Part II:
Onion and leek seeds are tiny – how is it possible to place them accurately enough so as not to have to thin the whole flat?
First rule, the smaller the seed, the closer you can plant them. Onion seeds typically are smaller than leeks. I plant leeks at a rate of about 12 per 10 inch row in the flat and shoot for about 20 to no more than 24 rows. That's about 240 to 280 seeds per flat. Plan to plant onions about 17 to a 10 inch row and shoot for 33 rows, that's about 550 plants to a flat – you'll end up with much less due to germination rates.
Start by cutting a piece of construction paper or card stock down to 10 inches wide. Then mark one of the 10-inch sides off to either 12 or 17 depending on what you are planting. Draw at least a half inch or more line back from each mark on the edge, then number each line 1-12 or 1-17. These numbers come in handy as the planting process can be monotonous and your mind will wander and if you count the seeds for each row and lose your place, you just find the number you left off at and begin from there. I found that without the number, I had to count the lines to find which one in the middle of the page I stopped or lost track of.
Now fold the paper just a little along the 10-inch side with your lines and numbers. You want just enough fold so you can sprinkle seeds in the crease, but not so much of a crease that to get the leading edge next to the dirt in the flat that the seeds all spill out at once.
Sprinkle seeds in the crease or trough and place the leading edge of the paper in the flat where you want the first row. If you have trouble visualizing where each row should be in the flat, place some tape or anything else along the edge so you will know after planting one row, how far back to scoot your paper to the next.
Once the paper is in position, take a lead pencil and nudge a seed over to the line marked number one and off the edge of the paper onto the soil. Don't worry about pushing it in or scoring the soil to make a row, when you are all done, you will sprinkle potting soil or mix over the entire bed as the last step. Repeat the process, counting to your self the seed number for that row, until the row of 12 or 17 seeds is planted. Then tilt the paper back so the seeds are in the crease, scoot the paper back to the next row and repeat the process until the flat is planted.
Since I have a pencil in my hand anyway, I always make a hash mark on the paper so I know how many rows I panted and multiply out the number of seeds per row for a total number of seeds per flat.
Time consuming yes, but no more than having to later thin out seeds that were planted rapidly by sprinkling or put to thickly in a crudely drawn row in the dirt. If you are careful, you will only have a few places where things got away from you and two seeds dropped instead of one. With small seeds like onions, sometimes they will flip or pop up and God only knows where they landed. If that happens, just scoot another seed over to that line and drop it. Sometimes those flipped seeds do land in the flat and do germinate, but still, it's much less work to thin than a broadcasted flat.
When the onions come up, you can identify rows, but because the seed is so small, the placement isn't near as perfect as it is for larger seeds like spinach or beets.
Care and Feeding:
I water my flats just as carefully as I sow them. Any kind of garden sprinkling can puts way too much water on small seeds planted very shallow. A large drop of water can displace enough soil to bring the seed to the top where it will dry out and die, or push it way out of position. I've found a water bottle fitted with a squeeze trigger sprayer – like what you'd find on a Windex bottle – can put out a fine mist and keep the soil moist if sprayed everyday. It's a good idea to use this even after the small plants emerge or until they are large enough and have established a good root system.
Unless you are lucky enough to have a greenhouse, you'll be moving the flats around a lot. After they have emerged, you will want to get them plenty of light so they don't get leggy. You can use grow light, a cold frame or sunny porch. Just be sure to move them back inside if there is danger of freezing. While both onions and leeks tolerate a lot of cold and frosty weather in the fall, the seedlings don't mimic their adult behavior.
Transplanting:
I'll have several blogs that will discuss transplanting, but for now just know that no matter what method of seed starting you use, you must nudge the roots apart very carefully. Because these are so closely planted in the flat, plan on transplanting them with a little more spacing after the weather moderates, then transplanting them to their final spot in the garden as needed. I have transplanted them directly from the flat to the final area of the garden but you better have real good weed control or you'll end up losing some before they get large enough to be missed by the hoe or not come up when yanking out weeds.
