Collections
Collections
Collections are reading paths for a particular situation. Instead of reading the guide from start to finish, pick what is happening for you right now: you are holding a seed packet for the first time, you want to grow a small garden right in your flat, or you are looking at your seedlings and realise something is wrong. Each collection is three pages in a row: the basics first, then the details. You can read them in any order, but we suggest starting with the basics.
Your first sowing does not have to be perfect. It is far more useful to sow a little, watch closely and write down what happened.
Collections include only pages already published in the guide. We do not include advertising, rankings of seeds or fertilisers, variety names or links to particular shops. When there is no suitable page yet, the collection simply stays shorter — we do not pad it with placeholder pages.
Your first sowing
For anyone who has never grown plants from seed and wants their first attempt to end in green seedlings rather than disappointment.
- Testing germination in five stepsBasics
A simple test on a damp paper towel that shows whether your seeds are still alive.
- Seed termsBasics
Glossary: germination rate, seed leaves, true leaves, stratification.
- Answers about seeds and germinationIn depth
How to store seeds, whether old ones are worth sowing and what the variety register means.
A windowsill garden
For city dwellers who want to raise seedlings for the allotment, greens for the table or a small garden right in their flat.
- The "Seedlings" topicBasics
A map of pages on sowing, light, watering, pricking out and hardening off.
- Windowsill seedlings: from sowing to planting outIn depth
A practical article with step-by-step instructions and a results checklist.
- Answers about microgreens and herbsIn depth
How to get a quick harvest in the kitchen and why herbs need patience.
When things go wrong
For anyone whose seedlings have got leggy, flopped over, failed to come up at all or look pale, and who wants to understand why rather than start again blindly.
- Answers about seedlingsBasics
Why seedlings get leggy, how to water them and whether they need feeding.
- The "Care and mistakes" topicBasics
A map of pages on the most common seedling problems.
- Common mistakes when raising seedlingsIn depth
The list of mistakes and alternatives in the practical article — what to change next time.
Related sections
Sources
- Pages of this guide
- Botanical gardens' guidance for amateur growers
Information is current as of the date of preparation. Sowing and planting-out dates depend on your region, the weather in a given year, how much light your window gets and the temperature in your home, so go by your own conditions and the instructions on the seed packet. This guide explains general principles and is no substitute for advice from an agronomist or a botanical garden specialist.