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Seed Bed - What is it in real life please

NewBoy2NewBoy2 Posts: 1,813
in Tools and techniques
I read a lot about using a seed bed and despite talking to fellow allotmenteers I cant seem to get a consensus of
1. What it looks like
2. Is it worth using
3. Is a permanent fixture

Help please friends as I am trying be better this season   :p
Everyone is just trying to be Happy.....So lets help Them.

Posts

  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053
    A seed bed is just an area of ground that has been well worked, fed lightly and has a fine tilth. It can be permanent or transient. As big or as little depending on the number of seeds you have to sow. 
    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    The area is as hogweed has described.
    Often an area out of the way of the main garden that's used as an outdoor nursery.
    Say you want to sow foxgloves outside.
    In June you sow the seed in the prepared Seed bed.
    When the seedlings appear, thin them and grow them on a bit until July/August, then you could move them to your Nursery bed to grow on a bit more before planting out in the garden in Autumn or Spring.
    I use a spare area in my veg patch for Nursery bed for perennials that I've sown in the greenhouse

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    It’s ok as long as you don’t sow plants that slugs love.  As fast as they pop up, slugs will chew them off.

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • NewBoy2NewBoy2 Posts: 1,813
    Hogweed and Pete

    Does temperature and positioning re wind and shelter etc matter

    I have a conservatory and heated mats from the pet shop as my current option
    Everyone is just trying to be Happy.....So lets help Them.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited March 2019
    A seedbed is usually meant as an area of well prepared soil, raked down to a fine tilth, (often in a veg patch but can be anywhere) where a gardener will sow seeds that will happily grow outside without needing bottom heat for germination. 

    I often start my hardy perennials such as foxgloves, delphiniums aquilegia etc in a short row in the veg patch and prick them out and grow them on there until they’re ready to be planted into their permanent positions. 

    I also grow brassicas in the same way. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    @Dovefromabove. Don’t the slugs whip the tops off, I’ve never successfully grown anything that way, only parsnips, they seem to leave those alone. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    The veg patch is in the sunniest part of the garden where the soil is quite gritty ... I also treated the area with nematodes a few years ago to be on the safe side and put a few beer traps around particularly vulnerable plants ... we rarely have a slug problem on the veg patch (says I, hoping I've not tempted fate :o ).

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • hogweedhogweed Posts: 4,053
    @NewBoy2 . Ideally the seed bed should be in a sheltered part of the garden.
    However, it seems from your last question that you just want to sow some seeds. If you can tell us what seeds you want to sow, we will be able to tell you where to sow them. You can quite happily sow seeds anywhere from in a pot on the kitchen windowsill to outside in a properly prepared seed bed. The main requirement is that all locations should be sheltered, in good light and well-tended. 
    So tell us what you want to grow and we will take it from there. 
    'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
  • FlinsterFlinster Posts: 883
    I guess the main advantages of a seedbed in good garden soil is that, you are not buying compost, not buying pots/modules etc, seedlings grow with the microorganisms present in your soil so may transplant/grow better and your windowsills/kitchen table/etc etc are not full of pots/modules...think I need a seed bed! 😂
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    Flinster said:
    I guess the main advantages of a seedbed in good garden soil is that, you are not buying compost, not buying pots/modules etc, seedlings grow with the microorganisms present in your soil so may transplant/grow better and your windowsills/kitchen table/etc etc are not full of pots/modules...think I need a seed bed! 😂
    Exactly so  :)  My father always started things like brassicas, leeks, wallflowers etc in a seedbed on the Allotments then transplanted them to their final positions. 
    AB Still learning

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