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, and the whole lot keels over in a miserable heap, we use the less helpful name of ‘damping off disease’.Damping off disease is a nightmare during spring. As the exciting cycle of seed sowing continues apace, this insidious disease is very much waiting

biodegradable pots that can be filled with compost for seed sowing. The secret to using is to keep the cardboard moist, otherwise it acts as a wick removing moisture from the compost within. Dry cardboard also prevents seedling roots penetrating. By encouraging

What a tremendous pleasure it is to grow sunflowers from seed. Thousands of children up and down the country sow sunflowers in spring, no doubt hoping to grow the tallest and enter the Guinness Book of Records.My sunflowers will never do

and parsnips shot into glorious growth, triumphant at having survived the frosts and the cold. I left them to it, I was busy sowing seeds, getting the potatoes chitted and planted, and preparing the beds. Before I knew it, the leeks and a solitary parsnip were

they form on the female flowers and seeds can be sown now when they are ripe. I'm very tempted, I love these trees, but germination can be poor and when it does happen can take up to two years.I have just braced myself for a long wait by sowing the seed of a

warmth for early sowings. Of course I'll be keeping heat to a minimum, and insulating the greenhouse with bubble polythene to reduce heat loss, but my environmental conscience keeps asking me the same question.Looking at things another way, I wonder if it

of the meat.Closer to home, I am just about to sow broad beans. This will be the first time I've grown them in the back garden, which I hope will mean I can keep on top of any blackly infestations, which so often plague them.For autumn sowing, 'Aquadulce

in the south-west. As well as feeding my young family out of our back garden, I squeeze in as many flowers as I can manage. This year I’m itching to sow the mouth-watering selection of flowers, veg, herbs and salads on offer through the Seed Club. The moment

has been the traditional day for many keen show growers to sow their onion seeds, in a heated propagator in the greenhouse (not in the garden, of course). Do onions really have to be sown on Boxing Day, or could this just be an excuse to escape from

Learn how to improve the condition of your soil by sowing rye seeds to create green manure, with Monty Don's video demonstration and advice.summer and autumnMore advice on improving soilHow to mulch beds and bordersFeeding plantsImproving soil