hearing from infradig to use fresh seeds, so does this mean the seeds that have been opened from last year are not now viable?

So a couple of weeks ago I bought some bags of B&Q seed and cutting mix, I know Monty Don has his own unique mix, but haven’t got any leaf mould!!! So if I was to use this B&Q seed mix do I add vermiculite or perlite or nothing to this mix?

Finally it would be great to be like Monty and have a potting shed and greenhouse, I don’t, so my options are limited.

 

Some seed is easy, some seed hard. As far as seed suppliers go there are good and bad, trial and error is the best way to find out.
Some seed remains viable for just a short time, others for many years so this can have a bearing on results too.

 

Seed you buy from reputable sources each year of garden perennials or annuals and for vegetables are usually good, and should grow, opened packets from the year before can be problematic with some of these.
Anything of the more unusual can be iffy, but I dont think that is what you are growing in general?

I just use a multipurpose compost for seed sowing, I might sift some for very tiny seed like lobelia or petunia, but then just prick out into it straight from the bag.
Admittedly the peat free stuff we are getting now is a bit more challenging regarding watering.
I mostly use Jacks Magic but have used others, I sometime add sharp sand to multipurpose to open it up a bit, and for final potting I use a mix of JI no3 and peat free multi and some sand, but that is for you to experiment with, what works for me might not for you.

 

So your seeds are not germinating at all? For germination the quality of the compost should not matter - after all seeds will sprout on wet tissue paper. A seed contains within it all the nutrition the plant needs for the first few days of its life. If you are planting them too deep, or your compost has big lumps that will physically block them from emerging, that could be a problem. But even then I would expect you to see at least a proportion of them come up.

 

No expert but I now start the majority of my seeds on tissue paper in an airing cupboard.

Some fairly old seeds have germinated via this method rather quickly.

Chillies/bell peppers tend not to suffer helmet head using this approach and if they do appear with helmets prying them out seems more successful.

Base layer of tissue at the bottom and a separated thin bit of tissue on top (that way you can see when they shoot). As soon as they shoot I drop them in to seed pots containing compost.

For me I have a better success rate than sowing straight into compost.

Example cucumber sprout.

 

It seems from what have been posted on this thread already, I was overwatering. Another mistake I think I made and that was compress the compost too hard, gardening programmes show to do this, as to ensure the soil is in good contact with the seed, but I think I pressed down too hard. I guess the perfect condition is to ensure the seed is in contact with the soil, but still lose enough that the seed can start to put roots down? I also here the soils need some air in it.

 

Overwatering does sound likely, especially in cooler conditions. The seeds would rot before they had chance to sprout.

 

So from what you said Pete, do you prick out for every germinated see? Is there a soil that can start from seed and end up being a plug or does every seedling need to be pricked out into a better compost.

I do try Jack’s Magic a couple of years back with very limited success? I managed marigolds and tomatoes. Where do I get sharp sand from? Is this different from normal builder’s merchant sand?

 

Chilli seeds I found to be easy also.

 

I usually prick out seedlings unless they are large seeds that are sown singly, usually into small pots, or those cell trays you can buy, small seed either get sown in pots or you can use a seed tray.

Multi purpose composts vary quite a bit these days but I usually get by sowing into the stuff straight out the bag, as I say I would maybe sift out a small amount for really tiny seeds.
Tiny seed I water from the bottom only, until they have established a good root system.
They also need shade and more humid conditions after germination than larger seeds do.

I use Mulitpurpose all the time, its only at final potting I go for mixing in additives.
I've never bothered with special seed compost personally.


You can get sharp sand from any builders merchants, but state SHARP sand, not building sand or soft sand.

 

Special seed compost is a mistake on my side, but bought now and unless I find the receipt I am lumbered with it. So big vegetable seeds say broad beans you would sow individually in trays, so guess you would do this with sweet peas, morning glory and nasturtiums? Tiny seed do you mean something like petunias for example that you would water from the bottom, something like marigolds wouldn’t be a fine seed?

For the fine sand in the builders merchant, do you just buy a small bag of it?

 

You can still use your seed compost, its just that I dont bother with it, but you need to pot on once the seedlings are growing away as it doesn't contain much in the way of nutrient.

I sow broad beans singly in pots likewise I would do sweetpeas.
Yes marigolds can be pricked out separately into cell containers.

Yes petunias are fairly small so need a bit of extra care at first but will still need to be pricked out.
Other people may have other ways of doing it, it can sound complicated but its not really once you get used to it.

The sand you can just buy it in 25kg bags.

 

When I had a greenhouse with heated propagators and heated mats I never sowed anything before March.

Petunias need warmth, maybe yours aren't warm enough. Also they mustn't be over watered or they do something called damping off. Fine seeds can be watered from below by putting the seed tray into a tray with some water in it or by spraying with a fine sprayer that mists rather than waters.

I was living in France when I had the greenhouse and I sowed a lot of seeds. I used multi purpose compost as they didn't sell seed compost. Also vermiculite, perlite and grit wasn't available. The seeds managed without all that.

 

A 25KG bag of fine sand is a lot, but understand it wouldn't be economically viable to sell smaller bags for the builder merchant.

As other posters have pointed out on here it is good stuff to mix fine seeds (thinking petunias) to make spreading easier, but what else would fine sand be used for.