sowing seeds

I welcome you all on the page of the sowing seeds. I tried to put some information about sowing seeds of some vegetable crops onto the page of the sowing seeds. Sowing seeds of some crop species is included on the page of the related crops of growing series. 

Farmers can start growing vegetables from sowing seeds either in a kitchen gardens or a large commercial vegetable garden. For sowing seeds, they must plough / plow field to make fine tilth. Sowing seeds are done mainly by two methods: The direct method of sowing seeds is that in which farmers start growing vegetables sowing seeds directly in a field and growing the crop in the same field to take the final harvest. Another is indirect method in which gardening is started sowing seeds in a raised seed bed and transferring the healthy seedlings to the final production field to take final harvest. See a listing of some crops with their sowing seed methods.

Crops Method of sowing seeds

Sowing seeds in a seed bed and transferred Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris): Sowing seeds directly in the field Beet (Beta vulgaris): Sowing seeds directly in the field Cabbage (Brassica oleracea): Sowing seeds) in a seed bed and transferred Carrot (Daucus carota): Sowing seeds directly in the field Corn (Zea mays): Sowing seeds directly in the field Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) Sowing seeds in a seed bed and transferred Egg plant (Solanum melongena) Sowing seeds in a seed bed and transferred Lettuce (Lactuca sativa): Sowing seeds directly in the field Lima bean (Phaseolus limensis): Sowing seeds directly in the field Melon (Cucumis melo): Sowing seeds directly in the field Onion (Allium cepa) Sowing seeds in a seed bed and transferred Pea (Pisum sativum): Sowing seeds directly in the field Pepper (Capsicum annuum) Sowing seeds in a seed bed and transferred Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) Sowing seeds in a seed bed and transferred Soybean (Glycine max): Sowing seeds directly in the field Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) Sowing seeds in a seed bed and transferred

In indirect method of sowing seeds, seedlings are transferred when they are 20 to 30 days old. In the duration, if the seeds were sown in large field, much expensive can be operation of the weeds removal. But in seed bed, removal of the weeds will be cheaper. And only healthy seedlings are transplanted in the production plot in the indirect method of sowing seeds.

Indirect method of sowing seeds: Sowing seeds densely is not good to get healthy seedlings. Don't apply undecomposed compost to the seed bed while its preparation, otherwise ants will damage the seeds. Vermicompost or well-decomposed compost is good to apply for the seed bed preparation. Sow seeds in rows. After sowing a thin layer of fine soil is covered in a simple method. The thickness of the soils cover above the seed depends on the seed size. Larger the seed size, higher the strength the seedlings to exert and remove the upper most soil cover. So think on the matter. Broccoli seeds should be covered with thin (not more than 1-cm thick) layer of soils. But corn or bean seed can be covered with two to ten centimeter cover soils. After sowing seeds in the seed bed, fine spray of water should be given lightly to wet the seeds and moisturize the 10-cm deep soil if it is seed bed. Irrigation in the seed bed after sowing seeds varies from crop to crop and soil texture to texture. Seed bed should not be far from the production field. Sowing seeds can also be done in polythene bags, then there will be minimum transplantation injury while transplanting from the polythene bags to the production field.

Some instructions are also written in the seed packet for sowing seeds. So read them carefully. You can ask agricultural extension officer too to know the details if you have any doubts.

Sowing seeds in rows is better than sowing seeds randomly. Even in the single row, spacing is required in addition to the spacing between rows. Row spacing and seed spacing are also dependent to the crop species and age of the seedlings you are going to transplant.

How do you uproot the seedlings? First your transplantation field should be very ready for the transplant. Secondly; one week before the uprooting of the seedlings, the seed bed should be made drier stopping the irrigation to harden the seedlings. About half an hour earlier of uprooting the vegetable or any crop seedlings, the seed bed should be irrigated. If you can uproot the seedlings with some soils, it damages less to the seedlings while handling and transplanting the seedlings. For it, you use a spoon. The size of the spoon depends on the root size of the seedlings which also depends on the crop species and age of the seedlings. Don't delay to transplant the seedlings. Delaying the transplantation ultimately lowers the yield of the vegetable or crops make the vegetable plants weak and susceptible.

