Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange
Gardening and Landscaping Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [sowing]

For questions about sowing seeds.

Gardeners will often start plants by sowing seeds. Although many will fail to germinate, they are still much cheaper than buying plants, and there is the satisfaction of growing a large plant or tree from a tiny seed.

Use this tag for all questions about sowing seeds. Include the type of plant/seed as their requirements can vary greatly. Climate and time of year may also be important. As well as timing, questions may cover subjects such as the type of soil/compost, depth of seed, heat, and watering requirements.

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Late-sown Carrots: any particular problems?

I usually sow carrots in early June for lifting in September. This year, I am planning to sow a short-rooted variety in August, for harvesting in November-December, and will use a fleece grow tunnel to protect them from frost Are there any…
Mancuniensis
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How should vegetable seeds be sown evenly?

Whenever I sow seed directly into the garden bed, due to the bizarre laws of physics, I end up with patches of no seedlings and patches where they are growing on top of each other. I scatter seed by hand whenever the seed is impossibly small to be…
going
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What are some resources for region-dependent planting schedule/calender?

Is there a website that has planting calendars for various regions? Is this sort of information more typically acquired through books, or just by word of mouth? I'd like to have a list of crops, sorted by safe first sowing date, also by…
intuited
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What are the proper conditions and watering habits for rosemary?

I have tried twice now to start Rosemary from seed and failed both times. Last year I planted them in a self watering window box with a number of other herbs. It never really came up well and never thrived, then we went on vacation and it died. This…
wax eagle
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Is September a good time to sow chili pepper seeds in Hong Kong?

I want to grow some habanero chili and jalapeño chili, but it is already September in Hong Kong. Although people said that chilis can't stand winter, I suspect the recent winter of Hong Kong is relatively warm (due to global warming) that the chili…
lamwaiman1988
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Are there any annuals I can sow this late in the year (end of June)?

Are there any flowering annuals I can still sow in the second half of June? I've just transplanted out some marigolds that I threw into seed compost in the Spring and basically neglected in a corner of the greenhouse ever since. They were getting a…
Tea Drinker
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Can I grow fava beans as a fall crop in New Jersey (USDA Zone 7A)?

I grew fava beans this year for the first time and really liked them. The issue I had is that about half my seeds didn't come up, so I have a fairly small crop. If I started more seeds in July would they do well over the summer and produce a fall…
Brian Surowiec
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How do I prepare and sow a lawn organically?

Sowing a lawn organically seems to have 2 problems that need solving: Killing the weeds prior to sowing Avoiding weed growth after sowing Once the soil is levelled, I'm considering trying the false seed bed technique to kill off any remaining…
Highly Irregular
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Is my plan for 'Blue Flowers Seed Mix' good?

I am an unexperienced gardener, and I have 10 little bags of seeds of blue flowers. Each bag's content looks like this: The list of included species and their percentage in the mix is as follows: Since I am not familiar with all those plants, I…
VividD
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Broccoli seedlings are way too tall but thin and weak

I just started sowing broccoli indoor this month and after a week or so, I saw this They are almost 4 inches long but cannot stand straight. Did I not push the seeds in deep enough? Or is this kind of broccoli like that? I bought from a Chinese…
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What's the best way to sow groundcover & perennial seeds together?

I am planning to sow seed of ground-cover plants & perennials in drifts. I have never done this before, so I am not sure if what I am planning makes sense. For each drift, I want to use Pelted Micro Clover Seed & Creeping Phlox as the base and then…
hba
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Is just adding a new soil layer on top of existing soil good for creating a new plant bed?

I want to create a small area (2 square meters) for new plants and/or seedlings. I need to raise a level in that area a little (for overall garden design purposes), and I plan just to put 30cm / 1ft high layer of mixture of soil and compost to that…
VividD
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What if the seeds sown outdoors are covered by a transparent cover in the initial stage?

I recently started Echinacea angustifolia from seeds indoors, and I noticed an incredible speed and reliability of germination achieved just by covering the seed tray with transparent plastic sheet (the seedlings appeared in just 5 days, germination…
VividD
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An idea for a sowing tool

I've got an idea for a tool for placing seeds directly in the soil. Imagine that square ABCD is a sturdy sheet of wooden or other material of size 600mm x 600mm x 5 mml, and all other points are holes in that sheet with diameter 10mm. The sheet…
VividD
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Why is it best to start seeds in shallow trays?

Can I just sow them in a bigger pot, then ultimately transplant them outside? What are the pros and the cons?
usumdelphini
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