SHIPPING INFORMATION
Last Updated 23 /10 / 2017
We are an online store and as such make use of couriers to deliver our products. We ship nationwide so customers need not worry about delivery to any parts of Nigeria.
Regardless of the shipping method that you choose, we have a specific routine that we try to adhere to as much as possible.
Typically we will print and pack orders every day of the week. These orders are packed and a tracking number is issued to you. Our courier’s tracking systems will reflect your tracking number once your parcel has been collected. Certain products, such as our seedlings, are not shipped every day. Live plants have a specific window that we need to accommodate to ensure healthy, viable seedlings on the other end. So, depending on your location, we may hold over your seedling order until the following week.
We have three options with regards to shipping.
1) FREE Shipping. Terms and conditions applied.
2) Couriers are our preferred shipping option. They can ONLY deliver to a day-time street or office address in certain main centres and outlying areas. Please ensure that your street no, and address are entered correctly to ensure a proper quotation. Note that certain outlying areas may only be serviced by our courier once a week.
3) Our Courier Companies deliver to ANY location in Nigeria, both urban and rural. As long as you can provide a physical address and a contactable phone number, they will be able to deliver to you.
TIPS:
1. Our shipping options and rates do change based on your shipping address.
2. For the best shipping rates, please check by changing your shipping address between your home street address and your work street address. This will allow you to choose the fastest AND most cost effective shipping option.
3. Try to get some gardening friends together and combine all your orders into a single order. At best you will get free shipping, at worst you will split the shipping costs a few ways.
PLANT TYPE
T = Tender
A = Annual
P = Perennial
H = Hardy
HH = Half Hardy
Ease of Growth
1 = Very Easy
2 = Medium
3 = Can be challenging
Seed Treatment Key
A) Soak Overnight
Certain seeds like beetroot and swiss chards have a very corky seed coat. Soaking them overnight allows water to penetrate the coat and assists with germination.
B) Sow shallowly in beds and cover with a hessian cloth.
Fine seeds are best sown very shallowly, the problem now is that the top surface of the soil dries out very quickly. Covering with a hessian cloth, traps the moisture in the top soil layer allowing the seeds to germinate effectively.
C) Chill in fridge for 2 weeks
A number of seeds need cold treatment prior to sowing. If not chilled, the seed’s internal ‘germination mechanism’ does not get turned on.
D) Soak in boiling water overnight
Seeds with a very hard seed coat, often do not germinate at all without the boiling water treatment. Drop the seeds into boiling hot water and allow to stand overnight. The ones that have visibly swollen by the next morning can be planted. Repeat the process with the un-swollen seed.
E) Needs light to germinate
Light is a requirement of a number of seeds. If planted too deeply they seeds will simply not germinate. In this case the seeds should very lightly covered with fine sand, soil or vermiculite.
F) Needs bottom heat to germinate
Hot and Extreme Chillies as well as Brinjals are real heat lovers, without bottom heat germination can be slow and erratic. Bottom heat is generally applied using a heating pad (obtained from a pet shop specialising in reptiles) or an old electric blanket. The seedling trays should be lifted 1-2 cm above the heating pads so as not to overheat the seeds.
G) Will benefit from bottom heat
As above, but these seeds will germinate without bottom heat. The additional heat, stimulates germination, gives an even germination and speeds up the process.
H) No special treatment
I) Prefers cool germination temps.
These varieties prefer cool soil to germinate. Often will not germinate if the soil temperature is too high.
SEED GERMINATION
Many gardeners struggle with planting seeds and often just take the approach that scattering a packet of seeds is good enough. This is possibly the worst way to go about planting your heirloom seeds. Below are a few handy tips and ideas to help you with seed germination.
We often hear of gardeners complaining about poor germination, unfortunately a lot of the time the issue is directly related to how the seeds are treated by the gardener. To kill off a seedling or newly germinated seed takes very little effort and sometimes only a matter of just one hour where the soil was too dry or the environment too hot.
Here is a brief rundown of seed germination instructions. This should give you a basic understanding of seed germination techniques and enable you to get the best germination from the seed that you have purchased from us.
General rules on germinating seeds.
1) Crops that grow underground should not be started in seed trays. Always sow these directly where they are to grow. The seed can be thinned out with flour, river sand or pool filter sand to help you attain the best spread.
2) Most crops that that bear their crop of fruit above ground can be started in seed trays. (e.g. Tomatoes, pumpkins, cabbage, peppers etc)
3) Seed trays will always give the best germination as opposed to direct sowing. The difference could be as much as 90% in germination.
4) Generally, unless otherwise noted. Plant seeds 3 x deeper than they are long.
5) Seeds do NOT like a rich soil to germinate. The salts and acids in rich soil can actually inhibit germination. A good mix is a proportional mix of vermiculite, river sand and sifted (but not fine) compost. If you can’t make your own mix then buy a Germination Mix from a reputable nursery. Seedling mixes are too coarse.
6) There is a fine balance between too fine and too coarse. Too fine and the seed suffocates, yes the seed needs oxygen. Too coarse and it dries out too quickly.
7) If you are starting seeds in mid-winter or early spring, try to either position the cell trays in a warm spot (north facing window) or use a small heating pad to apply bottom heat.
8) Permanently wet conditions can lead to ‘damping off’ of the seedlings, it’s always good to have moist but not wet soil.
