Spring Sowing

The teddy bears have been very busy recently. Now is the time of year for them to start sowing their vegetable and flower seeds so that they have lovely food to eat (and they really like to eat!) and pretty flowers to look at in the garden or cut and place in vases around the house to enjoy.

James and Harry had already planned what they wanted to sow and, as usual, they were going to start their plants off in the greenhouse, rather than straight into the soil in the beds outside.

For one thing, although the weather was nice the day they decided to start sowing, the little seeds would need to be kept at a specific temperature to allow them to germinate (that's just another word for 'begin to grow') and become little plants, and the bears couldn't be sure that all the coming days would be so nice.

The bears could control the temperature around the seeds by using their propagators (small electric boxes with high see-through lids, which they could keep at a specific heat automatically). Even if it became very cold in the greenhouse overnight, as it sometimes could at this time of the year, the little seeds would stay nice and warm.

James and Harry knew they had to fill little pots with compost, add some water, and then sow their seeds, covering them with a strange mixture called 'vermiculite' which Scary had explained to them, helped to keep the compost moist (as seeds need sufficient water to drink) and would insulate the seeds against temperature and humidity (that's the amount of water vapour in the air) in the greenhouse.

It all sounded very scientific, but if it helped their seeds turn into food and flowers then James and Harry would follow Scary's advice.

Oscar had popped round to visit as it was such a lovely afternoon, and asked if he could help out.

"Of course!" exclaimed James, "the more the merrier. Maybe we could set up a bit of a production line so we each do one thing and then pass over to the next bear?"

"That sounds like a good plan," said Harry. "If you fill the pots with compost, and I sow the seeds, then maybe Oscar could do the watering?"

"OK, let's go!" said James. He filled some small pots with compost, Oscar gave them some water, then Harry sowed the seeds and covered them with vermiculite. Oscar then gave them some more water and put them in the propagators.

The production line worked really well and their first two propagators filled up really quickly. They sowed lots of interesting things.

There were tomatoes (lots of different types, both small, cherry tomatoes to eat with salads, and big tomatoes that they would later turn into yummy tomato sauce to cook in their pasta dishes, or on pizzas). They also sowed some runner beans - one of their favourite vegetables. And there were courgettes too.

Then they started on the flower seeds. Firstly, some Sunflowers - their favourite variety called, appropriately, 'Teddy Bear'. They sowed delphiniums, asters, alliums, irises, lobelia, sweet peas, nasturtiums, petunias and French marigolds - such a lot of flowers! Some of the flowers had other names which sounded much more charming - for example the Nigella flowers were also called 'Love In A Mist'.

Some of the plants they were hoping they could eventually put in their hanging baskets - specific trailing types that would overflow the baskets and hang down the sides and look lovely. Others were to fill up their flower border. They even found some loose seeds without a packet so they didn't know what they were. But they would when they hopefully grew into bigger plants! What a surprise they would be!

Oscar and Harry laughed to see that James was already checking the pots to see if any seedlings had grown yet! They had to explain that it would take a few days before there were any signs of life. James decided he would have to be a lot more patient than he usually was.

After all that hard work (and it was hard - a bear covered in fur in a greenhouse with the sun beating down on them became very hot very quickly!) it was surely time for a rest! Luckily, the other bears had taken pity on them being out in the hot greenhouse for such a long time that they brought them some lovely cold drinks and they could all sit down and rest.

There would be a lot more work to come, of course. The seeds would have to be looked after until they became strong, healthy plants and could be put outside in the ground. They needed to be watered and kept warm when it was cold outside, and shaded from too much heat if it was a hot day. The bears had a busy time ahead.

Do you have plans to sow any seeds this year? It doesn't matter if you only have a pot on the patio, or a small patch of bare soil - you can grow something tasty like tomatoes or salad stuff, or just fill your space with pretty flowers. Have fun!