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Foxglove - sowing seeds

HoneyheartHoneyheart Posts: 40
in Plants
Does anyone have any tips on sowing foxglove seeds. I've grown lots but always end up with a big patch of seed all together, as they are soooooo small. I've heard about mixing with sand (but only have building sand),mcould I use rice or sugar instead?? Any other tips to help sow them thinly, spread across the seed tray, which would make pricking out easier? Thank you
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  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    They're best sown direct where you want them, and just remove what isn't needed.
    If you really want individual plants to place, a tray with individual cells would be easier. Sow a couple of seeds in each one, and remove the weaker one. If more than 2 go in, just remove what you need to leave one.
    The technique is to pour a little into your cupped hand and gently tap until a couple fall into the cell  :)   
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • HoneyheartHoneyheart Posts: 40
    Fairygirl - thanks but tapping seeds from my cupped hand or pinching an amount between thumb and finger always results in lots and lots of seeds going in one place or being picked up, remember they are tiny and inseparable. I was really interested to hear if anyone had any smart tips to ensure seeds were sown thinly. I am wondering about mixing with sugar (as it's white and seeds would show up so you could easily see when you'd mixed them evenly), but no one has commented on that idea. Sowing one or two seeds into a cell tray is impossible in my view!
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    I've never done it but some people recommend mixing small seed with fine sand.


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    edited June 2018
    Well, that’s all I’ve ever down and I sow them every year, it works for me. You must find a way that suits you. 
    You’ll get use to it in time.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I would have thought you could mix the seed with whatever you wanted. But not salt.

    Perhaps trying putting a cup of find sand and/or very fine sieved peat in a smooth, clean mixing bowl. And then use a hand mixer to whiz everything up. If the beaters are like those you would use for a cake and if you do it for a while, it should distribute the seed better than trying by hand, I would have thought. Then dust out the mix where you want it in the garden.
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    My dad always used to mix fine seed with ground rice.  It stays visible longer than sugar would.
  • paul_in_surreypaul_in_surrey Posts: 239
    Being as they are like dust you get bazillions in each pack or even more if you collect yourself. Also, as they grow quite large you're going to need to spread them over quite a big area if you're trying to sow direct. So, I'm wondering why you want to spread them thinly? If it's because you want every seed to reach maturity I would think you'd be overwhelmed with foxgloves. If it's the thinning out that's the problem I would just cut the ones you don't want with scissors after they've germinated leaving the ones you want to keep to develop.
    “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
  • HoneyheartHoneyheart Posts: 40
    Ok, I want to sow thinly as it makes it easier to prick out. I find I think very tricky when you sow tiny seeds and the only ones to germinate are in a big clump, you inevitably waste lots just trying to separate them. I know they won't all germinate but Sod's law the ones that do will be in a big mat of seedlings. And in terms of how many I need, well I always need more! I have an acre of garden to populate so a hundred or even two hundred foxgloves will easily be absorbed into borders, field margin and by hedges.
  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053
    Probably best just to sow directly in patches. Take a pinch between finger and thumb and just rub both together as you move your hand over the patch. Works for me.........
    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • YviestevieYviestevie Posts: 7,066
    I just managed to sow them 5 to a 9cm pot.  Didn't mix them anything I just poured a small pinch into my palm and damped a finger slightly on the other hand and knocked them off one at a time.
    Hi from Kingswinford in the West Midlands
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