How to sow seeds - Part one; Big seeds

Not all seeds are equal. They are (of course) all wonders of nature, but not all behave the same, look the same, or require the same treatment.

I've started with the most obvious difference, which is the size, and we're beginning with BIG.

Sunflower Seeds

Big seeds are not that common in cut flower plants. The largest are probably Sunflowers, which most people will be familiar with. Other 'large' seeds include Sweet Peas, which you may think aren't particularly large until you compare them to a Foxglove seed!

Big seeds are the easiest to sow, as they're easier to handle. This means you have more control over how many go in your seed tray or pot, and where.

How to Sow

For big seeds it's usually easier to use a 9cm square pot, or a seed tray with large cells, as the seedlings are generally larger and will get overcrowded quickly in a small seed tray.

Fill the pots/cells with seed compost (more free draining than regular compost, so the seedlings don't rot off) and add a bit of vermiculite if you wish. You can put 2-3 seeds in each pot/cell by just poking your finger, a dibber, or a pen about 1 inch/3 cm in to the compost and popping the seed in, then covering it over with a little more compost. You sow a couple in each pot in case one doesn't germinate, then you can separate the seedlings later if you wish (more on that in another post).

Water them by standing the seed tray or pots in a tray of water and letting the compost soak it up from below. This will prevent your compost from getting a hard crust on the top, and will make sure that the stems of the seedlings don't rot.

Stand them in a bright, warm place until they germinate (times vary by seed type, but are typically around 7 days), and keep the soil moist, but not too wet.

You can take a look at a video I made of me sowing my Sweet Pea seeds in the spring here

For advice on medium seeds, see my next post here