Sowing Seeds Outdoors

  Seeds that are sownen out doors are exposed to a number of checks that are not there with indoor conditions.

Before you sow any seeds out on the land the soil must be in the right condition. That is the soil must not be so wet that it sticks to the tools and the surface must be as fine as you can get it.

There are three ways of sowing out doors: Broadcast, Drills, and Hills. 

Broadcast is sowing the seeds over the soil by hand and then raking them over....not very handy if you only have a small garden.

Seeds planted in hills means they are sown in such a way that the resultant plants are in groups of three or more standing the same distance in the rows as the distance between the rows.  

Sowing in drills is made up of  of shallow trenches, or just a line in the soil from one-half inch to two inches deep, and you sow your seeds in the soil and cover the seeds over with soil or compost. When the young plants come up you thin them out so that they are an equal distance apart from each other. This method will give you straight rows and a tidyer looking bed, which will make it easyer to hoe for weeding. The seeds shoud be sowen straight after making the drill before the soil has a chance to dry out.

Do not sow too many seeds as you sow, because not only is it wasteful but in will result in extra work in thinning out the crop.

 Make sure the soil is firm. If you are sowing large seeds like beans or peas you can place them where you want the crop to grow.

 To compact the soil, use the back of a rake along the row, you do this to make sure that the seeds and the soil are in contact with each other. Doing so, also ensures that the moisture is drawn up to the surface and so setting off the “ growing prcess “

After this, it is just a question of sitting back and wacthing.