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Am i doing something wrong
pompeyboy
Posts: 98
in Fruit & veg
Hi...Have had 4 kinds of tomatoes... Parsnips...Peppers... Spinach...And quite a few plant seeds sown for about 6 weeks now in an unheated greenhouse...All the seeds are new...But as to now...Nothing but a few small seedlings in two of the trays...Is there something wrong that I'm doing... Everything was good this time last year.. Should I give up with these or give it a few more weeks then re sow?...Thank you.
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it's still only early March. I'd not worry too much.
Thanks Hostafan1...Just thought that at least some of the Tom's and Parsnips might have been showing by now.
I think it might be a bit early to sow tomatoes in an unheated greenhouse. I would start them indoors. Same with peppers.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
Thanks punkdoc...Was just following what it said on the packet...It has been cold for the first 2/3 weeks that I'd sown them.. Maybe that's a contributing factor.
Put your toms on a windowsill indoors until they germinate. They usually come up quite quickly with a bit of warmth. Parsnips take aaaages. The usual advice is to sow radish with parsnip seed if you sow them direct in the ground because the parsnips take so long to come up you can get a whole crop of radish up and eaten before the parsnips are barely showing. But they don't need warmth so just leave them be. Spinach I'm not sure. Have you got a propagator lid you could put over them just to warm them up a little bit and reduce the drying out perhaps?
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Raisingirl thank you...Yeah have heard that about with the radish...Yep got a few lids so have tried that with some of the Tom's..Will have to get some more...Thank you☺
I don't know about your seeds but on my packs of Tom seed they say germinate at 18-21 then grow on at 15 C. Wherever you are in GB I doubt you have had those temps for the last 6 weeks without a heated propagator. I would sow Parsnip direct as they don't like being transplanted (tend to fork more). The trick with the Radish is worth doing not just as a catch crop but to show you where the row is so you can hoe either side to keep weeds at bay, as they will inevitably show before the Parsnips, as previously said they take ages to germinate. I might have expected the spinach to germinate as many leafy veg (brasicas & others) and salad crops are actually better in cool (not cold) conditions. Are you sure you have not covered them too deeply? remember small seed only have a little food with which to germinate and get to surface to start growing. After 6 weeks you may have to re-sow sorry. Have a careful scrape at the edge to look at some seed, if it looks same as when you sowed it it's probably been too cold & wet for it.
I sow tomato seeds indoors, they are still in the conservatory as small plants, no way could I put them out in the GH yet. They will be potted on once more and planted out in the GH on the 1st May.
Parsnips are sown on the 1st May, with runner beans, parsnips direct, beans indoors.