Mucky Fingers, Digging Digits and Dibbers

So you have spent hours preparing the soil the watering can is poised and in your head you already have the meal planned with your harvest.  Believe it or not, the number one cause for seed germination failure is planting the seeds too deeply in the soil, this results in the seeds using up all their energy reserve to get out the ground.  Conversely plant them too shallow and the only thing getting a full belly will be the birds!

The general rule of thumb is that the bigger the seed the deeper its sown, roughly at a depth 3-4 times its width. My grandfather had another rule of thumb and that was my thumb! When I was a child he reckoned that the depth of my thumb was the perfect depth for growing beans!

My kids can each can tell you which finger and which knuckle is the right depth for what plant and whilst I’m slightly bigger than when I was gardening with my grandad and rugby has taken its toll on my fingers my thumb still grows a mean bean!  However, if you feel you need a little more precision in your life and you want to keep your hands clean then the dibber is the tool for you and the graduation on its side will give you a precise measure to ensure perfect germination depth. So thumbs up to that !