Direct Sowing Vegetables: A Complete Step-By-Step Guide for Easy Home Growing
With sowing season now upon us, it’s time to start getting all our delicious vegetables growing. Whilst greenhouses and propagators create the perfect environment for certain seeds to flourish, there are plenty of varieties that actually fare better being direct sown.
What is Direct Sowing?
Direct sowing is the process of planting your seeds directly into the ground where they will grow and stay until they are harvested. Longer root vegetables like carrots and parsnips are much better direct sown as they don’t like their roots being disturbed.
Many vegetables can either be direct sown or sown in seed trays and transplanting later.
You will normally get an earlier crop from sowing and transplanting as you don’t need to wait for the weather to warm up before you start sowing.
Later in the season, you may choose to direct sow these vegetables as a succession crop to give you a more consistent and sustained harvest. Beetroot, lettuces, peas, and beans are particularly well suited to succession sowing.
There are other vegetables varieties, like peppers and tomatoes, that are much better sown in seed trays and transplanted.
When to Start Direct Sowing
When you start direct sowing will entirely depend on what varieties you are growing - to be sure, read the cultivation advice on our variety listings.
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Carrots and beetroots, for example, are cold tolerant and can be sown earlier, while beans, courgettes, and squash will need to wait until any danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed up.
If you want to get going a little sooner, well-placed cloches, some horticultural fleece, or small grow tunnels can make all the difference and help you have a successful direct sowing season.
It’s best to put these over your designated sowing area several days before you plan on sowing to warm the soil, which generally needs to be above 7°C for seeds to germinate well.
If you haven’t direct sown before, or you’re not sure what the best practice is, here’s our simple step-by-step guide:
Step 1: Prepare Your Soil
Seeds love to grow in fertile soil with plenty of organic matter. Remove any debris, weeds, and large rocks from your growing surface, and you want your soil to be crumbly. If it’s too wet, it will have large clods that are not good for little seed roots germinating. If it’s dry and dusty, you’ll need to water it or wait for rain to moisten the soil naturally.
Step 2: Make Your Drills
Traditionally, seeds are sown in lines or shallow trenches called drills. They help to see when your seeds have germinated and makes it easier to tell them apart from any weeds that may be coming through.
Make shallow depressions using a bamboo cane, a hand trowel, or the edge of a hoe to create the furrow. It’s important to remember that drills don’t have to be straight and you can have them going different ways to add more interest and definition to your veg patch.
Make sure you water along your drill before sowing your seeds as they like to grow in moist soil.
Step 3: Sow Your Seeds
Read the cultivation advice for your chosen varieties to know how to distribute your seeds correctly. Large seeds can be sown individually at the appropriate intervals. For smaller seeds, tip some into your palm and use your other hand to sprinkle seeds along the drill as evenly as possible. If in doubt, the general rule is that the planting depth should be twice the size of the seed.
Once you’ve finished sowing, fill the drill with soil and water it. Place a label at the end so that you know what you’ve planted.
Step 4: Protect Your Plants
If the weather is unseasonable, you may need to step in to protect your growing plants. Use cloches or horticultural fleece to protect against the cold, and create shade for your plants if the weather is too hot.
Disturbed earth can also be very attractive to animals like cats and birds, so you may want to consider protecting your germinating seedlings. Netting can help stop birds from digging for food, whilst placing holly branches around the area can stop cats getting to your plants.
Step 5: Thinning Out Your Seedlings
Depending on the varieties you’ve sown and how well you’ve managed to space them along your drills, you may need to thin your seedlings out as they grow to give your plants enough space to develop properly.
The space that your vegetables need will be different depending on the variety, so check the cultivation advice for more info.
