And sow it begins…

Couldn’t resist that heading as we start to sow this year’s seeds. If you head out to any of our sites, you’ll find a vast array of seeds beginning to do their thing on the graveled benches on which we do the propagation. The benches are essentially tables with a shallow lip which we’ve lined with plastic and have put a load of gravel. We fill this up with water so the seed trays sit on top of the gravel and can draw the water up as they need it, it acts like a mini-reservoir. This helps keep the water levels right for the precious vulnerable seedlings. We try to get to the sites as often as possible to tend to them, but it’s a little tricky when you can’t make it every day.

The orache seedlings make a first appearance next to the turnip tops…

This year the propagation operation is bigger than ever. With the new sites at the Tree Nursery and St Michael’s the tables are truly groaning under the weight of future salad plants. We’ve done a central seed order too, for the urban market gardens and the growing Patchwork Farm, which is proving to be an interesting exercise in logistics – how to make sure that the seeds you need are where you want them when you need them? Just another of the not-unsolvable but remarkable challenges of having multiple sites!

Super special salsola

Have you ever eaten samphire? It’s a plant well known to all good foragers out there, salty, succulent, delicious and, best of all, free.

Well, indulging in a little seed searching at the beginning of the year I came across salsola soda from The Real Seed Catalogue,* described as ‘a beautiful ‘candelabra’ shape and crisp, crunchy thin leaves.’ I just had to grow it. And making the case for its similarity to the wild samphire, and Ru’s own love for that, it was an easy step to persuading him that we should try our hand at cultivating it for our salad bags. So I’m trialling it at my Clissold site, admittedly in the smallest bed we have but still, we’re giving it a go.

Perhaps I’m writing this blog just a little late for those of you out there who might want to try it, as The Real Seed Catalogue is out of stock of the seeds until December but, just in case you are a member of our box scheme, that’s what those unusual leaves in your salad bags are. I sowed the seeds directly into the soil, as per the instructions on the packet, and sowed a tray at home too, just to keep an eye on their progress.

Having not planted them before, I gave the seeds our usual salad spacing to be safe, a trowel’s length between the plants and 20 cm between the rows, so that you can easily hoe out any weeds. The directly sown seeds grew much quicker than my home sown tray but it was good to know what they looked like as they poked up a spindly shoot and then developed their ‘leaves’. As the shoot grows it separates into many ‘pieces’ – the candelabra description is just perfect, take a look…

This week Ru and I discussed when would be best to harvest it. It was only later when I was weeding the bed, that I realised that they were ready to be picked. So I tried a technique of pinching out the inner tips to get a lovely little sprig. A small, exploratory harvest, to be sure, but one that gleaned great delight from Ru and the other apprentices when I arrived at Springfield, bearing my special leaves.

If you’re lucky enough to get some in your bag over the coming weeks, enjoy!

* The Real Seed Catalogue is an excellent source of vegetable seeds. Every keen gardener I have spoken to speaks of them with almost a reverent awe, as though they are their own secret supplier of all vegetables wonderful and unique. They are not strictly organic but many are heirloom varieties, grown for good taste and variety. The seeds come packaged with what feels like personal instructions to ensure that you get success with your sowings. And they encourage you to save your seeds, which is a far cry from most other seed companies who want you coming back for more, year after year. At the end of the day, you just know they are the real thing! Justifiable promotion ends…

Sowing dem seeds…

I’ve been at Growing Communities now for a whole four months and though every week I put plenty of plants in the ground to ensure that there’s a constant supply of salad leaves, I’ve not actually grown any of those plants from seed. The reason for this is not of my doing. It’s a matter of geography and the way the work’s been carved up between Bruce, the other apprentice grower, and me. As you might know, if you read this regularly, I work at Allens Gardens on a Tuesday, planting, maintaining, attending and harvesting, until four when we all head over to Springfields to do the rest of the harvesting and the packing. All the seed sowing, however, is done on a Monday at Springfield Gardens (the day that Bruce works), where there is a wonderful greenhouse which is just perfect for the job. Perfect though it might be, it does mean that in all my apprenticing so far, I’ve not sown a single seed.

