How to make a Seedbed: Horticultural and Aromatic Plants

Hello everyone! How’s Saturday going? I hope you are enjoying a good day and if you are enjoying the environment, then much better. At AGROHUERTO.COM we continue to think about giving ideas to improve your orchards and today we come to explain a little about something that is more common to see every day at home for those of us who like orchards. I’m talking about the SEED.

Talking with hortelan@s during the year, the use of the seedbed is something necessary for the good development of the first steps of our «daughters» that we will later plant in the ground. So why not make our own seedbed at home? Well, I propose the following. Go for it!

How to make a seedbed for garden plants

A seedbed is a space where we sow our plants in a prepared and conditioned land so that they develop their germination in the best way so that they can be transplanted later without any problem. From a productive point of view, with the seedbeds we increase the productivity of our seeds since those plants that we can later transplant to our orchard are better selected.

From a physiological point of view, it is a space that gives the possibility to those plants with a first germinal phase that is more exposed to external risks, such as frost, or difficulties specific to the species, either due to size or seed, as occurs in plants such as tomato, lettuce or onion; you increase your chances of survival. In addition, the seedbed helps us avoid pest and disease problems in the orchard, since maintenance is greater and easier.

With the seedbeds, as we can see in schools or associations, a space can be created in which the children have their first contact with agriculture and begin to become familiar with the vegetables that they will later see in salads or in supermarkets.

We can find several types of seedbeds depending on their seasonality and the land in which they are installed:

• Permanent, cement is used on the edges and at the bottom materials are used that facilitate drainage, such as granzón
• Semi-permanent, are those seedbeds that are usually built with bricks and boards
• temporary
• Portable, they are the most frequent that we see in nurseries since they are made of a plastic material that is easy to transport

What is a seedbed for?

In the following sentences, I will try to explain the assembly of seedbeds for different plants:

Seedbed for tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables

First of all, explain that although we are going to condition the seedbed in the best conditions for the seed, I recommend you make the seedbed at the right time for sowing. So that the next step, going to the garden to our plant, is as smooth as possible.

We can use this first seedbed that I am going to explain to you for those plants that bear fruit such as tomatoes, aubergines, peppers… To do this, we are going to use a small polystyrene or porexpan box that we can find when buying fish or frozen foods. This type of seedbed can be used more times

The first thing we will do is make a hole in the base of the box so that it can drain. Then, we will put the land that we are going to use. This is already your choice and for what you have in mind. Each one will have their own recipe, although a good mix would be 3 parts peat and 1 part humus, plus we can add a bit of the mineral vermiculite to hold in moisture.

Once our land is installed, we would start planting. I recommend that you put a sign or that you make a diagram with the plants that you are going to put. This way you will always know what you have. Then, make a centimeter deep and trace a groove to place the seed. You cover it and the next groove that you can make about four centimeters.

The irrigation has to be abundant although you do not have to flood it and you must place it in a warm place.

Seedbed for aromatic plants

As we have seen in Agrohuerto.com, aromatic herbs can help us in the garden as anti-pesticides, so we can leave them a place in our future garden planning. Unlike the previous seedbed, I recommend that you can get seedbeds with plastic cells that you can find in any garden store.

The bad thing about these supports is that they are for single use, although when planting in the garden it is easier since the same support will help us. Also in this way you can select the plant that you like the most and take it to your kitchen to spice up your diet

The mixture between vermiculite, peat and humus is the same as the previous one. Do not be afraid when placing the seeds, the aromatic ones have a small seed and you can put several in the same space, then you will select. When it comes to watering it, the soil must always be moist and warm.

Well guys, to close I would like to tell you that you can help yourself with a lunarium every time you have doubts about when to plant a plant. Tomatoes and peppers have different planting times despite the fact that we can use more or less the same seedbeds.

I hope you found it interesting, I await your comments