Gardening Guide: Sowing Seeds Outdoors 🌱

Photo by Joshua Lanzarini on Unsplash

Square foot gardening is a popular gardening method that allows gardeners to maximize their space and grow a variety of plants in a small area. The idea behind this method is to divide your garden into square-foot sections and plant different crops in each section. This method not only saves space but also helps to reduce the amount of water and fertilizer used. In this blog post, we'll explain how to sow seeds outdoors when following a square foot gardening method.

Step 1: Plan Your Garden

The first step to sowing seeds in a square foot garden is to plan out your garden space. Here are some considerations for this:

• The types of growing space you have
• Raised bed, in-ground, containers
• How the sun moves in your yard throughout the day, and which areas get the most sun.  
• What types of crops are best suited to your growing space and environment
• Light levels, wind, season length, soil drainage.
• What crops you want to grow & will actually eat
• Do you really want to end up with 10 cabbages? 400 radishes?
• How much space you will need for each plant, and how tall will they get
• Will my corn shade out my beets?
• How many seeds you actually have & how old they are
• Are these onion seeds from 2014 likely to germinate?
• Whether you can/should install supports in the area
• Poles for climbing plants like pole beans
• The watering & fertilizer needs of adjacent plants, how you plan to water & feed them
• Companion planting
• See cheat sheets available online
• Crop rotation
• What was here last year? - more details on this in a future blog post!

This can be a lot to think about at once, so using a garden planning tool like plannt.ca can help make this step fun and interactive. Once you have your plan and it's the right time of year to sow your seeds, proceed to the next step.

Step 2: Prepare Your Soil

Prepare your soil by adding compost and other organic matter to it. This will help to improve the soil structure and provide the necessary nutrients for your plants. Make sure the soil is loose and easy to work with.  Certain seeds will have difficulty coming through if they are covered with heavy mulch, so check your seed packet for special instructions related to sowing.  For example, some crops prefer to be planted on hills so that their soil is warmer than the surrounding ground.

Step 3: Define the Grid

The next step is to visualize the grid that will divide your garden into square-foot sections. If you want to create a physical grid to make the divisions clear, you can string twine across, lay strips of wood on the soil, or many other options- whatever suits your space best! Each square should be approximately 12 inches by 12 inches (1 square foot).  If you like, you can also add markers in your garden to label what you have planted in each space.

Step 4: Sow Your Seeds

Now it's time to plant your seeds. The key to successful seed sowing is to plant the right amount of seeds in each square. For larger plants like tomatoes or peppers, you only want to end up with 1 plant per square, so sow your seeds accordingly. For smaller plants like lettuce or radishes, you can plant anywhere from to 4-9 seeds per square.  There are many cheat sheets available online that provide the "plants per square foot" values for a range of crops.  When in doubt, you can always rely on the seed and plant spacing information on your seed packet.

Generally, the rule of thumb is to plant seeds at a depth of 2-3 times their diameter, but you can also check the seed packet instructions for the recommended planting depth.  Plan out where the seeds will go by making indentations in the surface of the soil to the specified depth and with the correct spacing.  Drop a few seeds into each indentation.  Cover your seeds with soil and water them very gently to avoid disturbing them.  Make sure to compact the soil slightly so that animals don't see disturbed soil and get curious.  Re-cover the area with mulch if needed.

Step 5: Protect your seedlings!

The wild outdoors can be a dangerous place for a tender seedling.  Birds, squirrels, and other critters could decide at any moment to partake in the microgreens buffet you have prepared for them.  If you want to rest easy, many products like bird netting, chicken wire, and even DIY solutions like wire mesh garbage cans can help shield your crops in their early days.  Keep an eye out for any shenanigans, and make sure that the newly sown seeds get the water they need to germinate successfully.

In conclusion, sowing seeds in a square foot garden is a great way to maximize your space and grow a variety of crops. By following these steps, you can create your very own ultra-productive food garden.  Try things out, learn what works best for you, and note your observations to make the next season even better.  Happy growing!