Direct method of sowing seeds: The seed of the crop species which ought to be sown on a seed bed is if sown in large production field, it is very difficult to care the seedlings in the large field. For sowing seeds of such crop, fine tilth field is required. Uprooting and transplantation shocks will make the seedlings susceptible to the pathogen attack and lead finally less production of the crop.

In essence; growing greens, or growing vegetables or growing green leafy vegetables is not difficult. Just plough the plot, make fine tilth, sow the seeds, cover the seeds with thin layer of soils, and irrigate the soils with fine and gentle spray of water. Then wait the seedlings to emerge. See watching the plot. Don't let the plot dry. If it is becoming dry, irrigate the plot with suitable available method.

Sowing seeds

Sowing seeds of some vegetable crops are mentioned here. And sowing seeds of different crops are mentioned in the other pages in the website. For example, sowing seeds of broccoli is mentioned in the web page of growing broccoli. Please search the method of sowing seeds through individual crop. Sowing seeds of carrots: Sowing seeds of carrots by direct method is better than the indirect method. Sowing seeds on a nursery bed and transferring them to the production field do not yield quality shape of the carrots roots. Seedling thinning is practiced if sowing seeds is done directly in the production field. The sowing seeds of the carrot and thinning should be done in such as way that the plants of the carrot should be 2 cm apart at least in a row. 

Sowing seeds of the carrot is done shallowly or 1 cm to 1.5 cm deep.

Sowing seeds of radish (Raphanus sativus L.): The distance between rows of about 2 feet is optimum for sowing seeds of radish. Sowing seeds of radish is done in a finely ploughed field. Sowing seeds is practiced in flat or raised beds.

Sowing seeds of sweet potato: Sowing seeds of sweet potato is done at flat beds. But sowing seeds is practiced in the raised bed if there is not ample drainage facility in the production field. Sowing seeds of sweet potato is meant for sowing sprouts of sweet potato. The sweet potato slips form in tuberous roots of the sweet potato. Professional growers produce the sweet potato slips sprouts to sell the home gardeners the sweet potato planting materials. Row to row distance is about 1.5 inches for sowing seeds (slips) of the sweet potato.

Sowing seeds of onion: Sowing seeds of onion is done directly in the onion production field of raising seedlings in a nursery bed and transferring to the production field.  Sowing seeds of onion is done in the production field such a way that one meter row should have 20 to 30 plants. The row to row distance is about 50 cm. Home growers also practice sowing the dry sets (bulbs) of onion for leaf as well bulb production. Sowing bulbs yield onion harvest higher and earlier crop. Sowing seeds is generally practiced producing seedlings than transplanting to the large production field.

Sowing seeds of cucumber.: Sowing seeds of cucumber is done by seeds. Sowing seeds of cucumber is done at 2 to 3 feet apart in a single row and rows are spaced 6 feet apart. Some cucumbers are vine and some are bushy. Early maturing bush cucumber produce cucumber fruits in 60 days. Cucumber vines are supported in trail on the ground or trellies or pole or fence. The cucumber plant produces male (staminate) flower as well as female (pistillate) flowers. So the cucumber plant is called monoecious. First few flowers tend to be male. Nowadays in the USA and European countries the commercial breeding institutes have developed gynoecious commercial hybrid varieties of the cucumber. The parthenocarpic hybrid varieties of the cucumber are generally produced in greenhouses.

Sowing seeds of watermelon.: Sowing seeds of watermelon is done in rows. The rows are kept about 8 feet apart. About 3 feet is maintained between the plants of the watermelon. Four seeds of the watermelon is sown per hill and only two seedlings are maintained per hill after germination.

Sowing seeds of muskmelon.: The plant species is sown by direct sowing in the production field. Sowing seeds of the muskmelon is done at 2.5 feet apart between the plants and 5 feet apart between the rows.

Sowing seeds of squash: (Curcubita spp. L.) Sowing seeds of squash is done by sowing seeds directly in the production field. The practice of sowing seeds of squash is done sowing seeds 3 feet apart between plants and 10 feet between the rows. Sowing seeds of squash is done maintaining the distance of 3 x 12 feet for summer squash and 2 x 6 feet for winter squash cultivars.