Hi Sarah, Just thought I'd give a bit of advice on direct sowing from someone who works with direct sowing in the comercial Veg business. Perhaps you might find it helpful with direct sowing your flowers! When you direct sow, it is often better to direct sow in neat lines on your beds. This is because, even on no dig beds, you will undoubtedly get weed pressure, and often faster than your plants can germinate, which will out compete your crop. Not only that, when plants are in the cotyledon stage, it is hard to figure out what is a weed and what is your crop, especially if you have sown multiple types of seeds. This is why is is great to sow in neat, straight lines down your bed in your desired spacing, so that you can run a hoe up and down between the lines. You can even do this before your crop has germinated if you know where the lines are. It also minimises hand weeding throughout the season. It is also good to do so because it allows for ventilation between your crops and can prevent diseases. I create furrows on my beds easily by sticking some pieces of pipe on my bed rake tongs to create the desired spacing, then run my rake down the bed. You can then either sprinkle your seed in the furrow or you can use a direct seeder tool. You can pick a cheap plastic one up for 20 pounds online, or if you are looking for something more reliable and adjustable to your seed, check out the pinpoint seeder. Once you have sown your seeds, you can use the back of the rake to flatten your furrows and burry the seed slightly. This is another benefit: All seeds are at the same depth, so they should germinate at a similar speed and get similar amounts of moisture and heat. Raking loose seed in, can make the germination erratic due to inconsistent planting depth. The best thing you can do to help your seeds germinate is to keep it moist and watered, just like when you seed into trays. Fleece or a cover definitely helps keep moisture in, but it is always worth checking daily, as if your bed dries out, you will get erratic or poor germination. Hope this helps! Keep up the great work as always, you are such an inspiration and I one day hope to transition (at least partially) to cut flowers.
Hi Valentina, the thing with no dig beds based in cardboard and compost, you don’t get weeds coming through, so in my opinion l think scattering the seeds is ok.
@@debbiehouse180 it depends how good your compost is. Unless you have a great seed free compost that has gotten really hot during the composting process, you will always get weeds popping up when you first make a no dig bed. It is definitely less than if you till the ground, but I have never experienced a completely weed free no dig bed in the first two years, and then you always get weed seeds blowing in. I assume that is why Sarah uses weed membrane even though she makes no dig beds, as in a comercial setting, it takes so much time to either hand weed all the baby weeds, or hoe (which some people don't agree with no dig beds)
I just did this in a very large front flower bed with new roses(7), underplanted with dahlias(24) & added annual seeds sown around the edges (on top of compost). Fingers crossed! 🤞😅
The worm castings is worm poo! It's great for seeds and goes a long way, you can sprinkle it anywhere, even houseplants. Just water right away. Also (and I could be wrong depending how much rain you get) however I think you need to keep that cardboard soaked so it will be soft enough for the roots to go through soon. Thank you so much for all your videos. I loved the horse going by too! haha video-bombed you!
I still have a jar of L.A.B (eggshell extract) in my refrigerator so I'll be applying that for the first time this year( majorly diluted of coarse) I'm always learning interesting things from you :)
The one you grew last year, I was sure it was setaria macrostachya... Theres a setaria italica ‘limelight’ available over in the US which looks similar, but I couldn’t find a supplier of it in the U.K.
Hi Sarah.. How to do u protect ur flower plants from insects like aphids, black fly and whitefly and mites??? I struggle so much even in a small back garden and am loosing the joy of flower gardening.. 😕
Hi., firstly, I recommend not using any miracle grow or chemical fertilizers., these cause a lot of problems for plants after their first push., including making them more susceptible to infestations. Use natural and organic fertilizers., like earthworms castings.., Also, look into natural pesticides. Like food grade diatomaceous earth, both sprinkled on the ground around the plant and a tablespoon resolves in a litre spray bottle to spray on the tips and the undersides of leaves., also homemade ant bait traps and slug/earwig traps. Also, planting companion plants and plants that are natural repellents, like marigolds, mints, garlic.. You can even plant some plants that are susceptible to certain bugs to attract those bugs to other areas of the gardens., and deter them from the others.
Yes I usually don’t battle with those things I just let nature do it’s thing, but if you can encourage healthy soil and a healthy and varied environment in your garden you should bring pest predators there to help you out.
@@silencedflower8441 yes I have used nermo oil, peppermint oil sirays last year but not much help.. It adds so much workload. Mt his year I just started diatomaceous earth as water spray.. Seems to have no impact even after 3 days on my rose buds smothered by them 😣 ends up in deformed flowers..
Hi Sarah,
Just thought I'd give a bit of advice on direct sowing from someone who works with direct sowing in the comercial Veg business. Perhaps you might find it helpful with direct sowing your flowers!
