On Monday, 2 July 2012 15:47:23 UTC+1, Spider wrote:
On 02/07/2012 13:41, Baz wrote:
] wrote in ]:

Carrot seed packet says "sow thinly".
Numbers needed!
1 per inch?
4 per inch?
8 per inch?
Or what?

I say roughly 12 or 13 per inch in the bed.
But the seed is so small that unless you are meticulous in sowing it is
very hard to tell.
My daughter-in-law uses tweezers in bog roll cardboard filled with a mix of
soil and compost. She has the eyesight and patience for it. Not for me, I
just drop a few into them and thin them before planting.

Baz



Just worth adding that the main reason for sowing thinly is to avoid, as
far as possible, having to thin the plants subsequently. This is
because the strong scent of carrot foilage will increase during
thinning, thus attracting the dreaded Carrot Fly.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

Also many plants raised from seed, especially annuals if they are too dense will compete with one another and run to flower and seed much too soon and too small - few if any will prosper. Once they start to look stunted and show signs of flowering it's too late to do anything about it (Observe the behaviour of some of the ephemeral weeds like hairy bitter cress or thale cress to see what I mean). So have an image in your mind of the right size for a good flowering specimen of the plant and thin to allow room for development.

Rod