swede

we haven't had much luck  growing swede this season so I've been looking at ways to improve growing  swede I know the old way is to drill the seed then gap them out to one plant as my Dad used to do this for a local farmer years ago

but I've been told if i start the seed of in a module say 2 seed per station then take the weakest one out leaving the strongest one to grow then transplant the swede plant when its a larger plant into the ground doing that method you have a better chance of getting swede?

I did this sort of method  this year but sowed far to many seed per station and they where like mustard and cress spindly plants not a bit of good waste of time planting them 

so I'm keen to try this method again as said 2 seed per station then set the swede plants in  Bio-degradable sheet to promote  both growth and weed control as being Bio-degradable the sheet  can be  composted  when the swede is cleared from the raised bed and hopefully we mite even get some decent swede

so what's your thoughts on this method of growing swede perhaps like some you start yours of in paper pots or other methods any replies on growing swede will I'm sure be well worth reading

I find direct sowing and then regular thinning and weeding to keep them growing strongly works well. The biggest problem with Swede is the sheer variety of pests that attack them, flea beetle, slugs, pigeons, caterpillars, rabbits, mice, aphids and mildew.

I grow mine like New Shoot does.  I tried lots of other ways, but one year I accidentally (I don't know how), managed to get a few swede seeds mixed up with the sprouts and sowed them in pots in the same way as NewS does. I treated them exactly like sprouts, potting them into 3" pots individually and growing them on until they had about four decent leaves. I then planted them out in the sprout rows and noticed after a while that they looked very different, only to discover later that they were, in fact swedes. They turned out to be the only swedes I had ever managed to grow that had a proper rounded swede shape and were a really good size.

Planted my swede directly in ground, under insect netting, with slug pellets down. A few seedlings appeared, then next week no trace, planted again, same thing, either not germinated or eaten by something in between my visits! Gave up at that point. So swedeless this year !
I think I will try the two seeds in a pot, and plant out method next year, seems to work with other veg ok.

I'll bear that in mind MOS, thanks for the tip.