Alan- it's a great thing to do with your daughter and you'll have good fun! As you'll see from Busy Lizzie's pic her veg are in nice straight rows in well prepared soil and that's the best advice I can give you. It makes it easier to tell which are weeds and which are the plants you've sown! Label the end of each row too as soon as you've sown and don't sow too generously.
A few little quick growing seeds and/or some strawberries will keep your daughter interested too (especially if you can give her a little patch of her own) - they always want them to grow yesterday!! A couple of tomato plants on a window sill is a good idea as well as she'll see quite quick progress.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Some of the seeds were tiny and my 9 yr old planted them .. I think she did a pinch at a time ... we'll know next time ... we have a good project for the weekend now tho...
You're way ahead of me Alan! So many of the veg seeds are tiny which does make it difficult. If you mix them in a little sand it can make it easier for little hands.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
apparently the other mistake I made was putting them all in at the same time .. we'll have 30 lettuce all ready at the same time ! .. lettuce soup anyone?
I always sow parsnips a pinch at a time. so I am in complete agreement with your daughter. Frankly parsnips can be a bit reluctant to germinate, so I sow 4 or 5 seeds every 9 inches along the row. Then, when they begin to grow, I pull out the weeker looking seedlings just leaving the best looking one. I can't see the point in sowing all along the row, however thinly, when you only need a plant every 9 inches etc. Any seeds sown in the remaining 8 inches are always doomed.
This works for parsnips, turnips, beetroot, kholrabi etc.
Just to confirm j_gilberts doubts about me mixing up turnips and parsnips, here's a better picture of the plant growing where I'd planted Turnips .. having looked at Lizzies pic I'm pretty sure this isn't either a parsnip or a turnip ... must be creeping buttercup ...
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Alan- it's a great thing to do with your daughter and you'll have good fun! As you'll see from Busy Lizzie's pic her veg are in nice straight rows in well prepared soil and that's the best advice I can give you. It makes it easier to tell which are weeds and which are the plants you've sown! Label the end of each row too as soon as you've sown and don't sow too generously.
A few little quick growing seeds and/or some strawberries will keep your daughter interested too (especially if you can give her a little patch of her own) - they always want them to grow yesterday!! A couple of tomato plants on a window sill is a good idea as well as she'll see quite quick progress.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Some of the seeds were tiny and my 9 yr old planted them .. I think she did a pinch at a time ... we'll know next time ... we have a good project for the weekend now tho...
We have tomatoes and runner beans in the conservatory at the moment ...
You're way ahead of me Alan! So many of the veg seeds are tiny which does make it difficult. If you mix them in a little sand it can make it easier for little hands.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
apparently the other mistake I made was putting them all in at the same time .. we'll have 30 lettuce all ready at the same time ! .. lettuce soup anyone?
I always sow parsnips a pinch at a time. so I am in complete agreement with your daughter. Frankly parsnips can be a bit reluctant to germinate, so I sow 4 or 5 seeds every 9 inches along the row. Then, when they begin to grow, I pull out the weeker looking seedlings just leaving the best looking one. I can't see the point in sowing all along the row, however thinly, when you only need a plant every 9 inches etc. Any seeds sown in the remaining 8 inches are always doomed.
This works for parsnips, turnips, beetroot, kholrabi etc.
Just to confirm j_gilberts doubts about me mixing up turnips and parsnips, here's a better picture of the plant growing where I'd planted Turnips .. having looked at Lizzies pic I'm pretty sure this isn't either a parsnip or a turnip ... must be creeping buttercup ...
That is a creeping buttercup, and you really do not want that in your veg plot, nor anywhere else for that matter.
I'll exterminate.... thanks