Sowing is the fastest: without measuring or tracing furrows, all you have to do is throw the seeds on the ground, with your hand open, with the typical gesture of the peasant tradition. This method obviously saves time and evenly covers the soil, but it is not suitable for all crops. Let’s find out what the advantages and disadvantages of this type of planting are and what is the best way to do it.
Contents
Planting seminar: advantages and disadvantages
The obvious advantage of spacing is speed: you save the work of making the rows, however there are a number of contraindications which make this method little used in the garden.
The first problem with scattered planting is not being able to decide the distance between plants, which depends on where the seeds fall and usually results in fairly dense seedlings. For this reason, it is an appropriate method for small plants (like lettuces or radishes), but it is not recommended for larger vegetables (like cabbages, tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, pumpkins, courgettes, etc.).
Secondly, if there are no neat rows, it will be more difficult to carry out a number of very important cultivation operations for the garden: weeding, preparation for drip irrigation, compaction of seedlings. For this reason, those who think of maintaining the garden very precisely, generally avoid throwing seeds, but prefer to draw furrows or make postarelle.
How to sow by sowing
soil preparation . The ground should be prepared for planting with shovels and hoes, which should then be smoothed and leveled with an iron rake. The seedbed is then flat and fine, free of large stones and weed roots.
The release of the seed. The seeds should be thrown in small handfuls, opening the hand with a wide gesture of the arm, so that they fall as dispersed and even as possible. It is a very simple and ancient gesture, we learn to do it well.
Leave the hallways. Although it is planted by seed, it is advisable to delimit the area to be cultivated and to study the paths to be able to reach each point of the area without having to walk on the planted part. For this reason, it is best not to make plots more than two meters wide and to keep the aisles about 50 centimeters wide free. If you plant with green manure, this of course does not apply.
bury the seeds . Theoretically the seeds should be buried to have more possibilities to grow, normally very small seeds are sown with very small seeds, only a veil of earth as cover is enough. You can spread the soil over the seeds or lightly rake to mix the soil and seeds, being careful not to create clumps that will spoil the evenness of planting.
a little thing . To facilitate the even distribution of seeds, it is better to mix them with the same amount of sand, diluting them in this way sowing by sowing is facilitated.
When to sow with straw
I recommend only using sparse seeding for certain crops: cut lettuce, arugula, and radishes. For vegetables that require space or have a long growing cycle, it is worth investing time and planting in rows.
Broadcast seeding is a necessity for green manure crops, useful for regenerating the soil and not intended for harvesting.