sowing seed, transplanting

My pepper seeds came, Witzend, all 10 of them in a packet!
So I planted the others from the pepper we ate as well.

I sowed some pepper seeds (from half a red pepper in the fridge) yesterday, @Callistemon. They’re in one of dh’s discarded hummus pots, plastic bag over the top and in the airing cupboard.
Must remember to check regularly. I forgot for a couple of days with the tomatoes, so a couple were very leggy and had to go.
But some tomato seeds are still coming up over a fortnight later! I swear that just about every seed I planted must be germinating. The latecomers are having to go, of course - I’m daft enough to feel mean for condemning them to death!

I'm trying that now, Witzend, so far only have some seeds drying on the windowsill.
Red pepper seeds too, not that I've ever had any success with peppers.

It’s exactly 2 weeks since I sowed my squished-out tomato seeds, and the first few are showing their first true leaves already.
I am well chuffed!
Some are still coming up but I’m reluctantly having to murder them. Four good plants will be plenty - I don’t have space, pots or compost for more.

I need to limit the number of beans that I grow, hence the pre-sowing sprouting. So far I have sown my full quota of cobra, ie 4 and 16 ferrari (dwarf). 1 of moonlight (these runner beans are being very slow to sprout) and the dwarf borlotti are just starting to sprout.

I have never grown borlotti but I believe that they cope better with a variable summer, they are destined for a trug and a raised bed on the ground, will not need support although I have a support in the trug

I intend to take growing tips off the tall beans at about 80 cm, they will get bushy and will be fine up an obelisk. I did buy long canes but not needed. I may sow ferrari direct into the ground in may/june depends if there is room with the peas

I had an e mail yesterday, my geranium plugs are no longer available, I have been offered garden ready plants as a sub in early june. That will do, the nurseries are really struggling

The bean seeds are doing exactly as expected, I am handling them very gently. This morning I prepped some root trainers, taller ones for cobra and moonlight and shorter ones for borlotti and ferrari. There is some sprouting already and I have popped 8 ferrari into trainers, lightly covered with compost and some perlite on top. Ditto with 2 cobra. Borlotti and moonlight seeds have swollen but the only signs of roots are on 2 broken moonlight seeds, I won`t be planting those. It really is worth doing it this way. You just need a very light handle. I am waiting for good solid moonlight seeds to show signs of life, those with plenty of seed food in them

All plants are out this morning, the delicates in the mini glasshouse with doors open. The brassicas sown in pots in poly bags are showing good signs of life, I need to be watchful and to get thosepots out of the bags and into the sun asap

I'm basically a lazy gardener I think! The above method does work fine for me and my growing purposes though.

A real easy way to get your seeds off to a good start is to do this:

Use supermarket pots, the ones the fresh flowers are sold in, in morrisons they sell them for £1 for 8.
Use your favourite compost, I add vermiculite for drainage, fill pot to three quarters full, and water, sow seeds as packet says, cover with compost as required, and pat down gently.
Use a plastic bell cloche, diameter about 30cms, over the pot, this will fit snugly as its slightly too big for the pot, so you just wedge it firmly on.
Place in a sunny part of the garden or patio.
Open vent on top of bell cloche on hot days or as required.
Thin out if needed after germination.
When it comes to planting in final position just a small hand trowel or even a dinner fork will do. Just be quick, as the roots don't have a lot of soil around them.

This works well for making small plugs for the allotment, and also garden annuals. The big outlay is for the cloches, but they will last for years if you wipe and store safely after use.

An update, tomatoes on the window sill doing well but pots of lettuce and rocket outdoor have been turned over. Not sure who's the culprit but the squirrels are No.1 suspect. So battle commences!

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?

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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).

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

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

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

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.

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

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 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

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.