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Stoney Ground Herbs

Beautiful, strong herbs for NZ gardeners and herbalists of all levels

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Seed Sowing 101

September 10, 2020 By SandRa Timmins Leave a Comment

The moon is right (Maramataka), it’s still a little chilly (here anyway), but spring is trying it’s best and now is a good time to get cracking on seed sowing.

This is a real quick post with lots of photos of dirt, just to give you the basics of seed sowing if you’re new to the game (warning, this game can be addictive!)…

Seed sowing 101
Wet your medium

So, use seed raising mix, unfortunately not all seed raising mixes are made equally, if you’re reaching for the cheap bag be prepared to fish out the large pieces of bark, the real fine stuff is the best, personally, my favourite is Daltons organic seed raising mix.

Fill up your container, usually a flat tray with at least 4 cm depth, then water your medium (medium being your seed raising mix).

Arrange your seeds, or if they’re very fine, sprinkle.. if they’re super fine, mix the seed with sand for an even distribution.

Seed sowing 101
Label!!

Label. Don’t trust yourself to remember what it is that you sowed next to that other really memorable seed, especially true if you’re sowing different types of tomatos.

When it comes to covering your seed you don’t want to cover it with any more than the seed is big. I have re-written this sentence many times, my brain can’t work out how to word it better! Hopefully these pictures of pea seeds help! For the fine seeds, vermiculite is the bees knees, failing that, the finest of the fine seed raising mix, sieve it if you have to,

Seed sowing 101
Peas in a tray
Seed sowing 101
Note the level the soil is at now

Then pat it gently, you’re making sure that the seed is connected to the soil. Then gently spray with water.

Where you’re going to put them now depends on your current climate and what you’ve sown. For me, cold inland, most will be going on my heat pads, some in the glasshouse. (Go to this post here about heat pads)

Seed sowing 101
And then we mist

Keep your seeds moist, by either spraying or watering from the bottom. Watering with a water can is a bit a rough at this stage. And eventually you’ll have trays of little seedlings and a heart full of pride! Have fun and don’t be shy to talk to your seeds to help them grow… Haha! There’s a (completely un-scientific) theory actually that basil seeds grow best if you verbally abuse them, maybe use them to vent your frustrations!

Seed sowing 101
Success!

Filed Under: Care and Maintenance, Uncategorized Tagged With: how do you sow seeds, maramataka, seed raising mix, seed sowing, sowing seeds, spring

It’s-a-seed sowing time!

August 17, 2015 By SandRa Timmins Leave a Comment

….and working out what new seeds you need, almost more exciting than when you see the first leaves emerge….almost!  My white sage (salvia apiana) and clary sage (salvia sclarea) have just popped their heads up and I’m pretty excited!

clary sage seedlings

Look closely!

I sow my seeds onto damp seed raising mix.  Note, “onto” not “into” I’m dealing with herb seeds which are notoriously small.  I then lightly cover with vermiculite and pop ’em into the hot water cupboard.  They’re in a box with a glass lid on top (ie. old fridge shelf).  I check them everyday and give them a misting of water if need be and whip them out into the light as soon as I see any plant emergence.  I don’t want any leggy seedlings!

So Clary Sage and White Sage are on the go.  I’ve also sown Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) , Common sage (Salvia officinalis) Genovese basil, Sunflowers, Chilli and Zucchini.

stevia rebaudiana, seedling

Look real close, it’s Stevia rebaudiana!

Salvia officinalis hasn’t germinated yet, the seed I sowed in a tray outside a couple of months ago has just started to come through looking really strong.  So I’m intrigued as to how well and how fast my my indoor lot will germinate.

From the 18th August to the 27th is optimum time according to the moon calendar to sow seeds for above ground plants.  I’m going to need to make more space in my hot water cupboard for all the tomatos’ and more herbs I’ll be sowing over the next week or two.  I don’t strictly follow the moon phases for gardening but they come in handy as a guideline.

Plum Blossom

Plum Blossom

I’ll be updating my website soon with what seedlings I’ll have available for sale this year… I might work out the whats’ and hows’ involved in being able to send seedlings to people.

Is there any interest out there outside of Kapiti?

 

Filed Under: Care and Maintenance, Gardening Styles, White sage Tagged With: clary sage, gardening by the moon, sage, salvis officinalis, seed sowing, stevia, white sage

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Beautiful, strong herbs
for gardeners
and herbalists
of all levels.

Grown
with passion
and persistence.

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