9) We find that a hessian sheet greatly improves germination in seedling trays as the trays are watered through the hessian, the hessian prevents you from washing tiny seed out of the cells and it also keeps the soil moist for longer. Make sure you remove the hessian as soon as the seedlings poke through the soil. If the seedlings grow through the hessian you will literally pull the plants out when you lift the hessian.
10) Another method that I have seen work (we don’t use it as we have thousands of seedlings growing) is to put the seedling tray into a plastic bag, blow the bag up and place in a warm spot like a north facing window or above the fridge to help with germination.
Please see our Seedling Treatment page for more information
SEEDLING TREATMENT
Treatment of seedlings
1) Once your seeds have emerged, ensure that they get adequate water every day. Most seedlings die from lack of water or overheating.
2) If your seedlings have been grown indoors or under protection, they will need to be ‘hardened’ before being transplanted outside. Hardening is best achieved by exposing them to direct sunlight for increased amounts of time over the period of about 7-10 days. An example would be. Day 1-3 expose for 3 hrs, Days 4-7 expose for 5 hrs, Day 8-10 the whole day, then transplant outside.
3) Light plays a very important role in the growth of your seedlings. Too little light and the seedlings will ‘stretch’ and grow towards the light giving you tall, leggy seedlings with a pale colour. Adequate light will give you strong robust seedlings with a good colour.
4) To help the plants build up cellular structure and encourage them to ‘fill-out’ run your hands over the tops of the seedlings, this stimulates the plants into thinking that there is mechanical stress in their environment, like animals moving around and over them. This causes the plants to increase the strength and growth of their cellular structure and makes for stronger more robust plants.
5) Your plants are ready to transplant when there are 2 or more true leaves on the plant. When transplanting try and get the soil and seedling plug moisture at a similar level. If the plug is dry then a transfer barrier can develop where the soil is wet and the plug remains dry. This is one of the biggest causes of transplant stress.
6) Water the bed thoroughly after transplanting to assist with re-hydration of the soil and seedling.
7) Transplanting is best done in the cooler parts of the day. Evening is better than morning transplanting, as this gives the seedling a chance to send out some roots. An even better scenario is to transplant when you are expecting a few cloudy/cooler days in a row.
Growing on seedlings.
One option is to grow your seedlings on in larger pots or jiffy bags. The idea behind this is to start seedlings in the middle of winter and keep them growing until the weather warms up enough to transplant outside. One can use progressively larger pots or jiffy bags as you transplant the older seedlings up.
What this will do is enable you to get a crop of veggies off your plants very early in the season. This is one way that market gardeners beat their competition and manage to secure higher prices with plant ripened veggies a full month or more before anyone else.
GROWING MICROGREENS
10 easy steps to grow Microgreens at home.
Microgreens are a wonderful easy way to include healthy, tasty greens in your diet all year round.
It’s simple, and takes up a minimal amount of time and space for quick and nutritious rewards.
Many speciality stores now stock a range of Microgreens, that are ready to toss into salads or enjoy on your gourmet sarmies. High class restaurants, not to be outdone, are serving up Microgreens as an artisanal offering or part of a gourmet meal.
Microgreens are packed with flavour, are sweet, tender and oh, so delicious. Chefs know this and use it to best effect in some of their most outstanding creations.
To enable you to grow your own Microgreens at home, we at Livingseeds have created unique blends and single seed options that can be used for Sprouting or as Microgreens. Many varieties can be used for both growing options, it’s just a matter of preference on your part.
These quick tips that will help you to produce your own Microgreens at a fraction of the cost of store bought Microgreens.
1. Micro greens are basically densely grown seedlings that are cut at the four / six leaf stage.
2. Bright light is an important requirement for healthy, tasty Microgreens.
3. Small pots or shallow trays with drainage holes are important. (Recycled Styrofoam trays are a great option as you can just toss them when you are done.)
4. Fill with a good germination or seedling mix.
5. Soak the seed for 2-4 hrs.
6. Thoroughly moisten the soil and lightly sprinkle your Microgreens seed of choice into the mix and cover lightly.
7. Germination takes 3-6 days and then another 10-14 days to harvest.
8. Cut them when they are less than 6cm tall and have more than 4 true leaves.
9. Set up successive trays for a continued harvest.
10. It really is that simple.
HOW TO ORDER ON OUR SITE
1. The website is an automatic system that will process your order for you.
2. Just click the green “Add to Cart” button to add any of the items to your cart.
3. If you wish to change or remove any items, this can be done by clicking on the Shopping Cart link right at the top of the page.
4. You will then see a list of the products in your virtual cart. Adjust the quantity in the small white block and then click the blue “refresh arrows”.
5. To delete an item just click on the big red X to remove it.
6. Please note, if you have any items in your shopping cart with three red *** these are items that are either low in stock or out of stock, you will need to either remove them or lower the number of ordered units to correspond with the amount that we actually have in stock. (The stock availability for each item is available on the individual product page)
7. Once you are happy with your shopping list, just click on the checkout link and follow the steps, it will give you different payment and shipping options, just choose the methods you are most comfortable with.
8. We have had issues with customers not being able to complete the final checkout steps as the options will not expand, this is typically a browser issue with out of date browsers or your security settings are too high. We highly recomend Google Chrome or Firefox as your browser of choice, they are faster and more stable than IE.
I trust that this helps, if you need any assistance please do not hesitate to give us a call and we can walk you through the process over the phone.+2348054741634, +2348022240805