As a general rule we try to sow seeds in pots or containers and transplant seedlings into the place where we finally want them when they have already made a healthy start.  There are a number of reasons for this:

• some seeds require a bit of extra heat and a propagator can be a great help;
• soil is often still a bit colder than expected in the spring so germination can be patchy;
• it is much easier to control access to light and water;
• You don’t have to thin out if you’ve sown things too closely together;
• you don’t have big holes where seeds haven’t germinated; and
• it reduces the risk of weeding out your seedlings by mistake.

This approach doesn’t work for everything.  Carrots and parsnips don’t like it.  Some books say that sweetcorn don’t like having their roots disturbed either, but our experience has been that this was no problem provided that the seedlings were handled with great care (they are rather less robust than they look and have a tendency to break).

The variety of pot sizes, root trainers and insert cells for seed trays means that there is generally a container available that will suit the plants you want to grow.

Sweet corn and Courgettes both benefit from the heat of a propagator