Some seeds germinate quite fast, some more slowly, but as soon as they push a green shoot through the soil they need good daylight to grow well. That is still in fairly short supply, probably more so in the corner of your kitchen, but it is literally getting better every day. Now is still too early to plant most things, apart from chillies and a few other veg. but if you wait until March or even April you will get better plants faster. Early ones often get too lanky in their search for light, and languish or get fungal diseases and die.
Think ahead!
Every seed that germinates is going to need its own growing space that will get bigger as it grows more. You will need somewhere for all the pots to go, somewhere that is warm enough and that has enough light, until the plants are large enough and tough enough to go outside. For many that will not be before June!
We all get itchy fingers at this time of year and we try to sit on our hands, though we often fail. The consequences are usually predictable
It might have already been said, but remember that the months shown on the packet are just for guidance. You can have a warm and sunny March or one with a Beast from the East. Better to sow later than too early, the later sowings will catch up. It's so tempting to try and sow every seed in the packet, but make sure that you don't sow too thickly and check the instructions for depth, whether they should be covered etc. I really know how you feel, we all just want to get on with it. I also wish that l could follow my own advice 😳😁.
My two pence worth - be ruthless! I've made the mistake nearly every time I've planted seeds whereby I've been too generous with my sowing - thinking not that many will actually grow. Guess what? They probably all did grow! Then I've been too soft and sentimental and not wanted to throw any away so I've ended up with way too many. In not throwing them away, I've kept a few plants together in one pot - big mistake too. They all got too big and their roots were intertwined and just generally rubbish. I have learnt and this year I will not be allowing any one more than seed per little pot! I planted some petunias in Jan and some of my little pots had about 6 plants growing - I've got tough this year and I have removed the stragglers and left one per pot!
Thank you all so much for your comments, think I have gathered more on this site than I have on all my google searches. Buttercup, the open shelving unit is against what was my UPVC backdoor and has early morning light and sun (knocked out wall to garden and got patio doors but decide to keep my door to the side of kitchen) so hoping this will be ok.
I did fill all my seed containers with soil but have not planted any seeds yet because of weather turning cold
I have got some very small biodegradable pots and was told that if seeds are tiny, sprinkle a few, but if seeds are bigger and you can pick up easily only plant 2 0r 3. Is this correct?
Another thing is I am not planting anything in the garden because I am not sure what is going to come back this year or not and not sure where there are bulbs I might accidently dig up (have done that before) and have also planted 2 new bare root roses which I hope are going to grow
So instead am planting up loads of pots on patio with flowers, herbs and rasberries. Thing is I put compost in all these pots in readiness a while ago before all this frost, sleet and rain happened. Will any goodness have gone out of the soil because of this?
Realise I am covering a lot of queries here here but I have been waiting for Spring to prune back my young apple trees and have now been told that if I do I will be cutting back new growth. I googled this in depth last year and am sure I was told to cut back in Spring. Would really appreciate your help in this
Sorry for lack of knowledge but I do not retain stuff like I used to and did start writing stuff down and trying to keep in order but got bogged down with too much paper so found it easier to just ask the experts when I have a problem
Makes me think of tomatoes, which I do outside (grow-bags) most years. I know to sow 2nd half of March, so they're the right size to go outside towards end of May. And why do the 'so-called' experts trot out the thing about sow 2 or 3 in a pot and discard weak ones? Tomato seed can be expensive, near 100% grow, and all are strong. So just sow 1 in each small pot! Other plants might not come up 100%, so not saying suits everything. And some things, like Basil mentioned earlier, are happy as a clump of several.
Apples: usual pruning is done while they're dormant, so between leaf-fall and them starting to grow in spring. So you'd better do them soon.
While your apple trees are young, you're pruning them so they grow a nice open shape with plenty of air movement between the branches, and avoiding crossing branches which will rub together and get damaged, letting in disease. Yes, you will shorten the new growth from last year - but you'll have a stronger tree as a result. You wouldn't expect to get much (or any!) fruit from them when they're very young. And yes, any time it's not frosty, before the end of Feb if possible, is ideal for doing the pruning.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Hello, I’m new here and would welcome your help with my swan river daisy seeds and nemesis seeds that I’m growing in 20 cell propagating trays on kitchen window sill. All have germinated very well but there are 3-5 in each cell. Would you advise leaving them be in a clump like lobelia or pricking out individually.? Thanks
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Now is still too early to plant most things, apart from chillies and a few other veg. but if you wait until March or even April you will get better plants faster. Early ones often get too lanky in their search for light, and languish or get fungal diseases and die.
I also wish that l could follow my own advice 😳😁.
I did fill all my seed containers with soil but have not planted any seeds yet because of weather turning cold
I have got some very small biodegradable pots and was told that if seeds are tiny, sprinkle a few, but if seeds are bigger and you can pick up easily only plant 2 0r 3. Is this correct?
Another thing is I am not planting anything in the garden because I am not sure what is going to come back this year or not and not sure where there are bulbs I might accidently dig up (have done that before) and have also planted 2 new bare root roses which I hope are going to grow
So instead am planting up loads of pots on patio with flowers, herbs and rasberries. Thing is I put compost in all these pots in readiness a while ago before all this frost, sleet and rain happened. Will any goodness have gone out of the soil because of this?
Realise I am covering a lot of queries here here but I have been waiting for Spring to prune back my young apple trees and have now been told that if I do I will be cutting back new growth. I googled this in depth last year and am sure I was told to cut back in Spring. Would really appreciate your help in this
Sorry for lack of knowledge but I do not retain stuff like I used to and did start writing stuff down and trying to keep in order but got bogged down with too much paper so found it easier to just ask the experts when I have a problem
Apples: usual pruning is done while they're dormant, so between leaf-fall and them starting to grow in spring. So you'd better do them soon.