Green Culture Singapore Articles

Contributor & Photos: Rebekah • Available online 1 August 2005

I will do a week-by-week photo shoot of the growth of healthy Brassica plants, from the germination period through to harvesting. For this trail, I will use Green Macerata cauliflower. I will include step-by-step instructions on what I use, and how I've done things. This seed raising guide is applicable to other plant seeds as well!

You will need:

• 1 vivid marker
• 1 plant tag (cut up an old ice cream lid if you don't have an old plant tag handy that you can re-use)
• 1 recycled vegetable tray or similar
• 1 small jug of water (minus the dog biscuit the bird threw in)
• seeds
• seed raising mix
• spoon
• old newspaper to go under the tray (use newspaper because it'll help to soak up the excess water and is easy to throw away or put on the garden)

Above, clockwise from top-left: Seeds (cauliflower, in this example), seed-tray, some water and seed raising mix.

Method:

Step 1:

First you put the tray on top of the news paper so later on you don't get your surface area dirty.

Above: Filling up the seed-tray with seed raising mix.

Step 2:

Using the spoon, scoop your seed raising mix (I use Yates 'BackMagic' seed raising mix with success each time) into your vegetable tray.

Above: Seed raising mix pressed down into the cells.
The cells were subsequently watered.

Step 3:

Gently press the seed raising mix down into the cells in the tray.

Step 4:

Water the cells. This will also help settle the seed raising mix before putting your seed(s) in.

Above: Sowing the seeds.

Step 5:

Place 1, or more seeds per cell if you desire.

Step 6:

Scoop more seed raising mix over top of the seeds, being careful not to move the seeds into the corner of your cell. Water again if needed.

Step 7:

Gently press the seed raising mix down, and water again.

Above: Don't forget to stick in the tag, especially if you have sown different seeds!

Step 8:

Name your plant tag with the vivid and place into your tray so you know what seeds you've planted.

Above: A sunny spot is necessary for the healthy growth of seedlings!

Step 9:

Put tray in a sunny and warm place to germinate.

Above: Germination has taken place!

Step 10:

We now have to wait. Depending on the seeds sown, in this case, six days is required for the first cauliflower seedling to sprout!

Above: True leaves are showing up.

Step 11:

The first true leaves are starting to show after three weeks. Only 2 seeds have to be stricked, and since they sprouted I put them outside to make them cooler, and not to grow all 'spidery'... that's the special secret. Keep them cool, and they won't grow all 'leggy/spidery/stalky'.

Above: It will soon be planting out time for you!

Step 12:

Its not far away from going in the ground now... Give it another 2 to 3 weeks before I plant it out.

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

Rebekah is a member of the Green Culture Singapore (GCS) Discussion Forum. She lives in South Canterbury, which is located in the South Island of New Zealand. She owns a diary farm and and loves growing vegetables. To find out more about her farm, click on the following link which leads you to a topic she started in the GCS Discussion Forum: Rebekah's farm.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Green Culture Singapore is extremely grateful to Rebekah's contribution. Although seed sowing and raising may seem to be a relatively easy task, its good to read this simple guide to avoid some potential pit-falls! This article will definitely be a great help to newbies in seed raising.