What and when

Posts

• BobTheGardener Posts: 11,385

  January 2020 edited January 2020

  Root veg like carrots and parsnips really need to be sown in-situ and don't grow properly from plugs, so I would concentrate on keeping the area weed-free until spring when the weather is warm enough to sow them directly in the soil.  Those two don't need much in the way of feeding and will fork if the soil contains manure or stones, so worth using a small fork to get a nice tilth to the soil along the length of the row just before sowing.  The other areas where you may be growing other veg could be mulched with well-rotted manure and left over the winter, to provide everything the plants need for next year.  Many other veg grow quite well from plugs or small plants found at garden centres etc., but don't buy them too early if they need to be put straight into the ground without being hardened off.
  

  A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  

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• Liriodendron Posts: 8,328

  January 2020

  Best to use the next couple of months planning for what you want to grow where, to be honest.  Sowing seeds before the soil has warmed up never works - they just sit there and rot... the expert advice is to delay sowing until weeds have started to germinate, generally March onwards, unless you have a greenhouse - though if you like broad beans, these can be started earlier.  As to whether to buy seed or plugs - as Bob says, root veg are better from seed, as is anything where you'll want a large crop, eg salad leaves.  But if you only want a few courgettes, say, then unless you're going to give away the surplus, it makes sense to buy one or two little plants from the garden centre.  They've gone to the trouble of germinating and growing on the seeds so you don't have to, plus a single plant is cheaper than a packet of seeds...

  Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.

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• pclark42 Posts: 186

  January 2020

  Thanks to you both for the advice, I did look at plugs on-line, and they give dates for delivery of them at the end of the year? and they come in 30s. So you are right I will grow from seed, or purchase small plants from a garden center, I'm a bit giddy because I have never had such space available. I have put a bid in on a ramshackle old greenhouse on ebay. I was thinking of a polytunnel, but there's the remains of one next door, the wind and rain have destroyed it, I'll stick to something with a bit of weight.
  

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• barry island Posts: 1,847

  January 2020

  You mentioned that the garden centre has seed potatoes in stock at the moment but it is too soon to sow them into the ground, you can buy seed potatoes now but you will need somewhere cool, light, dry, frost free, and secure from mice e.t.c. to store them until the ground is warm enough to plant them out.

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• pclark42 Posts: 186

  January 2020

  Yes today I actually read some of the wording on those spuds, March for planting and the onions same.
  

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• pclark42 Posts: 186

  March 2020

  Well I'm on the move at last.
  

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• Skandi Posts: 1,723

  March 2020

  pclark may I make a bit of unsolicited advice on that pollytunnel? I don't know why I am asking I'm going to make it anyway.

  
  

  It looks a lot like a pair I have, I have learnt that there's a right way and a wrong way to put them up. the wrong way is to follow the instructions on the packet. Forget the little velcro clips, undo all of them, then pin down the plastic on one long side, I used earth but anything would do, stretch it as hard as possible over to the other side and pin it down again. you'll notice the little ties come no where near the posts if you do this, which is why I said to ignore them.
  

  Your tunnel has very loose plastic and what will happen is it flaps in the wind, it will tear the stitching around the ties, and it will pool water on the roof since there isn't a central pole, that pooled water then tears the stitching apart above the doors. I know this because it happened to me in my first year with them. After switching how they were put up to the "standard" method of putting up a polly-tunnel they have managed another year and I think I will get one more year from the plastic before it needs replacing. mainly due to the damage it took in the first year where I followed the instructions!
  

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• pclark42 Posts: 186

  March 2020

  Skandi

  
  

  I hear what you are saying, so I have undone all the velcro, and I have laid a large railway sleeper on the bottom of the cover at one side, then I have stretched it as tight as I could to the other side, and pulled it around the bottom pole, up into the tunnel, then I have used super-strong tape, and stuck it back to itself inside. I have also then used earth to make double sure, it rained for 24 hrs, and no pools on the top, I also did the same at both ends.
  

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• pclark42 Posts: 186

  March 2020

  Skandi

  
  

  I have just been out to the polytunnel, and it is wet on the inside with condensation, is this normal, or should i be doing something?
  

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• pclark42 Posts: 186

  March 2020

  Not had too much time this week due to work, and it raining a lot of the time, I did however purchase some seeds to get planted, we had frost the other morning too, so a lot of the items to sow straight in the ground can wait a few days (I need the time anyway to prepare the soil) I got myself a set of cheap shelves to store the planted up seeds, and a paraffin heater, during the day with heater turned off it reaches 15 degrees C and with heater on at night, it is around 10 degrees C.
  

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