Direct Sowing

The first stage of the operation is to tread the seed bed down. This will consolidate overly loose soil and break down any remaining lumps. Shuffle the feet over the surface of the bed covering all of the surface slowly and steadily. A little dust raised on a seed bed in april is always a lovely sight.

 

Once all of the required soil is trod down, go over it with a rake to remove the footprints and obtain that really fine tilth required.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, set  a string line where you wish to sow your seeds. A string line should be taut and sit as close to the soil as possible. The corner of a rake, hoe or similar can be used to draw out the seed drill to the required depth. If it is a very long row and the string-line moves despite the tension, keep one foot on the line as you move backwards.

Then the seed can be sown. Depth and spacings differ from crop to crop, the seed packet is the best guidance for specific varieties. Take care not to sow too thickly, or even better learn to 'station sow' - dropping two or three seeds every so often - this saves the wastage from too much thinning later.

 

Larger seed, like these broad beans, are easy to space out along the drill.

 

Peas should be sown in a much wider, flat-bottomed drill, spacing the seed out evenly as you go. Note that this wider drill was taken out to the side of the string line, rather than beneath it as with narrow drills.

 

 

 

To cover the drills, use a similar method to when the bed was trod, shuffle along the row with the heels almost together, but toes quite wide apart. This will pull the soil back in whilst the heels firm it back into place.

To finish, very lightly rake over the bed, always in the direction of the drills, never against. Make sure the rows are marked and labelled.