May seed sowing with Monty and Adam

Below, in these clips from Gardeners' World, Monty demonstrates how to make a soil block for sowing seeds in and Adam tries some less-common crops from seed: agretti and kohlrabi.

More seed sowing advice:

• Your May seed sowing jobs
• Four steps to seed sowing success
• How to sow seeds outdoors
• How to sow seeds indoors

Monty makes soil blocks for sowing seed

As part of his ongoing aim to reduce the use of plastic in the garden, Monty demonstrates how to make soil blocks for seed sowing. He shares his tips on which soil blockers to use, what to add to the mixture and how to sow parsley in the soil blocks.

• Simple ways to reduce plastic usage in the garden

Adam sows agretti

In this clip, Adam demonstrates how to sow agretti. This vegetable is very popular in Italy, but seeds can be tricky to germinate. His first batch of seeds only had a 40 per cent germination rate, so he changes the compost to a more open mix of peat-free compost, horticultural sand and perlite with the aim of improving germination rates.

Starting kohlrabi from seed

Adam shows how to sow kohlrabi, an unusual-looking member of the cabbage family. Easier to grow than some other brassicas, such as swedes, it is ready to be harvested from around eight weeks. Adam has chosen a purple variety called 'Azure Star', and he suggests some of the different ways this delicious vegetable can be cooked.