sowing seed, transplanting

haha

I am doing things differently next year, definitely am not going to be sucked into buying trays of 40 tiny plug plants, with my limited growing space and extra care needed

Mostly seeds only next year and mostly have those from this year. Any plugs will be bigger and fewer. My last plugs will arrive around the 10th of june

So transplanting is almost done here in my SW garden and pot washing has started. This is a job that I hate if I leave it until autumn. Outdoor storage is sorted and pots and trays are being stacked and the freezer is being sorted as quickly as I can eat, I have a massive crop ahead of blueberries at least

DH: "what are those things you've labelled something out?"
Me:
Me: "Oh, they're the mangetout"
DH: "They're what?"
Me: "Mange tout, Rodney, mange tout"

He likes 'proper peas'. I must educate him.

I have just sorted my seeds ready to put away. I kept the repeaters like radish back they are all in a box in the fridge. Last attemp at marketmore cucs today, I only need one more plant, some on wet kitchen roll and 5 in a pot, surely one has to sprout.

I put my best ferline tomato out 2 days ago, looks settled, also 2 courgettes are out and I see buds. My garden is warm and sheltered but I am watchful and have access to fleece. Sweet peas, mangetout, runners and french beans also looking well. I popped some borlotti plants into a trug today, it is against a warm wall so I am not fearful for them

Little turnips popped up outside in 4 days and I have thinned. I have to sit on my hands now and enjoy the spring growth

Zinnias are germinating already! I did put them in a warm room, but even so.... They were only sown on Wednesday.
They did germinate very quickly when I grew them before, but that was in a climate where even midwinter temps were usually 20+ deg.

The first couple of mine (peppers) did germinate fairly quickly, presumably because I kept them in the airing cupboard. (In a hummus pot saved from the recycling.).

Since then progress has been painfully slow, even though when it was so warm (here at least) I was putting them out in the sun every day.

I now have a load of zinnias - seeds finally arrived - 2 to a pot in my remaining mini peat pots. I’ve only ever grown them in a hot climate before so fingers Xed.

I read that pepper seeds need a constant warm temperature to germinate so I don't think mine are going to do much either.

DH left the remains of the packet of courgette seeds in his pocket and they went through a cycle in the washing machine at 40C - we're wondering if they will germinate a bit more quickly

My pepper seedlings are taking forever to do anything but germinate - two are having trouble shedding their seed husk, even about 10 days after showing their faces.

At this rate it’s going to be many months before they’re anywhere near bearing fruit, so in the absence of a greenhouse, or anywhere non-shady enough to put one, I think I might ditch them. ?
Tomato plants, OTOH, are doing very well so far, so ?.

Tomatoes are growing where I sowed geraniums, peppers ...

Witzend, be hopeful. I've never known tomato seeds to fail in germination and growth!

Thanks craftyone
It's got much colder here too. I think everything DH sowed in the ground and the greenhouse is coming through though.
I obviously haven't got green fingers.
On the bright side - the strawberries I moved last year, plus some from a neighbour, look as if they might do well!

Yours all sounds very organised.

callistemon, I put my pea seeds onto folded kitchen roll about 6 inches wide, when most seeds had sprouted I made a shallow channel and slid the whole length in. Good result, they are now growing away

There has been 2 fantastic days of solid rain here and the ground is well and truly watered and 2 water buts are almost full. I am very thankful that the beans, cosmos and sweet peas in the ground look very healthy, even if a bit colder at night.

Tomorrow I am transplanting medium cabbages out to their final position in a square 1m raised bed, all under butterfly net on hoops. Cabbages are duncan and red alert. The 2 purple sprouting seedlings and 2 red drumhead are thriving in the ground in the potager area. I might have to bite the bullet and just bung the 2 red russian kale in wherever I can find a space, certainly there is no room for any more cages. I am trying to keep brassicas, the ones intermingled in my potager, to the right side so I have some semblence of a rotation next year

Oh, thank you, craftyone, I will check tomorrow. I've washed the pots ready to sow them tomorrow rather than straight in the ground.

I've just read that peppers are difficult to germinate, they require a warm temperature day and night.

We can't find anywhere near here that has anything in stock so may have to improvise.

I haven’t needed to sow seeds for several years as we had a lovely bloke with a stall at the Farmers Market who sold plug plants.

This year I’ve filled most of my trugs, pots even old horse feed buckets with compost (with shingle at the bottom as there’s no drainage) and planted loads of veg seeds. Peas, carrots, leeks and salad stuff are all through and the broad beans (special ones for containers) are just showing. Tomatoes have been repotted and are doing well.

