We are finally starting to see the signs of spring after what feels like a long miserable, wet autumn and winter. For many of us aspiring gardeners and grow your own lovers, seed sowing season is upon us, and we all know the gardening season is fully underway when that first seed is sown.
If you would like to grow your own fruit, vegetable or flowers we have a quick seed sowing guide here for you to get started.
Equipment list, you are going to need, compost, seeds, heated or non-heated propagators, labels and a pen.
There are lots of things you can start to sow in February, the light levels are now longer and brighter. However, with some seeds they will need a little bit of help with germination as temperatures are still low. We would recommend sowing most seeds inside on sunny windowsills in either heated or non-heated propagators.
If you head over to our products page on our website, you will be able to find our River Cottage HQ endorsed Peat Free Seed & Cutting compost. This gentle fine blend is perfect for sowing seeds and potting up cuttings. We have had excellent germination results here at RocketGro HQ and feedback from our customers. We also have a page with our Organic Seed range too.
From February through to May/June you will be busy sowings seeds, taking cuttings, re potting and planting out. We have an incredible range of Peat free Compost that are perfect for all gardening stages throughout the season. From Seed &cutting, to our stage 2 Multipurpose with added John Innes to our new Bark Chunks for paths and mulch to top dress borders and beds.
February/March Seed Sowing
- Chillis
- Aubergine
- Peppers
You can now start aubergines, chillies and peppers in heated or non-heated propagators, all these vegetables need a long growing season, so it’s best to get the seeds started early so that they have enough time to fruit and ripen over the course of the growing season.
Sow your aubergine, chilli and pepper seeds into small tray cells in either a heated or non-heated propagator, one per cell. Water with warm water to help aid the germination process. Sowing one seed per cell will allow the roots of the seedling to envelop all the compost in the small tray cell, this then creates healthy seedlings that are easy to re pot on without damaging the roots.
Place propagators on the sunniest windowsills you have, water again in a couple of days with a small amount of warm water and you should see germination within 7-14days.
There are some flower seeds that can be started in late February early March.
- Sweet peas
- Cosmos
- Marigold
- Statice
Flower seeds can be sown in nonheated propagators on sunny windowsills. Sow 1-2 seeds per cell in our Peat Free Seed & Cutting compost. Water and place in a sunny position and germination will vary from 7-21 days.
In the next blogs in March, April, May and June we will be following the process of taking seedling, re potting them, planting out and aftercare.
Let’s introduce one of our new amazing products to the RocketGro range.
Rose compost
For the 2024 gardening season we have released our new blend of Rose Compost perfect for planting out roses into the ground or into containers/pots. Late winter/early spring is a perfect time to plant roses out if the ground is not too frozen or waterlogged.
Here are our top planting tips for roses using our rose compost.
When planting out, dig a hole at least twice the size of the root ball. Add a few inches of RocketGro compost and loose soil. Position the plant and fill with 50% soil and 50% Rose Compost and firm around the base. Water thoroughly.
When potting or repotting, water the plant and its root ball. Place a layer of fresh new compost in the base of the pot. Tap out the plant from the old pot or container, loosen the root ball and place in the centre of the pot. Fill the space around the root ball, ensuring the compost level covers all the roots. Firm lightly and water thoroughly.
We recommend using RocketGro Plant Fuel to feed your plants at least once a week, but ideally twice a week during the growing season for even better results.
Water regularly. Little and often is better than flooding and letting dry out which stresses your plants.
For the 2024 season we have introduced lots of new lines to our RocketGro range we will be talking about these products in our up-and-coming blogs and over on our social media pages and YouTube channel. Press the links below to shop.
Follow us over on
Instagram and YouTube
Team RocketGro
