Preparing to Plant Seeds
The soil must be prepared before seeds are planted. The prepared soil is called a seed bed.
The vegetable seedbed should be:
- level
- made up of fine particles
- even - the same all over, & to a depth of 2 or 3 inches
                    
Use a rake to get an even depth of fine soil so that the seeds can be planted shallow.
Stand on a board, placed over the adjacent ground, to protect the soil from being trampled down.
Mark the row with a stick at either end of the row, & stretch a string between the two sticks to give a straight line to work under.
Make a shallow trench by dragging a blunt object along the line of the string (check the recommended depth on the seed packet).
Scatter the seeds thinly along the open trench using finger & thumb.
Cover the seeds with soil
Press the soil down. A rake can be used to gently firm the soil down, so that the vegetable seed is in close contact with the soil particles.
Label the seed row, recording the type, variety & date.
                          
Water the vegetables seeds in
- so that the seed bed is wet to a depth of 3 inches.
- use small droplets of water, so that the soil is not puddled & the seeds not washed out of the row.
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