Onion and leek seeds are tiny – how is it possible to place them accurately enough so as not to have to thin the whole flat?
First rule, the smaller the seed, the closer you can plant them. Onion seeds typically are smaller than leeks. I plant leeks at a rate of about 12 per 10 inch row in the flat and shoot for about 20 to no more than 24 rows. That's about 240 to 280 seeds per flat. Plan to plant onions about 17 to a 10 inch row and shoot for 33 rows, that's about 550 plants to a flat – you'll end up with much less due to germination rates.
Start by cutting a piece of construction paper or card stock down to 10 inches wide. Then mark one of the 10-inch sides off to either 12 or 17 depending on what you are planting. Draw at least a half inch or more line back from each mark on the edge, then number each line 1-12 or 1-17. These numbers come in handy as the planting process can be monotonous and your mind will wander and if you count the seeds for each row and lose your place, you just find the number you left off at and begin from there. I found that without the number, I had to count the lines to find which one in the middle of the page I stopped or lost track of.
Now fold the paper just a little along the 10-inch side with your lines and numbers. You want just enough fold so you can sprinkle seeds in the crease, but not so much of a crease that to get the leading edge next to the dirt in the flat that the seeds all spill out at once.
Sprinkle seeds in the crease or trough and place the leading edge of the paper in the flat where you want the first row. If you have trouble visualizing where each row should be in the flat, place some tape or anything else along the edge so you will know after planting one row, how far back to scoot your paper to the next.
Once the paper is in position, take a lead pencil and nudge a seed over to the line marked number one and off the edge of the paper onto the soil. Don't worry about pushing it in or scoring the soil to make a row, when you are all done, you will sprinkle potting soil or mix over the entire bed as the last step. Repeat the process, counting to your self the seed number for that row, until the row of 12 or 17 seeds is planted. Then tilt the paper back so the seeds are in the crease, scoot the paper back to the next row and repeat the process until the flat is planted.
Since I have a pencil in my hand anyway, I always make a hash mark on the paper so I know how many rows I panted and multiply out the number of seeds per row for a total number of seeds per flat.
Time consuming yes, but no more than having to later thin out seeds that were planted rapidly by sprinkling or put to thickly in a crudely drawn row in the dirt. If you are careful, you will only have a few places where things got away from you and two seeds dropped instead of one. With small seeds like onions, sometimes they will flip or pop up and God only knows where they landed. If that happens, just scoot another seed over to that line and drop it. Sometimes those flipped seeds do land in the flat and do germinate, but still, it's much less work to thin than a broadcasted flat.
When the onions come up, you can identify rows, but because the seed is so small, the placement isn't near as perfect as it is for larger seeds like spinach or beets.
Care and Feeding:
I water my flats just as carefully as I sow them. Any kind of garden sprinkling can puts way too much water on small seeds planted very shallow. A large drop of water can displace enough soil to bring the seed to the top where it will dry out and die, or push it way out of position. I've found a water bottle fitted with a squeeze trigger sprayer – like what you'd find on a Windex bottle – can put out a fine mist and keep the soil moist if sprayed everyday. It's a good idea to use this even after the small plants emerge or until they are large enough and have established a good root system.
Unless you are lucky enough to have a greenhouse, you'll be moving the flats around a lot. After they have emerged, you will want to get them plenty of light so they don't get leggy. You can use grow light, a cold frame or sunny porch. Just be sure to move them back inside if there is danger of freezing. While both onions and leeks tolerate a lot of cold and frosty weather in the fall, the seedlings don't mimic their adult behavior.
Transplanting:
I'll have several blogs that will discuss transplanting, but for now just know that no matter what method of seed starting you use, you must nudge the roots apart very carefully. Because these are so closely planted in the flat, plan on transplanting them with a little more spacing after the weather moderates, then transplanting them to their final spot in the garden as needed. I have transplanted them directly from the flat to the final area of the garden but you better have real good weed control or you'll end up losing some before they get large enough to be missed by the hoe or not come up when yanking out weeds.
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