When you direct sow, it is often better to direct sow in neat lines on your beds. This is because, even on no dig beds, you will undoubtedly get weed pressure, and often faster than your plants can germinate, which will out compete your crop. Not only that, when plants are in the cotyledon stage, it is hard to figure out what is a weed and what is your crop, especially if you have sown multiple types of seeds. This is why is is great to sow in neat, straight lines down your bed in your desired spacing, so that you can run a hoe up and down between the lines. You can even do this before your crop has germinated if you know where the lines are. It also minimises hand weeding throughout the season. It is also good to do so because it allows for ventilation between your crops and can prevent diseases. I create furrows on my beds easily by sticking some pieces of pipe on my bed rake tongs to create the desired spacing, then run my rake down the bed. You can then either sprinkle your seed in the furrow or you can use a direct seeder tool. You can pick a cheap plastic one up for 20 pounds online, or if you are looking for something more reliable and adjustable to your seed, check out the pinpoint seeder. Once you have sown your seeds, you can use the back of the rake to flatten your furrows and burry the seed slightly. This is another benefit: All seeds are at the same depth, so they should germinate at a similar speed and get similar amounts of moisture and heat. Raking loose seed in, can make the germination erratic due to inconsistent planting depth.
The best thing you can do to help your seeds germinate is to keep it moist and watered, just like when you seed into trays. Fleece or a cover definitely helps keep moisture in, but it is always worth checking daily, as if your bed dries out, you will get erratic or poor germination.
Hope this helps! Keep up the great work as always, you are such an inspiration and I one day hope to transition (at least partially) to cut flowers.
Hi Valentina, the thing with no dig beds based in cardboard and compost, you don’t get weeds coming through, so in my opinion l think scattering the seeds is ok.
@@debbiehouse180 Compost can have weeds. Especially, like she said, she wasn't sure of the compost quality.
@@debbiehouse180 it depends how good your compost is. Unless you have a great seed free compost that has gotten really hot during the composting process, you will always get weeds popping up when you first make a no dig bed. It is definitely less than if you till the ground, but I have never experienced a completely weed free no dig bed in the first two years, and then you always get weed seeds blowing in. I assume that is why Sarah uses weed membrane even though she makes no dig beds, as in a comercial setting, it takes so much time to either hand weed all the baby weeds, or hoe (which some people don't agree with no dig beds)
Great video Sarah. It would be interesting to see a follow-up video about the results of your experiment sometime.
Hi Sarah, I DS Persian cress and it's coming up beautifully. Great germination! Zone 9A Victoria BC
I just did this in a very large front flower bed with new roses(7), underplanted with dahlias(24) & added annual seeds sown around the edges (on top of compost). Fingers crossed! 🤞😅
That sounds beautiful! I hope it turns out the way you envisioned it. 💕🌸
do you have an update on the experiment? i couldt find another video about it.
Thank you.
good night my friend, keep up the good work, thank you for sharing, I wish you more success
LOVE this can hardly wait to see how it turns out well done.
Hi Sarah. Phacelia tanacetifolia is a great seed to direct sow. Gorgeous flower and is also a cover crop.
so nice work mam great vedi
The worm castings is worm poo! It's great for seeds and goes a long way, you can sprinkle it anywhere, even houseplants. Just water right away. Also (and I could be wrong depending how much rain you get) however I think you need to keep that cardboard soaked so it will be soft enough for the roots to go through soon. Thank you so much for all your videos. I loved the horse going by too! haha video-bombed you!
I still have a jar of L.A.B (eggshell extract) in my refrigerator so I'll be applying that for the first time this year( majorly diluted of coarse) I'm always learning interesting things from you :)
Corn flower is great for direct sowing. You should give it a go
I have lots of cornflower growing that self seeded last year and some are even flowering now, I'm delighted
The one you grew last year, I was sure it was setaria macrostachya... Theres a setaria italica ‘limelight’ available over in the US which looks similar, but I couldn’t find a supplier of it in the U.K.
What do you use for a cover crop? I’ve never used it but would like to this year. Great videos I’ve used your advice so much over the years. Thanks
In some situations, when I direct sow I mix the seed with sand (sharp is best). It helps you see if there are any bare patches.
👍😘
The card board needs to go beyond the bed as grass will spread in ,, if you can lay more do ☺️☘️
Hi Sarah.. How to do u protect ur flower plants from insects like aphids, black fly and whitefly and mites??? I struggle so much even in a small back garden and am loosing the joy of flower gardening.. 😕
Hi., firstly, I recommend not using any miracle grow or chemical fertilizers., these cause a lot of problems for plants after their first push., including making them more susceptible to infestations. Use natural and organic fertilizers., like earthworms castings..,
Also, look into natural pesticides. Like food grade diatomaceous earth, both sprinkled on the ground around the plant and a tablespoon resolves in a litre spray bottle to spray on the tips and the undersides of leaves., also homemade ant bait traps and slug/earwig traps.
Also, planting companion plants and plants that are natural repellents, like marigolds, mints, garlic..
You can even plant some plants that are susceptible to certain bugs to attract those bugs to other areas of the gardens., and deter them from the others.
Yes I usually don’t battle with those things I just let nature do it’s thing, but if you can encourage healthy soil and a healthy and varied environment in your garden you should bring pest predators there to help you out.
@@silencedflower8441 yes I have used nermo oil, peppermint oil sirays last year but not much help.. It adds so much workload. Mt his year I just started diatomaceous earth as water spray.. Seems to have no impact even after 3 days on my rose buds smothered by them 😣 ends up in deformed flowers..
Lol..i.cant do the other..no.rowa for me...even my veggie.garden....direct.sewn no rows...is the only thing i.can do with out killing things.