Seeding Trays from Start to Finish

Village Farm Team,

We’ve been seeding up a storm over the past couple of weeks to prepare for the transition to cool season crops! In order to take you along on the process, we have a visual step-by-step guide for you this week.

It all starts with our compost-based potting mix. We aerate it a bit by hand before adding it to our seed trays. As we add the soil and level it out we make sure not to compact it too much in the process.

Next comes our handy wooden dibbler that allows us to create a small, shallow hole simultaneously in each cell in our seeding trays.

Once we’ve created the holes, we set the dibbler aside and carefully plant two seeds in each. This allows for a higher chance for germination. If both seeds germinate, we’ll thin them out later.

The seeds are then gently covered with our potting mix before being labeled with the variety and the planting date.

The last step is to give them a good soak so they can begin the germination process.

Here’s what they look like after about a week once they’ve germinated! You can see the cotyledon here which are the embryonic or “first leaves” to appear. The next set of leaves will be the “true leaves”.