Three years ago, when I erected my greenhouse, I bought an electric propagator which has turned out to be one of my best ever investments. Not just because it means I can save money by growing vast quantities of plants from seed, or even because it increases the chance of cuttings taking thanks to the reduced temperature fluctuations, but because it means I can start the gardening year in January. Yes, I know in the winter months there is still lots to do, digging well-rotted manure into the beds, clearing neglected areas, sterilising pots and so on, but these jobs - although very necessary - can easily end up seeming chores rather than gardening. To me the the whole point of gardening is to plant and watch things grow, which is where the propagator comes in. There is nothing like putting in the first seeds of the year, in my case giant Kelsae onions which grow to well over three pounds in just eight months (well some of them do!), and actually seeing something grow whilst the garden is just a scruffy, soggy mess.

Another benefit of starting the gardening year early is spreading the workload over a longer period. I spend from January to April sowing different seed, only one or two packets per week, and as one batch germinates it is removed from the propagator to harden off in the greenhouse under a clear plastic food cover and is quickly replaced with another. If I find I am falling behind schedule I reduce the dimensions of the containers used, in order to fit more into the propagator, which is fine as long as there is enough compost to retain a fair moisture content. It is most irritating to get a decent germination rate only to find that once removed from the propagator the seedlings have dried and foundered, and it is for this reason that I use pots that are reasonably deep. When seeds are treated in this manner there is inevitably the danger of 'damping off'. This manifests itself in seedlings inexplicably collapsing and occurs in crowded and moist conditions, exactly those inside a propagator that is being overextended in the way I have just described! Damping off is the result of parasitic fungi and easily combated by watering the seedlings with Cheshunt solution instead of plain water; in fact I quite often use it when first sowing the seed.

Once out of the propagator the seedlings are left under the clear plastic food cover for a few days before it is removed, allowing the tiny plants to acclimatise in the greenhouse. The whole idea behind this is to minimise the shock of going from the warm, steady, humid environment of the propagator into the much cooler and more variable conditions in the greenhouse. My thermostatically controlled electric heater is not quite powerful enough for the size of the greenhouse. This situation arose because the underground power cable supplying the greenhouse was originally dug in for some outdoor Christmas tree lights! The saving grace however was that when I put in the power cable I used some second hand armoured cable that the electrician had left over from another job and was well over spec. When I erected the greenhouse the power point, which had been put on a post in the garden at the base of a fir tree, was easily the closest and most easily accessible. The electrician agreed there was plenty of capacity for the greenhouse on the stipulation that the heater wasn't too powerful! As a result of this in the colder months I line the greenhouse with a double layer of bubblewrap, the sort sold for the job in garden centres and resembling polythene parcel packing material. It takes a while to install but makes a tremendous difference to the climate inside. Even in the coldest weather it never falls below five degrees celsius.

Once the seedlings have acclimatised they are ready to be pricked out, ie prised out of the compost, hopefully without too much damage to the tiny root system, and transferred to new containers. The size of the new containers depends very much on the type of plant and also when the plants are pricked out. I prefer to use single pots that measure three and a half inches in diameter. Any smaller and they can dry out very fast; not only that but the rootball soon fills the pot. Larger pots would obviously be preferable but not only do they take up that much more space, they also require more compost. Pricking out the plants into boxes is another alternative but I have found that for a reasonable size box there is once again a requirement for too much compost and if you leave the plants in too long the roots can very easily become entangled. I also find single pots very convenient when it comes to planting out - there is a lot less messing around. I have to stress that these are personal preferences and like anyone I feel much more confident doing things my way, even though it may not necessarily be the correct or best way. We all learn by our mistakes.

That is one of the most intriguing aspects of gardening - when it goes wrong is it something you have done or was it just going to happen anyway? A few years back I sowed half a packet of marigold 'Star Fire' and only one seed germinated. As it was early in the year I sowed the rest and none came up. The one survivor was planted out singly and formed a huge specimen, flowering for months. The next year, having forgotten to collect seed from this one plant, I bought another packet of seed, this time from a different seed supplier. Thinking that the penalty for such a choice variety was a very low germination rate I sowed the entire packet in a large seed tray. The result was inevitable of course - one hundred per cent germination!

Growing from seed however has its rewards. Having spent the dim winter months working steadily in the greenhouse bringing the plants from dormant seeds to young plants, then transferring them to a cold frame for the last stage of hardening off, the final pleasure comes when the objects of all this attention have been planted out - always with slightly different planting schemes in search of that elusive perfect combination - and you can sit on the lawn, back against the old cherry tree, beer in hand, and just drift.

You can find more articles in the archive under Soiled Hands.

Adam would love to hear from you just email him