sowing seed, transplanting

hard coat, too wet and rotten inside, old unviable seeds

I found that some of the best seeds have come from some good sellers on ebay

sown cucs, courgette and calendula. I am not going to have enough garden space

I made my own seed tapes this year to use up seeds and to use up a few hours having been in lockdown in France for ten days now.

Great success already with lettuce.

Laid down the following seed tapes yesterday...spinach, chervil, nasturtium and peas and asparagus peas (all for salads), sorrel, lovage, dill, Good King Henry and salad burnet.

I've also in the last week germinated lemon pips to produce plants to give as presents to friends.

how did you make seed tapes?

I put a row of sweet sahara mangetout peas into a vegtrug, I managed to buy the trug support frames online and 2 fit neatly side by side. Sweet sahara are short. I sowed them along the back frame and think I will sow short borlotti along the front in a few weeks, then when the sahara are finished I will replace with little gems as lettuce does well in shade

I have ordered vine weavil nematodes, I had them once in strawberries and I think they came from sedums. They decimated all my strawberries in growbags, up high on strawberry supports. I have seen the cut edges on my sedums in the ground and had to spray them with chemical vine weavil killer. The nematodes will go into all my planters, vegtrugs and raised beds. They are evil barstewards

Morning craftyone. I'm sending you a pm about the seed tapes
I made mine a couple of weeks ago and will make some more to allow for succession sowing for the veg and herbs I like and use.
Hopefully posting a picture of the seed tapes. Put an egg in the photo to give a feel for the size. Take care x
ps. I'm in Brittany and the weather is similar to Devon/Cornwall which obviously makes a difference regarding germination.

The lettuce seeds that I sowed in a little pot need pricking out now.
I just hope they will tolerate the cold temperatures in the unheated greenhouse, after being indoors at night up until now.

Same with the Sungold tomatoes, except that I will continue to bring them in at night for a long time yet. They will continue to go in the greenhouse daytime as long as the temperature in there isn't below 7°, otherwise they will grow too leggy on my not-very-light windowsills.

And the new patch of lawn I sowed nearly three weeks ago is now germinating

craftyone, have just sent the pm

Thank you very much Carillion, I can do that with carrots this year and more seeds next year

I am also bringing my tomatoes in every night but they are growing well and looking sturdy so it is worth the effort of putting them out, open air if sunny and still, otherwise my new mini lifesaver glasshouse

I have one squash showing green, phew lifesaving seems to have worked, only 8 in a packet and 4 used up this year, I want 2 squash plants, this year and not to have to buy more seeds for squash next year

I am just about to print some more labels, borage, lemon balm and parsley. All of these are going to be sown in situ, in largish pots and a planter. Parsley is so slow to germinate. I already have some in a small pot to prick out if they emerge but these new herb pots will be by the back door, so situ makes sense. The borage is in a bigger tall planter. I want bees

I re-potted sage and the mint today. Mint spreads into a circle on the pot edges so I have started again in the centre, been very careful not to put any mint roots on the ground with the old soil, can be invasive. I found a self seeded thyme and that has gone into another pot together with chives and rosemary. Herbs are all done now

We have a new slightly larger plastic greenhouse and I wonder if using

discountsales365.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/316.jpg

Would it help to take the chill off overnight?. I bought one some years ago to use as a hot water bottle and it’s still warm in the morning. I think the retriever we had would have made short work of chewing through it despite the rhetoric.

Onion set are in
Seed potatoes are in
Bean seed set in pots (4 varieties)
Tomato seeds set in pots (3 varieties)
Sunflower seeds set in pots (3 varieties)
Luffa seeds set in pots
Sweet pea seeds set in pots
Cucumber seeds set in pots
Dahlia seeds set in pots

All are in propagators and some are kept indoors all day, the rest are on a shelf in the shed, well protector from frost. In all I have set almost 150 individual seeds.

I put my new plugs in the mini glasshouse but I see that the temperature will have a chill factor down to -4 in the morning (sw). I think I will put fleece over the trays tonight. I put the spud pots into wooden mini houses with polycarbonate. I think they will be ok. I`ll make sure there is enough soil over the green bits. Tomatoes and squash are coming in and transplanted drumheads will be popped into the greenhouse, might do it now. Hope I can find the fleece

I sowed poached egg and basil this morning. Basil needs light to germinate, so they are in a poly bag in the glasshouse for now, I will do the in and out with them when the light starts to fade. Poached egg are in the glasshouse for now as it is so cold

My balconi yellow tomatoes are looking good. Small and neat, they will go into pots later

I only have beans left, I like them outside in rootrainers and will sow in april, depends on temperatures. The dwarf beans will be sown in situ

One squash is green and upcoming, the other still only has a tiddly root. I will sow a reserve in its own pot, will caefully prise the outershell off so it roots quicker

I hope my seeds arrive soon and that I don't get an email saying 'due to unusually high demand .....'

