Sowing Bed

Sowing Bed

To have a good seed bed we have to:

Make sure that the seed bed has water and oxygen;

No hard crust that the seed bed cannot pass;

The soil under the seed bed must be not so hard that the root from the seed cannot pass trough;

It is ok that the seed bed for winter seed has more clods then to the spring bed;

To get the best seed germinate the seed must be not to fine and not to rough.

A good seed bed

Must be stabile, resist wind and water erosion, absorb a lot of rain and supply oxygen.  

Rezist to much evaporation

Cappilar layer

Nutrients, oxygen and water, loose soil – growth of the roots

Position for a seed bed

A seed bed may be thought of, incorrectly, as a rather unimportant part of the field which can be tucked away in some corner. It must be remembered that seed germination and early growth of any plant has an important influence on the final quality of the plant - if the seed bed is shaded by hedges or buildings, the seedlings may grow weak and spindly. Similarly drainage of the bed is important, seeds generally don't do well if they become waterlogged (nor if they dry out).

Ideally the seed bed should:

• Be in a open, but sheltered, position with good drainage.
• Be free of perennial weeds as weeding between the small seedlings can be difficult and time consuming.
• Do not use a bed which was used to grow potatoes in the previous year, any sprouting potatoes left from the crop will be a problem around the young seedlings.

Preparing the seed bed

The requirement for a seed bed is basically the same as for any crop bed, except that the soil need be only forked to a relatively shallow depth. If it is a new bed ( never previously used to grow plants), the bed will need to be dug and prepared as with any new bed.

If plants have previously been grown on the bed, the preparation required is much less as the soil will have been broken up and most stones removed.

The biggest challenge to any farmers is to decide when the soil is suitable for working - not too dry and not too wet. This depends to some extent on the type of soil, a clay soil can turn from a sticky mass to hard as rock very quickly. Choosing the right time is one of the hardest choices, especially for new farmers - it is largely a matter of experience with the particular soil type in the field.

Assuming the seed bed is established, the likelihood is that there will be some seedlings in it when you come to prepare it for a new sowing, so any preparation will just apply to the area you require and care must be taken to avoid disturbing the existing seedlings. To prepare for a new sowing:

• When the soil is dry enough for it to freely break up, rack the surface back and forth to give a suitable tilth. Larger seeds generally benefit for a rather coarse tilth while fine seeds need a fine tilth.
• As you harrow, remove any stones, weeds or other vegetation. We keep harrowing to get the surface fairly level.

Untreat or rolling after ploughingHarrowed after ploghing

Using a seed bed

Once the seed bed is ready, choose a day when the soil is moist and little wind to plant your seeds.

Normally a 'drill' (or number of drills) is created on the surface of the seed bed - a drill is a shallow depression into the bottom of which seeds are sown. The depth required varies from seed to seed. A line stretched above the soil before drills are made will help keep them straight.

The way the seeds are sown along the bottom of the drills will depend upon the seed been planted, typically one of three variations will be specified:

• Very thinly - say 2.5cm between seeds.
• Thinly - say 1.2cm between seeds.
• At stations - a number of seeds together at given spacing.

Once the seeds have been sown, they are normally covered by pulling the ground over the surface of the bed to fill the drills.

Identify the drill and the seeds sown by putting in a short stick at each end of each drill and attaching a waterproof  label with the name of the plant marked on it.

Stretching a line between the end sticks above each drill will help keep birds off the seeds and young seedlings.

Watch out for other pests - for example slugs; young plants are tender and will provide a good meal for a number of pests.

Here it is an image with a good seed bed