When can I start sowing ?

Posts

• fidgetbones Posts: 17,617

  February 2015

  Sweet peas you can sow now.

  The rest will need frost protection, and probably a propagator to get them going.

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• Blue Onion Posts: 2,995

  February 2015

  You could try some of the hardier veg.. cabbage, some salad leaves, kale, kohlrabi, etc.   Worse comes to worse they die and you have to start all over again.  But the seeds are inexpensive, and often contain way more seeds than one family will need.  

  Get your seed trays and soil all ready for planting a few days before hand, so the damp soil is the temperature of your greenhouse.  Plant your seeds.. and they'll germinate when conditions are to their liking.  If all goes well, you'll be off to a running start this year.  Spring planted seeds may catch up.. but just scratching that 'gardeners itch' itself makes it worth it, in my mind.  

  Utah, USA.

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• bekkie hughes Posts: 5,294

  February 2015

  Any chance you could put a table or similar by a window to germinate your more tender crops? things like chillis and aubergines need probably a minimum of 15 degrees, a little more maybe. Its going to be a while before you will be able to get these temps in your greenhouse, if you wait, you run the risk of the plants not getting mature enough to crop, although most things eventually catch up
  
  
  
  I was forced to start things very late last year (may), i used large clear sort of bin bags to put the seed trays in to raise the temp and stop the worst of the cold getting in, everything germinated, most caught up, it really is a judgment call on if you want to risk it and if you want to be hardening stuff off, this i find a pain in the bum!
  
  
  
  I will probably start off my tomatoes, chillies etc within the next few weeks, i will do them indoors, but only a few of each.
  
  
  
  If you really need to sow things now, basil is good as that can be kept indoors and treated a little like salad leaves, sow little and often for a succession.
  
  
  
  As blue onion said, most hardier veg can be sown now, most of us learn by trial and error, you might find that this is the perfect time for your garden , keeping a record is probably the most useful thing, happy gardening

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• Drywsdad Posts: 46

  February 2015

  Thank you

  i think I might do a batch of tomatoes chilli pepper and aubergine sweet peas and find a space indoors  to get them going then move them to the green houseand leave some for when it's a bit warmer sow the rest in the greenhouse 

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• bekkie hughes Posts: 5,294

  February 2015

  Try the plastic bag trick in the greenhouse too, it really helps

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• Busy-Lizzie Posts: 24,023

  February 2015

  The only seeds in your list that I would sow now are the sweet peas. The greenhouse must be frost proof for the others and warm enough at night. I start tomatoes in heated propagators indoors in March, then put on sunny windowsill over a radiator indoors then move to the GH which has a little electric heater in it for the night. By then it is  April. Tender plants sown later will be less leggy than ones sown too soon and they grow more quickly and catch up.

  Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.

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• Drywsdad Posts: 46

  February 2015

  Thank you 

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• Bookertoo Posts: 1,306

  February 2015

  Too Late? I shan't start sowing much for a good few weeks yet - there are a few things indeed, such as sweet peas for now, broad beans and so on, but the majority not until life warms up a bit yet. 

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• Drywsdad Posts: 46

  February 2015

  never too late ! I'm just a little early 

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