Sowing seeds is fun however you need to handle seeds efficiently as they will turn into healthy plants if you sow them with care. Healthy plants will reap healthy produce and thats when you may also need to know food preservation methods for taking care of your harvest. Many vegetable seeds are very small hence it becomes difficult to sow them accurately, here we are going to discuss how to simplify the process of sowing seeds and improving the rate of germination thereby making your garden healthy.

Seed tapes: We can use seed tapes to maintain space between seeds which helps in planting small seeds. Make a paste with equal parts flour and water then take a paper or toilet paper roll whichever available. Drop daubs of the flour paste on equal distances throughout the paper using a small paint brush or your fingertips. Two seeds should be dropped on each daub before it dries, these daubs of paste will hold the seed. Let the paper dry then cut the paper such that each piece of paper has a seed daub on it, plant the seeds in their designated holes. If you plan to sow the seeds later, the paper should be rolled up and stored once the seed daubs on it has dried completely.

Sowing tiny seeds: Smaller seeds make the task of sowing extremely difficult. We can simplify it by thoroughly mixing a small portion of seeds with some fine dry sand. Feed this mixture in your seed drill and start planting.

Sowing large seeds: Large seeds normally have a tough seed coat, these coats prolong the germination by hindering with the required conditions. The germination of these seeds can be quicker if we can make some way in these coats for the gases and water to reach the seed. The most simple method for puncturing a large seed is to rub it gently with sandpaper. Seeds may also be soaked in water for a day or two before sowing though the water needs to be changed every day. This surely helps in expediting the germination of large seeds like peas, okra, pasley, beans etc.

Marking the seeds: While working on the garden bed it is important to keep an eye on the seeds we plant however it becomes difficult due to the soil colour and also the small size of seeds. This can be simplified by using toilet paper, before sowing seeds toilet paper is to be unrolled on the bed and seeds should be evenly dropped on it on equal distances as desired. The toilet paper may be labeled so as to recognize the plants easily. This process will make the garden look organized which will also simplify the maintenance of plants and help differentiate weeds easily. Marking can also be done naturally by sowing slow-growing seeds with fast growing seeds. If we plant radish along with parsnip, the radish being a fast grower will help us mark the row and as it will grow quickly, harvesting can be done much before parsnip grows hence this method will also be space efficient.

Chitting seeds: The method of getting seeds sprout before planting this is called chitting. Some seeds take a long time to germinate in soil, chitting seeds can help expedite this process. Large seeds take much longer time to germinate in soil, the germination time may increase due to cold weather. Damp some paper or a towel and place it in a sealed container, arrange seeds evenly on the towel or paper then cover the seeds again with another damp paper towel or cloth. Cover the lid of the container and keep it in a warm dark place. Check every alternate day, the seeds should soon sprout as small roots will be visible. Take the sprouted seeds and plant them immediately else the roots may damage due to extra growth in the container. Once planted in the soil the roots will automatically grow downwards and the plant upwards.

These are few hacks we suggest, if you know any other hacks do share with us below.