Callistemon
When did you order them?

I went online yesterday to get some seeds and every site I visited was warning not just about high demand, but also of the logistical problems that are slowing down the fulfilment of orders, such as safe-working and staff shortages. A five or six week wait was widely predicted.

I also noticed that an awful lot of seeds were 'sold out'. I only bought four packs of veg seeds seed, as I still have enough of most last from last year. As all four were in stock, I wondered if I might get them quite quickly, but thinking about it, if the company is short of staff to process the orders, I guess mine will wait in the queue as long as anyone else's.

Some advice please! I am clearing neglected woodland and would like ideas of things to sow or plant to grow up through the brambles to give some interest. Perhaps fast growing annuals. Or clematis

It was a week ago, MamaCaz and they did warn a 7-10 day wait so I'm keeping fingers crossed. I haven't yet had an email to say they are out of stock - yet

even ebay sellers have sold out and the others have increased their prices

I have ordered some more radish and a smaller butternut squash. I expect I will get them in around 3 weeks

My previous squash, hunter, from e bay, I think were old seeds, possibly picked up by the seller as a cheap job lot. One has sprouted and is doing well. I picked the coat off another last night and have put it in the glasshouse for the day, am hoping that the sun will entice it upwards. Profiteering is also happening with seeds

Sometimes it does pay to wait until at least april before seed sowing, I am as guilty as most, sowing seeds in march is not paying off except for tomatoes

I very much agree with your last sentence, craftyone.
Unless we have a warm March, there is little point sowing many outdoor seeds, and in my experience, April-sown things often overtake those sown earlier in less-than-ideal conditions.
I've found that is particularly true of parsnips - traditionally, they seem to be sown in February, but I find late March sowings much more successful (and I've won the longest parsnip section in our village show (September) every year since it started in 2014, so the later sowing definitely worked for me).

loopyloo do they produce blackberries? If so, could you nurture them and hope they produce fruit for you?
We have some wild ones at the edge of the garden, DH has looked after them, given them manure etc and we get a good crop of large berries each year.

Quick update on the homemade seed tapes.
As mentioned in an earlier post, lettuce are doing very well.

Spinach and watercress are now very strong and promising.
Asparagus peas (which I grow to use like pea shoots on salads)
are romping away as are marrow fat peas.

Love nasturtiums in salads so have used seed tapes for the first time with these seeds. Will let you know how these progress...or not!

Loopy have you thought of Borage, it grows well with little attention and likes a woodland setting. The flowers are edible and look pretty. Comfrey is similar.
Foxgloves would also grow well. Crainsbill geraniums, particularly Wargrave is another semi shade plant.

My squished-out tomato seeds are germinating!
Had put them in the airing cupboard and forgot to check yesterday, so one’s a bit leggy, but now on windowsill so the rest should be all right.

I have doubts about some of my brassica seeds, quite poor germination so I sowed again this morning many more per pot and each pot labelled in a poly bag in the utility room, I will wash and keep all bags year on year. I don`t have a shed and my greenhouse is a mini

I don`t want the same doubts about my beans and bearing in mind that it is warm in the sw, I have laid all beans on wet kitchen towel on trays in the kitchen. Same with my sahara peas, I opened the pouch from different supplier. The pea strips will go in soil as is, the beans will be picked out as soon as I see tiny roots, destined for root trainers

Obviously suppiers are under pressure this year but I am not overly impressed with the plugs yesterday. I think they have been brought on far too fast, for obvious reasons

I forgot oregano seeds, did not like the big increase in price so have ordered just 3 plugs.

I have had incredible success when sowing from seed for garden and allotment, only 12 miles away, some seed suppliers are using old seed. Same make of compost, locally made

I stocked up all through autumn and winter with endless bags of compost from my local supplier, back and forth with car loads, I had 4 trugs to fill and several large planters and raised beds to prep big holes in not-nice builders soil, for fruit trees and bushes and roses. I have used another 4 this morning, leaving 2.5 and am going to have to squash and stretch what I have. I am not in a panic yet, I just need to transplant up a size until mid may. Umm, too many plugs I think, I got carried away

craftyone I grew oregano from seed a few years ago and now it is in cracks in a wall, growing in the lawn and has now, I noticed, invaded my mint!
I thought mint was invasive but oregano comes top of the list (after celandines and bindweed).

Well done, were you Girl Guide?