When growing in a small garden, I rarely sowed seed directly in the soil. Instead, seeds were grown in seed
French bean seeds placed, 4 to a pot in wet seed compost. Dry compost will cover them and each pot will then be watered as needed from next day on.
trays, modules or small pots. This was a more space efficient way of producing seedlings, than waiting for seeds to germinate in open soil. A few seeds, however, like radish and carrot, were better sown direct as their tap roots do not like to be disturbed once the seed has germinated.
Having worked on Jim Cronin’s commercial organic farm, I now see that even on a larger scale, it is worth sowing seed in modules. This also facilitates earlier crops and the seedlings can be nurtured in a greenhouse, before planting out in the open soil.
In the case of French beans, Jim likes to put 4 seeds in each square pot. The resulting four seedlings ( if they all grow), can then be planted out as a clump of four plants and they seem happy to find their own way in the open soil and give a good harvest later in the summer.
