Seed sowing time will soon be with us, so it’s important to make sure you have everything ready to go. A small, heated electric propagator is worth its weight in gold and will allow you to germinate a wide range of seeds from early sowings. But to get good results the propagator needs to be spotlessly clean. This means washing everything down with hot water and disinfectant to kill overwintering fungal spores that would otherwise infect delicate seedlings. I use a piece of capillary matting in the base of my propagator to maintain humidity and this should also be washed through or replaced with new. And finally, check it works and maintains its temperature overnight by testing with a thermometer.