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Should I plant my seedlings out now or wait till Spring?
gilla.walmsley
Posts: 339
I've grown some Honesty and Hollyhocks from seed sown in early September (I read you could sow and overwinter) and also dug up some Foxgloves that had seeded themselves from somewhere. For the last 4-6 weeks they have been in my greenhouse growing.
Should I plant them out now (i assume I would need to harden them off first) or shall I overwinter in the greenhouse and plant out in Spring? The latter is what I had been planning to do but got thrown by Sarah Raven planting out hers now! The Honesty is quite large now, the Hollyhocks less so.
In case it makes a difference I'm in Essex so generally mild winters!
Should I plant them out now (i assume I would need to harden them off first) or shall I overwinter in the greenhouse and plant out in Spring? The latter is what I had been planning to do but got thrown by Sarah Raven planting out hers now! The Honesty is quite large now, the Hollyhocks less so.
In case it makes a difference I'm in Essex so generally mild winters!
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If they're not good size plants, I'd leave them outside - ideally in a cold frame, otherwise somewhere really sheltered.
I store plants on the north side of my greenhouse between the water butts over winter. Just about all our rough weather comes from the SE, so they're quite well protected.
When I grow foxgloves, I sow them in July and usually they're in 2L pots and ready to plant out around now. If I sow later, they're usually too small to plant out so I leave them in pots until they start growing again in the spring, then plant them out.
I've got some honesty seedlings in my garden that are about 2"-3" atm
A house round the corner has a mass of hollyhocks bordering the pavement, I can see lots of little seedlings around the parent plants. The owners just thin them out and they get a great display every year - even though they're usually covered in rust.
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Honesty: 2 ltr and 1 ltr pots
Hollyhocks: mostly 9cm pots but a couple 1ltr pots
The foxgloves are huge and in 2 ltre pots.
So perhaps Foxgloves and Honesty harden off for a couple of weeks and then plant out? I have oodles of the Honesty, about 15 pots I think! It's the white version.
Thanks very much for your help both, much appreciated!
Harden them off for a few days and go for it.
I'd keep the smaller ones for spring planting.
If you keep the greenhouse well ventilated, they could stay in there - just keep an eye on the watering. Otherwise somewhere sheltered outside protected from the worst of the weather and nosy foxes.
They look good!
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Honesty don’t transplant very well, they have a tap root so put those out as soon as possible.
They are doing well - interestingly I have started sowing seeds into general MPC instead of forking out for seed compost and I've had much better germination rates and healthier plants!