Today, this changed.

Having told Ru I was keen to get the whole experience, we set today as sowing day. Or at least sowing hour – all the usual work still has to be done at Allens no matter what kind of sowing experience I want to get. So we meet at Springfield Gardens at 8, rather than our 9 o’clock start at Allens. This gives me an hour to get a feel for sowing.

And it’s a satisfyingly methodical experience, sowing seed in bulk, especially when everything is set up for you. This is the ‘seed bench’ we use…

With everything on hand, here’s my take on how to sow your seeds…in ten easy steps…

One, make sure you have the seeds you need – today we are sowing four types to be ready for winter: giant red mustard, rocket, ornamental cabbage and red oak leaf lettuce. ( = these need to be planted out while it is still fairly warm so they have time to establish themselves before the cold months set in.) All the seeds are kept in an airtight container (seed bank) in the shed, out of the light, damp and sun.

Two, get a good sized pile of seed compost to hand. We make this ourselves by twice-sieving leaf mulch. Sieving it makes it really fine and gives us a low nutrient base to which we add sand – 5 parts leaf mulch to one part sand. You don’t need a high nutrient growing medium as the seeds pretty much have all they need within them to germinate. A low-nutrient compost means the roots will grow stronger, really challenging them to search for more nutrients as those in the seeds are used up – at which you point you plant them out.

Three, you take a seed tray and fill it up with compost. We use plug trays which make it easier to plant out the individual seedlings once they’ve grown. You need to really pack the compost in, so you push it down with your fingers and then fill it up a second time.

Four, put the whole tray into a shallow basin of water (about an inch deep) so that the seed tray is soaked from the bottom. When the compost at the top starts to glisten, you know the tray is ready for sowing. If you don’t have time, then you can just water the top – using a watering can with the rose facing upwards means that you can give it a light soak.

Five, place the tray on a drain to get rid of any excess water. We use a drum covered with a plastic grate…

Six, making the peace sign with your fingers, as Ru tells me, you make small indentations in each module.

Seven, sow the seeds! The number of seeds you put in each depression depends on the type of plant you are growing. With the mustard, as it is a plucking leaf, we put in one seed in each. The rocket, on the other hand, is cut and come again, so it makes sense to have more than one plant growing in each plug. This is called multi-seed sowing.

Eight, sieve a light coat of sand across the top. You only cover the soil as much as the thickness of the seed. So really not very much if you are planting lettuces which are tiny! The sieve allows you to really control how much you put on.

Nine, label the tray! It’s really important to do this at this stage so you know what is in each tray as it starts to grow! You can get special labels for the purpose but a cut up yoghurt pot works just as well and you get to recycle those yoghurt pots you didn’t know what to do with at the same time…We put the name of the plant (i.e. mustard), the type of plant it is (i.e. giant red) and the date it was sown.

Ten, cover with a propagator lid and put in a good spot. We keep them in the greenhouse until they start to grow. Then we harden them off for a week before planting them out ( = this is where plants are allowed to get used to being outside), either at Allens Gardens or at Springfields. All in all, they should take around 3 weeks before they are ready to go forth…

Check out my handiwork! Managed to sow 7 trays before dashing off to Allens Gardens to work out how much was to be harvested today. Yes, I know, there are more than 7 trays here. If I’m honest with you (which of course I always am) it took quite a bit longer than an hour to do these 7 and Ru finished off the final four trays quickly while I went on ahead. Still, I’m very pleased with the experience.

Weekly stats…
Grower: 1 | Apprentices: 2 | Volunteers: 8 | Support workers: 1 | Visitors: a few | Dog: 1

Harvested from the site…
Salad greens & edible flowers: 21kg | 3 punnets blackberries: 750g | Basil: 90g| Tomatoes: 2kg | Chard: 5kg | Figs: 30

Sown…
Red Leaf mustard: 3 trays | Ornamental cabbage: 2 trays | Garden rocket: 2 trays | Red oakleaf lettuce: 4 trays