First crops to sow during/after winter?

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Elmigo
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What are some of the first crops you usually sow after the worst cold of the winter has passed? I already got adviced to sow garlic pieces as one of the first crops in the year. What else do you sow first, before everything else starts to grow?

It's to make some of our garden space useful while we are preparing it for the real deal starting in spring 2020.
Westi
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Hi Elmigo!

While waiting for that magic time, you can get your garlic cloves in trays, along with onion & shallot sets on a window sill. You should still be able to get some & probably reduced! These guys can just sit it out looking like they are doing very little but come the longer light time you can take them out of the trays & into the ground & all will surprise you with the root development. It is traditional to sow onion seeds on Xmas or boxing day but again inside but they will be a slightly later harvest. I'm sure there are many more possibilities that the guys on here can help you with.
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sally wright
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Dear All,
those onions.... sow them indoors in a seed tray or small pots - NOT outside in the ground!
Regards Sally Wright
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Primrose
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I think you may be well advised to stick to onions and garlic indoors. Many times in the past I've tried to be clever, beat the weather, defeat nature and sowed too early and the soil was just not warm enough to ensure germination so the seed was wasted and I've had to resow.

I,ve found Swiss Chard and various types of kale may get off to an earlier start if you can start them indoors and then transplant outside under cloches or individual plastic bottles used as cloches but a surprise frost often comes along and sends You back to the starting line again.

Even after all these years of vegetable growing I still find it hard to curb my impatience to rush outside on the first warm sunny day in early March and sow something, invariably with disappointing results !
Colin2016
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Got Onions, garlic, beetroot, Kale, Sprouts, Spinach potatoes & Carrots growing on the plot.

Another plot holder has broad beans growing.
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Geoff
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Not veg but I often have some flower seeds that need to be stratified, this means I'll sow things like meconopsis in early February and put the trays in the fridge.
I plant potatoes rocket under a cloche in the polytunnel first week in February. The first real sowings start in week 8 (mid-February) when I start up the propagator with its lights. First in are sweet peas, mangetout, cabbage primo, calabrese marathon, cauliflower snowball, parsley, lettuce, basil, aubergines, tomatoes and petunias. At about the same time carrot, rocket, cress, radish, turnip, mustard and mizuna go in the polytunnel or the greenhouse (no heat on at this stage). After about a week or 10 days the greenhouse heat goes on so I can move things out of the propagator to make room for the peppers and cucumbers.
And so it goes on with a continuous sowing plan plus rooting cuttings of chrysants, dahlias and any tub/bedding plants that I have managed to keep through the Winter.
Elmigo
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I've already been sowing some trays of garlic, they do very good. Going to sow some onions too then, I never thought they'd be on the list too but after all they're both bulbs.

@primrose Yes I figured last year when I was starting kale a little too early and I got thrown back to the first base again. And that was on a balcony that is warmer than solid ground.

Thank you all, I will be trying this starting next year, perhaps right before peppers and tomatoes. This year I started those a little too early but they still grew like normal and produced a lot, most of which is still preserved in the freezer for fresh tomato soup or chili and other dishes.
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Primrose
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Elmigo. My peppers grow outdoors in pots and I start them off indoors first week of February as they're normally slow to germinate on a window sill. The tomatoes I grow in patio pots and a south facing border and are started off indoors mid April as I find they get too leggy if I sow earlier and never become strong plants.

You may be a little further south than we are here in the UK but don't think are springtime temperatures are much different.
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retropants
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I've never sowed garlic in pots or trays to overwinter before planting out. I've always put them in the ground in November. Now that I no longer have an allotment, I need to get them started in the greenhouse. How should I go about this? Induvidual pots, cells or trays (which I think won't be deep enough)
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Primrose
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I,ve always planted my garlic in November too. I think the only reason why you might plant them in pots or cells first is if can,t have the planting area dug and ready for planting now.

Have you actually moved intO to your new house and garden yet? I imagine you may want to try and get the whole growing area sorted out first so you can have a planting plan for the season. If you just prepare a planting patch for your garlic, this may later not fit in with your overall growing plans for the season, especially as you see where the sun lands throughout the course of the year, and you will then have to wait several months until the garlic or onions are harvested in summer before you can get back on track.

Growing piecemeal in patches of of a new garden like this can be irritating if they disrupt your longer term growing plans.
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