Top 10 tips for getting your seeds off to a good start

March is a big seed sowing month depending on the weather. The soil should start to warm up a little bit, but don’t jump ahead of yourself. It’s always good to watch what is going on outside. If the weeds in your beds are sprouting, it might be a good time to start sowing vegetables out there as well.

Outdoors: Root crops including beetroot (early varieties), carrots, turnips and leafy vegetables like chard, spinach etc. can be sown outside depending on the weather and according to more specific growing suggestions of individual varieties. It’s also a good time to sow radishes, spring onions, peas, broad beans and more.

Under cover: Beetroot, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, cauliflower, summer cabbages, onions, lettuce, celery and celeriac. Tomatoes, chillies, peppers and aubergines can still be sown until mid March for undercover cropping.

Here are a few top tips that Vital Seeds have picked up over their years of growing...

1.   Sow lots of seeds into a seed tray and then prick them out into pots or modules once they have germinated to maximize precious space on heat mats or windowsills.

2.   If you use module trays or soil blocks you can multi-sow seeds of many crops which also saves space - suitable crops include: onions, beetroot, mizuna, turnips, leeks.

3.   If propagating on a windowsill, the light only comes from one direction so the seedlings need to be regularly turned - you can also use a piece of tin foil backed on cardboard as a mirror to put behind the seeds to balance out the light.

4.   Indoors there is no wind so plant stems tend to be weak. You can strengthen them by using a desk fan to blow on them for an hour a day, or stroke them whenever you walk past them (sounds strange but really does work!)

5.   If you are sowing seeds directly outside in drills then mix in some radish seeds with slower-germinating seeds so that you can easily see where your rows are and can weed more effectively (the radishes will pop up really quickly).

6.   Another tip for sowing in drills is to sow a few extra seeds at the end of the row so that you can transplant them into any gaps later NB. THIS WILL NOT WORK WITH CARROTS OR PARSNIPS as they cannot have their delicate tap-root disturbed

7.   Use clean pots and trays and fresh seed compost to give your seeds the best start.

8.   Always label your pots and trays. It's too easy to forget what you've sown where!

9.   Keep your seeds moist, but not wet.

10.   Cover your seeds with a clear plastic lid or second hand bubble wrap to hold in the moisture once sown. When the seedlings emerge, take it off to ensure they have enough space to grow up and for better ventilation.