Mar 19, On Top Of Garden Weeds

Sowing Seeds:

Yesterday I prepared leaf mold for seed compost - and it's great stuff for growing seeds.

I sprinkle the leaf mold (which is on the dry side) through the flame of my weed wand and into a bucket.

Then I mix in a sprinkling of bone meal.

I almost fill a seed tray with this compost. Then gently and evenly firm down the compost. This helps to ensure a more even germination.

Then water the compost and sow my tomato seeds 1 inch apart on the surface. I got a total of 24 seeds from 3 tomato varieties into the tray.

Then cover with about a quarter of an inch of compost and very gently and evenly firm and level.

The tray is now on my windowsill covered with newspaper to reduce evaporation.


Websites for Seeds:


Garden Seeds at DirectGardening - Offers quality plants at great prices, take a look at what I mean!


Garden Seeds at Dobies - U.K. always offer good value.

Easy Seeds for Children are here at Suttons.co.uk

Transplanting Onions:

Today I planted out my onion seedlings. They grew in trays indoors for about 3 weeks.

Then over the last week they've been hardening off in the greenhouse.

Now they are transplanted into pre-warmed soil in the garden. I've covered them temporarily with fleece to continue the hardening off.

Before transplanting I worked in about a good handful of bone meal along each 4 foot row.

Tomorrow I'll plant out my surviving onion sets from modules that I set up in the greenhouse last autumn.

Weeds: You'll find all you need to know for weed control on this link.

Everything is growing again and it's time to be alert to weeds and keep on top of them.

Hairy Bittercress Cardamine hirsuta crops up everywhere in some gardens and in pots. I was told it is edible and Plants For A Future affirms this.

So I tasted some leaves and indeed they are really good. From now on that will add some nice flavour to my salads.

But I can't let them grow near my onions. Check out my page on organic weed control where I provide all you need to know for taming wild places and keeping your weeds in order.