I was told that parsnips could be difficult to germinate in the ground but that they disliked being disturbed when started in trays so I germinated them on paper towel and planted them the minute they showed signs of life. It worked really well, they are the only vegetable I have ever grown with total success.
It would seem more sensible to spread the seeds out, the last think i would want is to be untangling sprouted seed shoots. So far I've sown the seeds into small trays and then pricked out in the traditional way which I find very satisfying. I've also sown into the jiffy pots which works a treat too, I'm also going to have a shot at making some seed tapes out of tiolet paper for the nigella which I will lay on the soil and then cover over and see what happens. So much to learn and experiment with. ?
Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.
At school many years ago we always had mustard and cress growing on blotting paper on class room window sills which we got to take home, our own eggs and school growm cress for tea lovely. We also grew beans or set them off in jam jars, ball of blotting paper with a couple of beans pushed down the side so we saw them start to root watching the roots grow longer daily. It was wartime so with the help of teachers and the caretaker we had our own gardens which grew everything later used for the school lunches, we had one cook who cooked cabbage properly, the trend then was to boil it to death. Many of the seeds were nurtured in the class rooms before being planted out. Nothing new about setting seed on paper Dad often started his Ailsa Craig tomatoes in washed sand, my own experience is seeing seedlings from last years tomato's grow in the gravel bed.
An old cook book of my Mum's advised boiling cabbage for 20 minutes - yum. If you are sprouting seeds on paper in order to plant them, you never let them grow long enough to get tangled, you plant them as soon as they germinate. The children in primary school still grow cress and beans as Frank remembers. my grandson grew his cress in an eggshell with a face drawn on it so it looks like funny hair.
I did that with my kids too posy, and then got creative with pair of scissors to style the cress into whacky hairdos ?. Reading your post Palaisglide took me right back to my school days with the broad beans and blotting paper, I'd totally forgotten about it.
Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.
hi amy280 I am going to put my onion sett in modules to get a good start in g/house only thing different is will have to make a larger hole and trickle bit of growmore in base of hole then plant sets put strips of red yellow and hazard tape around sets to keep birds ( ithink it is chris 72 that also dose his sets in modules also Michael
hi posy yes you are right parsnips don't like to be moved about ..the way I do mine and never had any trouble is I grow mine in paper pots a couple seeds in each pot let them grow when they come snip weakest on off let grow to a few inchs then plant out and cover with net Michael
hi amy280 sorry been a while to answer been inhospital when you think amy I grow mine in membrane I put them 4ins apart when I have transplanted sets about 10x10ft and a smaller bit with red also useualy some space for sprouts ( the main reason we grow so many is that the makes loads of wife makes loads of chutney last year 74 jars pickles beet cue relish and anything else that go,s Michael amy with membrane you don't get many weeds
hi amy280 just reading what I said I use2x10 x10ft lenths and a smaller bit ( I got on line some matting for water saving I got 3mtrs and you can cut it to shape a few weeds come up but minimul amounts the matting I put trays on grow bag trays use a fine rose to water on top then when it soaks up few hours later just water trays( make sure the trays are level I have a spirt level ha ha ) Michael
I know this is an old thread but I've just started off some peas and dwarf beans on moist kitchen paper in a shallow tray, covered with clingfilm. Now I'm wondering whether I should have laid another layer of damp kitchen paper on top, and whether they should be in the dark or in the light. Can anyone help? I thought I'd try this because I'm tired of getting very low germination rates via the trough and direct sowing methods.
Posts
I was told that parsnips could be difficult to germinate in the ground but that they disliked being disturbed when started in trays so I germinated them on paper towel and planted them the minute they showed signs of life. It worked really well, they are the only vegetable I have ever grown with total success.
It would seem more sensible to spread the seeds out, the last think i would want is to be untangling sprouted seed shoots. So far I've sown the seeds into small trays and then pricked out in the traditional way which I find very satisfying. I've also sown into the jiffy pots which works a treat too, I'm also going to have a shot at making some seed tapes out of tiolet paper for the nigella which I will lay on the soil and then cover over and see what happens. So much to learn and experiment with. ?
At school many years ago we always had mustard and cress growing on blotting paper on class room window sills which we got to take home, our own eggs and school growm cress for tea lovely. We also grew beans or set them off in jam jars, ball of blotting paper with a couple of beans pushed down the side so we saw them start to root watching the roots grow longer daily. It was wartime so with the help of teachers and the caretaker we had our own gardens which grew everything later used for the school lunches, we had one cook who cooked cabbage properly, the trend then was to boil it to death. Many of the seeds were nurtured in the class rooms before being planted out. Nothing new about setting seed on paper Dad often started his Ailsa Craig tomatoes in washed sand, my own experience is seeing seedlings from last years tomato's grow in the gravel bed.
Frank
An old cook book of my Mum's advised boiling cabbage for 20 minutes - yum. If you are sprouting seeds on paper in order to plant them, you never let them grow long enough to get tangled, you plant them as soon as they germinate. The children in primary school still grow cress and beans as Frank remembers. my grandson grew his cress in an eggshell with a face drawn on it so it looks like funny hair.
I did that with my kids too posy, and then got creative with pair of scissors to style the cress into whacky hairdos ?. Reading your post Palaisglide took me right back to my school days with the broad beans and blotting paper, I'd totally forgotten about it.
hi amy280 I am going to put my onion sett in modules to get a good start in g/house only thing different is will have to make a larger hole and trickle bit of growmore in base of hole then plant sets put strips of red yellow and hazard tape around sets to keep birds ( ithink it is chris 72 that also dose his sets in modules also Michael
hi posy yes you are right parsnips don't like to be moved about ..the way I do mine and never had any trouble is I grow mine in paper pots a couple seeds in each pot let them grow when they come snip weakest on off let grow to a few inchs then plant out and cover with net Michael
hi amy280 sorry been a while to answer been inhospital when you think amy I grow mine in membrane I put them 4ins apart when I have transplanted sets about 10x10ft and a smaller bit with red also useualy some space for sprouts ( the main reason we grow so many is that the makes loads of wife makes loads of chutney last year 74 jars pickles beet cue relish and anything else that go,s Michael amy with membrane you don't get many weeds
Last edited: 20 January 2017 16:56:01
hi amy280 just reading what I said I use2x10 x10ft lenths and a smaller bit ( I got on line some matting for water saving I got 3mtrs and you can cut it to shape a few weeds come up but minimul amounts the matting I put trays on grow bag trays use a fine rose to water on top then when it soaks up few hours later just water trays( make sure the trays are level I have a spirt level ha ha ) Michael
I know this is an old thread but I've just started off some peas and dwarf beans on moist kitchen paper in a shallow tray, covered with clingfilm. Now I'm wondering whether I should have laid another layer of damp kitchen paper on top, and whether they should be in the dark or in the light. Can anyone help? I thought I'd try this because I'm tired of getting very low germination rates via the trough and direct sowing methods.