Growing flowers and fruit from seeds: what to buy now and how to care for seedlings in pots and gardens

Now is the start of seed sowing season. Follow these tips for London growers and George Hudson says success is (almost) guaranteed.
George Hudson
George Hudson
Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd
George Hudson1 April 2022

If you’ve ever grown from seed, you’ll know the elation felt as tiny plants wake from their dormancy and emerge through the soil.

For Londoners, however, space and light are often limited and not everyone needs a huge bag of compost or 200 tomato plants.

But follow my advice and you’re (almost) guaranteed seed-sowing success.

What to grow

First-time sowers should dive in with these dead certs. For flowers try nasturtiums, sunflowers or calendula (with its very funky seeds). If you want to eat the fruits of your labour you can’t go wrong with tomatoes, rocket or radishes.

But skip the seeds with onion and garlic sets, seed potatoes and young strawberry plants planted straight into containers or beds.

Where to buy seeds now

Its not too late — sustainably sourced seed options include:

When to sow

Don’t sow everything at once. The sowing season extends through spring and as late as June and sowing in small batches will give you a longer season of fruit and flowers. Slow growers such as cosmos, aubergines and peppers can be started now. Squash, sunflowers, salad and zinnias will still do their thing if sown in June.

Let there be light

Many seeds need light to trigger germination and as soon as a seedling starts growing, lack of light will quickly lead to gangly plants. If you’re growing in pots inside, your seedlings need to be as close to the window as possible. Most seeds can be started outside from the end of April. Turning their container daily will also help promote even growth, as will using a mirror or tin foil behind them. Grow lights are an option if you are really in the dark, but can be a faff to set up.

Give big seeds a head start

Larger seeds like pumpkin, sunflower, pea and bean will germinate sooner if you soak them in water the night before sowing. This helps soften the hard seed coat — eight hours is all they need.

Be mean, keep ’em lean

Seedlings require little to no additional nutrients for the first few weeks of their life.

Providing additional nutrients, in the form of fertilisers, can cause unwieldy growth that is vulnerable to pests, diseases and flopping over. By limiting the nutrients in the early days, you’ll have stronger, tougher plants going forward. Seed compost is sold with this in mind but, when space is tight, having a host of different soils is a luxury. Choose a peat-free, multipurpose compost and avoid sowing seeds in specially enhanced composts made for vegetable or bedding plants. Dalefoot Composts makes peat-free seed and multipurpose compost in smaller bags.

Thou shalt not waste

Almost any container with good drainage can be used for sowing. Upcycling food packaging is a great option: plastic mushroom boxes, fruit punnets and milk bottles can all make good seed trays. For fast-growing plants like pumpkins cardboard egg boxes also work. Modular trays make life easy: these have individual cells for each plant. The 30-cell seed tray from plasticfreegardening.com is a bit more expensive than the plastic equivalent but it will last a lifetime.

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