When you start growing an organic kitchen garden, you need to take certain precautions when carrying out sowing and transplanting operations. And follow a very precise cultivation plan.
Even in a small country like Italy, differences in latitude and altitude make themselves felt and mean that plants cannot be grown in the same period in different areas. Even though conditions sometimes vary within the same valley due to differing aspects, don't be discouraged — try following the sowing and transplanting calendar and in the meantime chat with your neighbours to discover the secrets of your area and prepare yourself in the right way.
First of all, to sow you need to have cultivation plans. Once you have a clear idea of what you want, you can go ahead and buy seeds, which must be: non-hybrid, so that you can save them and only buy them once; untreated, meaning free from chemical substances that protect them from moulds (these are unnecessary, especially for a home kitchen garden); of many different varieties, possibly including those typical of the local area, so as to cultivate a small, biodiverse kitchen garden (or balcony).
Sowing in a seedbed is often preferable to sowing directly in the open ground because it allows you to better manage very small seeds, to take greater care of species that develop slowly in their early growth stage, to make less demand on water resources and soil fertility, to control weeds more easily, to select healthy and robust plants, and to use the soil for other crops, such as green manure, while the seedlings are in the seedbed.
To set up a seedbed, all you need are seeds, soil, water and a few reclaimed containers such as small pots, little cardboard boxes and cups.
These containers must have holes in the bottom and sides. Once filled with soil (potting compost is preferable), they must be kept constantly moist (take care, however, not to waterlog the compost, as the seed may rot), in a place sheltered from direct light and cold. At this stage, to prevent rapid evaporation of moisture from the soil, you can lay "horticultural fleece" over the sown pots and use a spray bottle to water the soil.
First of all, water the soil thoroughly to encourage the germination of weed seeds (wait 3 to 5 days and then lightly disturb the surface of the soil; a technique known as false sowing), then proceed with direct sowing, taking care not to sow too early in spring so as not to risk encountering low temperatures, not to use excessively dense planting, but to take into account the future development of the plant, and not to sow too deeply (as a rule, the depth to use is 1 to 3 times the size of the seed).
Once the seed has germinated, the first two "false" little leaves — the cotyledons — emerge from the soil. The right moment to transplant arrives when the first 3–5 true leaves appear.
To help the plant acclimatise in the transition from seedbed to ground, it is advisable to leave it outdoors for a few days before transplanting. In the meantime, water the soil thoroughly to encourage the germination of weed seeds so that they can be removed, then proceed with transplanting. To carry out this operation, the root ball must already be moist and the collar of the plant must be level with the soil surface. Then cover with soil and press down gently; if possible, mulch — that is, cover the surrounding soil with leaves or straw to prevent weed growth and keep the soil moist. Finally, water with a gentle spray, taking care to avoid wetting the leaves, as this can cause fungal diseases.
It is advisable to carry out all transplanting operations towards evening, to avoid subjecting the young plant to severe sun stress; in this way it has the whole night to acclimatise.
To open the door to a fascinating world, one of attentiveness and care towards the world around us, you can venture into consulting a biodynamic cultivation calendar, based on the influence of the cosmos on living beings. After all, if the moon affects the tides, why not consider that celestial bodies might also influence the development of a small plant?