There are many vegetables and herbs that will grow really well from seed, especially if planted into pots. In fact, plants like coriander, rocket, radishes and beans are especially good to grow from seed as they are fast to germinate and give very quick results.
Growing from seed is really quite easy. Just make sure that the seed that you are using is fresh as old seeds might not germinate. The packets at the shops will often show a Best Before date.
- Choose a pot that is the right size for the fully grown vegetables. Make sure that it is at least 15cm deep.
- Fill the pot to about 2cm from the top with premium potting mix.
- Place the seeds on top of the potting mix. If you are planting large bean or pea seeds, only put 3 or 4 in a pot, but if you are planting small seeds just sprinkle them evenly over the top – not too many though.
- Place a layer of potting mix over the top of the seed. The depth of the potting mix should be the same as the thickness of the seed. That is, if you are planting large bean seeds, the potting mix on the top will be about 10mm thick but if you are planting tiny coriander seeds, the layer on the top will only be about 2mm.
- Water the seed gently with a watering can being carefully not to disturb the seeds.
- If the weather is a little bit cool, make a mini hothouse out of a bottle to put over the top but if it is warm, the seed can just go in a part of the garden in full sun.
- Water the seeds at least once a day, even more in summer. Never let them dry out.
- Once the seeds have germinated, you may find that there are too many in the pot which could stop them from growing properly. If this happens, you can either thin them out by gently removing some of the seedlings, or you can separate them out and repot them into other pots.
SMARTY TIP:
The easiest seeds to start off with are radishes, beans, peas, coriander, rocket, melons, cucumber and squash. They will all grow really quickly and usually give great results.
Large seeds are planted in a pot. Notice that the amount of soil put on the top is about the same depth as the seeds themselves. This just needs to be watered now.
These are tiny seeds so only a very small amount of soil is placed on top of them. After being watered, they can then be put somewhere warm and sunny to grow.