How to seed vegetables on your windowsill

Starting your own seedlings from scratch is a great way to own the vegetable growing process from start to finish. It also saves you money, and you can use whatever crazy wonderful seeds you can find in seed catalogues, via seed swapping, or at the store rather than being limited to whatever seedlings are available at the nursery.

There’s a few tricks to producing good, strong seedlings that go on to grow into awesome plants. Here's how to do it! 

Materials:

Seedling pots, you can use trays, toilet rolls, pots, milk cartons, or whatever you like for the vessel that holds your seedlings, as long as you ensure they have a good pot depth (minimum 5 cm) so the seedlings’ roots don’t get cramped.
Good seedling soil mix (see below)

Somewhere warm and light for your seedlings, though preferably out of direct sun

Good drainage (soggy waterlogged pots are no good for seeds)

The dedication to keep them damp (but not wet) throughout their seedling stage ­ so put them somewhere you visit multiple times a day

Seed raising mix

Raising good seedlings starts with good seed raising mix, which is usually lighter than regular garden soil. You can buy the commercial version of this by the bag from your local garden centre, or make your own. We prefer to make our own because¬ it’s cheaper, plus you can ensure all the ingredients came from healthy sources.

Milkwood’s best ever seed raising mix recipe:

1. Two parts sifted compost ­ either from home, or a good supplier

2. Two  parts coco peat ­ from the garden centre ­ cheap and ethical

3. One  part worm castings ­ from your worm farm, or ask around to find some

4. One part sand

5. A sprinkle of aged animal manure, this can be palletised, from garden centre

Once you have all those things, put them together in a big tub and mix, and mix, and mix. At the end of this process you should have a beautiful fine seed raising mix. Then, fill up your chosen pots, smooth the seed raising mix out, and get ready to plant. 

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