I might thereafter get them in the ground, a holding area to grow on, get them to bulk up, get them through winter for transplanting the following year, year 2 as it were, in the border.
Imagine an 80 foot (25m) border 5 foot (1.60m) wide with plants for bees!! And if they don't do the 'business', try some more 'goodies' from the internet or HPS or Cottage Garden Soc.
BTW any and everyone who might be listening, I start early because I've got a few hundred annuals to start sometime in March. Some vegetables too.
And the sooner I can get the young perennials into the ground (with a damn good soaking) then I can have a bit of a holiday, otherwise I'd be like mother hen fussing and worrying that they will dry out in their 7cm pots!
Minus 3C overnight, whilst in my conservatory, 8C. That'll do - £9 fan heater + £1 running cost for last night divided by 500 seedlings = 2p/seedling so far, woohoo
This year I've been very restrained and haven't sown a thing yet - too cold at night, too little light, greenhouse unheated and full of treasures sheltering form the worst of winter till they're big enough to cope.........
It froze again overnight, is set to get several degrees below again tonight and snow. March can't be trusted to be clement so I'm waiting till the end of March but even then OH and I will be away the first week of April and Possum doesn't do seedling sitting so I might wait till we get back and I can give them my full attention and the space they need.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
To early here in Devon to sow annuals yet, the only ones I have sown are the ones that need a cold spell.
its not bringing on the seeds, it's what are you going to do with them afterwards, you can't plant out till May at least, by then they will all be in 5 or 6 inch flower pots! you must have loads of space to keep 100+ of all your different varieties.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Surely is hard to get timings right obelixx, my 'system' is based on continuous inventiveness - innovation - improvement, and the ability to not cry too much when it all goes pear shaped. Like last year, when one superbly happy day out ended with the disaster of ½ my seedlings being wilted to death in an unvented conservatory. Who'd have guessed we'd have such glorious sunshine in the middle of March? All it took was 6 hours @ 40+ centigrade.
The Leaning Tower will be protected this year by a double sheet across the window!
BTW anyone thinking of using a fan heater, I'm on the cheapest deal I could get from First Utility (Fixed April 2017) (OCD I check the meter readings (with torch) every day and have spreadsheet!!)
Lyn, if it's too early in Devon imagine 640 feet up in the foothills of the Pennines. Reason I like to get started early is to have my Papaver 'Lauren's Grape' ensconced and flowered by June (bees hunting for pollen) to be then dug up & swapped for Tithonia for butterflies in August/September. mad hey?
Lyn if your conservatory is 'warm' seems great idea, except not sure about the compost in the pots continuously evaporating because of the dehumidifier. Could work, bet you don't get sub zeros as much as we do!!
Apparently the earth keeps on spinning, and the original 'Signs' are now out of alignment, so I'm Pisces or Aquarius, either way I have a pond in my garden.
Posts
Hi aym280 I prick my seedlings out into these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170799787952
I cut the edges off to get them to fit the propagators, later on I pot them on into -
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200-X-7CM-SQUARE-BLACK-PLASTIC-PLANT-POTS-7CM-DEEP-/170589703787
I might thereafter get them in the ground, a holding area to grow on, get them to bulk up, get them through winter for transplanting the following year, year 2 as it were, in the border.
Imagine an 80 foot (25m) border 5 foot (1.60m) wide with plants for bees!! And if they don't do the 'business', try some more 'goodies' from the internet or HPS or Cottage Garden Soc.
BTW any and everyone who might be listening, I start early because I've got a few hundred annuals to start sometime in March. Some vegetables too.
And the sooner I can get the young perennials into the ground (with a damn good soaking) then I can have a bit of a holiday, otherwise I'd be like mother hen fussing and worrying that they will dry out in their 7cm pots!
Minus 3C overnight, whilst in my conservatory, 8C. That'll do - £9 fan heater + £1 running cost for last night divided by 500 seedlings = 2p/seedling so far, woohoo
This year I've been very restrained and haven't sown a thing yet - too cold at night, too little light, greenhouse unheated and full of treasures sheltering form the worst of winter till they're big enough to cope.........
It froze again overnight, is set to get several degrees below again tonight and snow. March can't be trusted to be clement so I'm waiting till the end of March but even then OH and I will be away the first week of April and Possum doesn't do seedling sitting so I might wait till we get back and I can give them my full attention and the space they need.
To early here in Devon to sow annuals yet, the only ones I have sown are the ones that need a cold spell.
its not bringing on the seeds, it's what are you going to do with them afterwards, you can't plant out till May at least, by then they will all be in 5 or 6 inch flower pots! you must have loads of space to keep 100+ of all your different varieties.
Surely is hard to get timings right obelixx, my 'system' is based on continuous inventiveness - innovation - improvement, and the ability to not cry too much when it all goes pear shaped. Like last year, when one superbly happy day out ended with the disaster of ½ my seedlings being wilted to death in an unvented conservatory. Who'd have guessed we'd have such glorious sunshine in the middle of March? All it took was 6 hours @ 40+ centigrade.
The Leaning Tower will be protected this year by a double sheet across the window!
BTW anyone thinking of using a fan heater, I'm on the cheapest deal I could get from First Utility (Fixed April 2017) (OCD I check the meter readings (with torch) every day and have spreadsheet!!)
I have a dehumidifier in my conservartory sucks out excess water, blows out warm air and the water is constantly recycled.
Lyn, if it's too early in Devon imagine 640 feet up in the foothills of the Pennines. Reason I like to get started early is to have my Papaver 'Lauren's Grape' ensconced and flowered by June (bees hunting for pollen) to be then dug up & swapped for Tithonia for butterflies in August/September. mad hey?
Lyn if your conservatory is 'warm' seems great idea, except not sure about the compost in the pots continuously evaporating because of the dehumidifier. Could work, bet you don't get sub zeros as much as we do!!
Apparently the earth keeps on spinning, and the original 'Signs' are now out of alignment, so I'm Pisces or Aquarius, either way I have a pond in my garden.