Sowing in open ground: tools, useful and practical accessories
Our tips for choosing the right tools
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Whether in the kitchen garden or in the ornamental garden, direct sowing in the ground lets you place the plants directly in their final positions, skipping the transplanting step. However, to sow in good conditions and ensure the operation is a success, it’s important to equip yourself properly. Indeed, you need to equip yourself with a few soil-working tools to prepare the soil, and, if needed, accessories to facilitate the sowing or to protect young shoots from the cold or birds, because outdoors they are vulnerable to the elements. Here are the essential or handy tools and accessories for sowing seeds in open ground!
To work the soil.
These tools are very useful for loosening and crumbling the soil. A spade lets you lift, turn and loosen soil deeply. It can also be used to cut through roots or to dig up plants, which can be handy for clearing the ground and preparing the sowing area. It can also be used to incorporate compost, manure or sand into the soil when it needs enriching or lightening. Nevertheless, it’s preferable to aerate the soil by avoiding turning it over, as this disturbs soil life, which is why we recommend using a spading fork or grelinette, also known as a biofork. The spading fork is particularly well suited to working clayey, heavy, compacted soils, or stony ground.
Spade, spading fork and grelinette
It loosens the surface layer of the soil, breaking up clods. It can also help remove weed roots that get wedged between the teeth. However, depending on the nature of your ground, a spade followed by a rake to refine the soil may suffice.
After digging, the rake is ideal for levelling and refining the soil surface. Its teeth help remove large stones, roots and plant debris. For a successful sowing, a finely level surface of soil is essential. Hold the rake by the handle, and with back-and-forth motions, level the soil surface.
The rake is also useful for covering seeds. If sowing in rows, you can use it to close the furrows. The back of the rake can be used to tamp the soil.
- For sowing in rows: a cord
The cord consists of two small pegs (plastic or wood) connected by a string. It helps to mark out a straight line in order to dig a furrow and align the seeds.
- For digging a furrow: a serfouette
The serfouette is equipped with two tools: the broad, cutting edge, called the blade, is useful for breaking up clods and pulling out weeds, while the pointed part, called the tongue, is very useful for opening hard soils and digging furrows. This latter part is sometimes replaced by a mini-fork with two or three teeth, which allows scratching and aerating the soil.
Claw, rake and serfouette for digging a furrow along a cord
- To amend the soil: potting soil, compost, manure, sand…
These amendments help to modify the soil structure slightly or to enrich it. Before sowing, and especially if your soil is poor, don’t hesitate to add a little compost or well-rotted manure to provide nutrients. They also help lighten the soil, foster humus and feed the organisms living in the soil. You can also add some sand for plants that need a light and well-drained soil (notably root vegetables such as carrots, turnips, beetroot and radishes…). For the finest seeds, sand can be mixed with them to ease handling and achieve a more regular sowing.
To sow
The seed sower isn’t essential, but it helps to sow in a regular and homogeneous manner, especially with small seeds : lettuce, radishes, carrots… It ensures an even distribution of seeds, avoiding overcrowding or patchy areas. It provides a level of precision that can be difficult to achieve when sowing by hand. Fill the seed reservoir, adjust the opening to suit the size of the seeds, and advance slowly while dispersing the seeds gradually.
You can also obtain (or make) seed tapes. Thus, sowing will be very straightforward, with the seeds all laid out at an ideal spacing.
- A watering can with a fine rose
Water is essential for seed germination and the growth of young plants. A watering can fitted with a fine rose enables gentle watering, in a steady rain-like spray, avoiding moving the seeds or uprooting the young plants. Fill your watering can and water gently, ensuring the soil is evenly moist without becoming waterlogged. You can also use a jet of water with a suitable nozzle, enabling rainfall or spray.
It is important to identify sowings correctly by noting, each time, the name of the variety grown, and optionally the sowing date. This helps you navigate more easily, and to avoid trampling the young plants, accidentally weeding them or turning the soil in a place where a sowing has already occurred. Place the label at the head of each row for effective monitoring. You can choose either small plastic labels, very basic, to push into the soil, or hanging labels, for example slate, which are particularly attractive but more expensive.
Seed sower, plastic and slate labels
- Sand
We’ve already mentioned this in the amendments, but sand can also be very useful for handling the finest seeds. By mixing them with sand, you will be able to achieve a regular sowing, and this will help you avoid sowing too densely. Sand is also handy for broadcast sowing.
To protect sowings
They help protect the seedlings from the cold, allowing sowing a little earlier in the season and saving time. They will also protect the seedlings from birds and other animals that might scratch at the soil. Ideally, fix the veil onto hoops to create a small tunnel conducive to the growth of young shoots.
- A cold frame
A cold frame allows early sowing by sheltering the young plants from the cold. It serves the same purpose as the forcing tunnel. It is usually a wooden box topped with a pane of glass or clear plastic. This creates a warm micro-climate ideal for seed germination and the growth of young shoots. It is often used to house transplant seedlings, but can also be used for crops sown in place (turnips, carrots, radishes…)
- A protective net to shelter seeds from birds
As soon as sowing takes place, birds have the unfortunate tendency to scratch at the soil and peck at the seeds. They can also damage the young shoots. You can therefore install a net to protect your plants. Place it slightly above the seed bed, supported by small stakes, or fix it to a tunnel- or hoop-type structure.
Growth veil laid over hoops, cold frames and bird-proof net
Further reading
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