Sowing Your Veg
21 April 2016
This week is a good time of the year to start sowing your Cucumbers, Melons, Courgettes, Marrow's and Pumpkins. These vegetables are all of the same family so you can sow them all in the same way.
Sow the seeds into individual 9cm (31/2 in) pots, which are 1/2 filled with multipurpose compost; make sure that you always push the seeds into the compost on their edge, rather than flat. This is so the water runs away from the sides of the seeds. This is important because if the seeds are sown flat, there is always a danger the seeds may get too wet and rot rather than germinate.
Once sown place the pots into a heated propagator at 21C (70F). The reason the pots are only half filled is so when the seedling germinates, it will produce a long thin stem, which is usually quite wobbly. Therefore, fill the pots up carefully around each stem once the leaves poke out the top of the pot. This gives it more stability and the stem will form extra roots into this compost as well as producing a stronger more productive plant.
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