What you need to know when buying vegetable seeds
The choice of seed purchase is vast and it can be difficult deciding what to buy and plant. If it’s winter, don’t despair as you can be sifting through seed catalogues and deciding what you want to plant during the coming year. It’s ideal to work the soil in preparation for the next season, that’s if the ground isn’t too solid.
Buying vegetable seeds online
Online shopping is the way forward and gardening is no exception to the rule. You’ll often find a greater choice that can offer a next day delivery. You’ll also find rarer seeds online, so it’s worth investigating and most offer warranty too. Always read the purchase terms before buying and check product weights too as websites do vary.
Whatever type of gardener you aim to be, you’ll find seed catalogues galore online. Ensure they are a reputable company, and enquire among gardening friends or social circles as they will always be keen to offer advice.
Planning your new vegetable garden can be an immensely satisfying experience. Make sure you’ve taken aboard all the advice and helpful hints as they’ll help you in the long run.
Planting
It’s like a dream come true when planting and visualising your first vegetable garden. Just the thought of picking a juicy ripe tomato or crunchy green pepper to toss into your salad makes it so worthwhile.
Sun
This is a must have and key ingredient for each tiny seedling to produce a crop and besides this, a little preparation is required. Can you believe that vegetables have very precise sun and shade needs, along with individual soil conditions? You need to take care of your seedlings and get to know how much sun each little seedling requires.
Growth habits
Some vegetables tend to wander anywhere, but in doing so they produce multiple crops. Cucumbers, squash, melon, and vining tomatoes fit this category. If room isn’t an issue then let them be, however, they can be staked or trained up fences and trellises to save room. Under ideal conditions, they can be prolific bearers, so it’s important not to overplant. Determinate plants are the opposite and much bushier in their growth habit and therefore, only bear one crop and are ideal for small spaces or containers. Bush tomatoes fit into this category.
Soil requirements
Make sure you prepare the soil in the beds ahead of time and remove all rocks and weeds. Black plastic is very useful as mulch around cucumbers and melons, and this helps keep wet soil away from leaves enabling speed ripening.
Lay the plastic down in prepared beds and cut openings to place the plants in. Remember that cucumbers are very prone to mildew from wet leaves, so this method will help the crop. (See the section below about preparing the soil).
Water requirements
All plants need regular watering; along with fish emulsion which is recommended to provide them with a healthy start. Don’t let plants dry out or become weed-choked, as you’ll then be rewarded with bigger healthier plants.
