Primrose wrote:Ian - I wish I had the patience to do this but I find that sowing tiny dark coloured seeds on a dark coloured compost is not an easy thing to do although I do agree with you that leek seedlings probably need to be spaced further apart for a good root run if they sometimes need to be left in their trays for a while to become sufficiently big to plant out.
I've already sown mine rather randomly this year but going forward I'm going to experiment with putting a wet separated layer of thin toilet tissue onto the damp compost in the tray and sow tiny seeds onto that so that I can see them clearly and they don't roll around so much, and then cover with compost. If it works for the tomato seeds I save, stuck onto tissue paper, I don't see why it won't work for leeks. On the other hand, it probably will depend on whether I've got the patience at the time to mess around like this handling seeds when my hands are already dirty !
Then I thought . . . as I 'contemplated'
. . . we use a loo paper that might be useful:
Conveniently grid lined, lines are embossed and a hint of pink or blue in colour, approximately 1/2" (13mm) squares, £2 for 9 rolls from the freezer food shop 'Farm Foods'. Quality loo roll as well!!!
CJS