But - the nasturtium seeds I put in seed trays for the hanging baskets, as I can’t get anything else, haven’t appeared. I dug one up and it has swollen but no sign of roots or shoot coming. Does anyone know how long they take?

Are your mangetouts called sweet sahara by any chance? If so they don`t grow tall and just need something to support them, maybe crumpled up chicken wire or a simple system using angled canes tied at the top in a row and some stretched out hemp pea support. I say hemp because it is very easy to handle and tie onto supports

I have almost finished planting out, the sweet peas, cosmos and bergamot yesterday and I moved some unhappy hellebores. The bean sprouting method on kitchen roll has worked fab, they are in rootrainers now and very green very quickly. I have only one marketmore cucumber, the others were a complete failure and it is not self fertile. I am expecting more seeds from dt brown but not for at least a coule of weeks. I am going to try and get one more marketmore to grow and this time, again, on kitchen roll. I finally got the squash seeds to sprout this way and now have 2 healthy squash plants. No lemon balm seedlings, also a complete failure

I think one may have poked its little head through the soil, Witzend.

DH said I'd overwatered them.

ArtySue a question for you (oh, that rhymed )

I have grown sugarsnap peas before now and they only grew to about 2-3 ft. However, this year I seem to have ordered mangetout - will they need a rack like a bean rack? There's no indication on the packet how tall they will grow. Would a wigwam shape be suitable? Do I need a net for them?

So many questions, sorry

I'm in Cornwall, no frost at my allotment. Have just planted peas and mangetout. Rocket, spinach and chard are poking through the soil, have harvested one asparagus spear ha ha and one globe artichoke. Found some agapanthus plants left by someone outside a random gate last year, popped them in the soil, thought they had died and now they are a foot tall. Yippee! Massive abundance of forget me nots everywhere! Last year my lettuce overwintered in the open ground but have finally dug it up.

One of my pepper seeds has come up! I’d almost given them up. O rapture bliss poop poop, in the immortal words of Toad.
Any sign of yours yet, @Callistemon ?

You sound very organised, craftyone.

I may plant some things such as capsicum, even lettuce, in pots this year, in the absence of my usual summer flowering plants.

I am itching to get some plants out into their positions for this year. I am scratching around to find spaces in my potager garden, as always I have grown too many veg. I found 2 spaces for red drumheads, I will only need 2 big solid red cabbages to keep me going all winter via Delia and the freezer. I am glad that I brought some pop-up net butterfly protectors. They are set up and I put a bit of growmore in and settled the 2 drumheads with good cabbage collars around the stems

I have also worked out a small hooped butterfly netting system for a 1 x1 m raised bed for cabbages, I will put duncan and red alert in there. I still have minicole and nemo (mini caulie) it will be several weeks before they are ready to transplant, they will go into a small trug, I have a mesh cover for the overhead frame. I took the fleece cover off this morning and will have to do some jiggery pokery ie put the chards out to make room for the brassicas. I`ll have to make a beter rotation plan next year

Got to be very careful for the next 2 nights in sw. All babies and tenders will be under cover as we could get frost. I have fleece to cover some planters and potatoes in pots will be moved to below trugs, or into the garage. Outdoor potatoes have been earthed up and over, ready. The tenders will be moved indoors, cucumbers, tomatoes etc. Frost may not touch the ground here but a forcast 2 degrees is too close to call

In the old days I used newspapers to cover trays outside in a shady place. If the sun is kept off and the frosted plants are allowed to recover slowly then they may stand a chance. Another way is to spray with cold water if the frost has got to them

More than half the borlotti seeds are swollen but have not yet shown any sign of sprouting. I have rootrainers ready for them, as soon as I see that tiny root then it goes in and I cover lightly. The toscana strawberries came and I have planted them into planters plus some marigold plugs bergamot seedlings and a few nasturteum seeds.

Eagle eye on the overnight weather this week and fleece at the ready. Its been an ongoing job, making sure that the little pots are not becoming too dry

Pots, not pits!

ps - just checked and six tomato pits are showing signs of life, and four cucumbers

This thread is fascinating for me, and shows how much I have to learn

I've put loads of seeds in, and just hoped for the best. Most are in the greenhouse, a lot in unheated propagators, sweet peas by the fence they're hopefully going to grow up, and vegetables in a trug type thing.

Reading how carefully you all tend your seeds and plants gives me some insight into why I've not had much success before. Except for tomatoes and courgettes for some reason.

Good luck with all yours, Callistemon!
Let’s hope for a good summer and bounteous crops - some consolation for being stuck at home.