Choosing a mini greenhouse to suit your seeds

Grow lots of plants in a small space with a mini greenhouse! Allowing the seeds to germinate and grow in a slightly smaller amount of soil, with even moisture and good light makes for a successful crop.

Your seedlings grow best when they get the right amount of heat, water, light and air. A mini greenhouse makes it easy to get your seeds off to a good start. 

The best mini greenhouse for you depends a bit on what you want to grow, but more importantly how much you want to grow and how much time you want to spend on your cultivation.

Ventilated lid and watering from below

In a really good mini greenhouse, watering can be done from below, for example by filling the bottom with water. Small plants are sensitive and may be disturbed if you water them from above. It is also an advantage when roots need to reach downwards and outwards to reach the water, as they develop a larger root system. 

In addition to the ability to water from below, a really good mini greenhouse should have a lid. A lid helps to keep seeds moist, but also needs to provide good ventilation and let light through.

Good questions to ask yourself before choosing a mini greenhouse:

• How many plants do I want to propagate?
• Which varieties am I planning on sowing? 
• How much time do I have to spend on starting seeds?
• What are the material/durability/toughness requirements?

Mini plug flats 

You’re never far from starting seeds with a mini plug flat! The easiest way to do this is to use plugs that can be inserted into the cells. It’s quick and less messy than using seed compost, although that works just as well. Plants also tend to grow particularly well in plugs, which maintain their porosity and oxygenate the roots.

Plants can remain in a plug flat for several weeks before they need to be transplanted. You can fill the tray with water, so you don’t have to water as often.

One plug flat holds 14 plants and the growing tray with lid can hold up to three plug flats. This allows you to easily remove one plug flat at a time for transplanting, while leaving the remaining plug flats in place. 

Good for people who…
…want to get started quickly, propagate in a small area or want to sow continuously so they have small plants to add outside. 

Good choice for…

…small to medium-sized seeds – e.g. kale, lettuce, tomato, marigolds, chillies. Herbs also work well.

Rootmaster^® 

A mini greenhouse with a watering system that provides more uniform humidity for your seedlings. The plug cells can be opened to allow plants to be handled gently. Starting up your Rootmaster^® is a bit tricky until you get the capillary wick in place, but in return you get great, well-rooted plug plants.

Once sowing is underway, growing in the Rootmaster^® is very easy. You don’t need to water very often and it will be several weeks before you need to repot the plants. The Rootmaster^® allows you to sow seeds with different growing times because the plugs are divided into 4 modules. This means you can sow a wide variety of plants – no matter how fast they grow. Just open the module that has plants ready for transplanting and leave the others to grow some more.

The greenhouse holds 32 plants and has fairly deep cells, making it suitable for plants with deeper root systems, such as peas and beans. 

Good for people who…
...are serious about gardening and are happy to spend a little extra time preparing their seedlings and setting higher standards for their plants.

Good choice for…

…peas, beans, sweet peas, sunflowers and other plants with deep or sensitive root systems. Especially recommended for those slightly more valuable seeds that you don’t sow many of.

Plug propagation kit

With 49 small plugs, you can fit a lot of plants in minimal space. The plugs are deep, but not very large in diameter, which is suitable for small seeds that can then develop deep soil systems. The plug propagation kit’s clever drip tray design allows each plug to be easily pushed out of the cell when it needs to be repotted. This is useful if you want lots of the same variety of plant, as all the plugs are ‘pushed up’ at the same time. You can also sow different varieties of seeds in rows and mark them with labels.

As the plug has a rather small soil volume, the plants need to be repotted quite quickly and you need to water them fairly often. 

Good for people who…
...do a lot of gardening and start their seedlings early in the year, and can imagine replanting in several stages.

Good choice for…

...small seeds that you want to have lots of. Early sowings of geraniums, chillies, celeriac and leeks, as well as small fast-growing seeds such as marigolds, zinnias and garden cosmos.

Window mini greenhouse 

24 cells go a long way, and in the Window mini greenhouse they are so big that the plants don’t need to be replanted in the first few weeks. The cells are divided into four sections, so you can sow varieties that grow at different rates in the different sections. You can easily pick up one section for replanting, and leave the rest where it is.

Thanks to a slightly larger soil volume, the plants can be left for quite a long time before they need to be transplanted. 

Good for people who…
...want their seedlings standing in the window, and those who grow a little bit of everything.

Good choice for…
…all types of seeds, especially leafy vegetables such as lettuce and kale, but also larger fruit-bearing varieties such as cucumber, pumpkin and squash.

Plug set

With this cultivation tray, you can start growing your entire vegetable patch on a single tray – literally. It has a total of 84 cells. If you’re a real gardening enthusiast, this is for you as the tray can accommodate lots of plants at once. This plug set also includes a drip tray and a capillary mat that is kept moist to prevent the small cells from drying out.

The propagation set is also suitable for those who have sown a lot of seeds and are going to repot the plants separately. 

Good for people who…
... are gardening enthusiasts, who want to grow lots at once or who want to grow in batches.

Good choice for…

... growing a vegetable garden. Romaine lettuce, kale and other leafy vegetables. Works well for anyone who has sown a lot of cut flowers that need to be transplanted to individual cells. Also suitable for growing cuttings.

Broadcast sowing in a Micro Leaf Box or growing tray

If you are planning to sow many plants of each variety, broadcasting is a convenient option. You can basically sow in any tray or pot as long as it has a hole in the bottom so that the excess water can drain out. The Micro Leaf 1-box is suitable for those who want to grow on a smaller scale, while a growing tray is suitable for those who grow on a larger scale. Even plastic packaging from your vegetables works fine! 

Broadcasting is for those who want to sow quickly. 

Good for people who…
… are experienced and have a bit of time. It works well if you want to have lots of plants of the same variety or if you want to sow and harvest small leafy vegetables.  

Good choice for…

… tomatoes, peppers, loose leaf lettuce and chillies. Many of our summer flowers, such as garden cosmos, snapdragons and cornflowers, are also suitable for broadcast sowing.