I believe the basic principle governing all seed planting is that it is generally better to plant more seeds then required in a given area and then thin them out to your intended spacing for mature plants when the seeds have developed into small seedlings. I usually plant seeds at half the recommended distances on the seed packet. The reason for doing this is that if some of the seeds fail to germinate or are eaten by pests there will usually be enough that survive to cover any that are lost. As I harvest a lot of my own seeds I can easily afford to waste some seeds, but even commercial seed packets come with far more seeds than the average urban gardener is likely to use before the use by date expires. So it is not really a waste to plant more seeds than you need. While this principle remains true for all seed plantings there are some minor variations depending on the size and type of seeds sown.

A little greenhouse in the garden is great, because it allows seedlings to be brought on, especially tender ones that would never survive outside. But you don't really need a full scale greenhouse because I am going to show how you can make your own for your newly planted seed. When you sow vegetables from seed in trays it gives you an enormous choice of different varieties. Some that we are planting are ‘African Horn’ cucumber, ‘Oxheart’ tomatoes, ‘Sugar Pie’ pumpkin, ‘Yellow Sausage’ tomato and the magnificent ‘Florida Basket’ bush tomatoes, which are absolutely superb. The seeds are small - just sprinkle them thinly over the surface of the soil and the plants will come up like grass. Remember to put in a little label and then cover it with ordinary river sand. It’s also possible to sow the seeds straight into sand. I've never tried ‘Climbing Peach’ tomato but I do know it's peach-coloured and it's supposed to be absolutely delicious. Just sprinkle them thickly onto a seedling raising mix, and then the question is how to get them to germinate. The trick is to use a couple of hot water bottles which are filled with extremely hot water. Then wrap them in several layers of ordinary bubble wrap for insulation and to keep the heat in. Then put the seed trays on top. That alone is probably enough. But to help the seed along it’s easy to make a brilliant little greenhouse using an empty plastic doona pack. Just put the seed trays in with the hot water bottles. You might need to prop it up with a couple of sticks, but often the plastic is stiff enough to hold itself up. The heat from the hot water bottles will gradually disappear and when that happens re-fill them again either from thermos flasks or just boil the jug. You need to do this twice a day for about five or six days. The heat will make the seeds come up very fast - probably in a matter of days - and once they're up they don't require the same amount of heat any more. In fact they should be moved into full light as quickly as possible. This means you've got the most magnificent early start to your vegie patch.