What has everyone started off?

[peter]

Forecast here for overnight temperatures is;

Mon -1
Tue 0
Wed -2
Thu -2
Fri -2

My back garden, with the greenhouse at the bottom, is north of and downslope from the house, it shares this aspect with my allotment a few hundred yards to the west, all nicely nestled in our little frost pocket cum wind tunnel, which is usually one or two degrees colder than the forecast.

So nothing yet ventured by me.

[Westi]

Ah Peter - maybe closer to Bournemouth Airport would suit better At least you know your area though but mine surprises me everytime - only about 1/2 mile from home but the variances in temp & even weather is quite remarkable!

Westi

[retropants]

i checked yesterday...one aubergine is showing through, and I squeezed the pot containing brussels (to create a small crack in the compost, naughty, I know), and I could see one of those due to emerge very soon too. Yipppeee!
I sowed lettuce 'all year round', broccoli, spinach and 'pixie' cabbages yesterday too. all in the greenhouse, which is kept above freezing.

I've put little dividers in my seed tin, like a filing cabinet, so that I can keep track of what needs sowing when. this being my 20th year of growing veg, and it's the first time I've been this organised!

[Tigger]

Yesterday's sunshine finally spurred me on to get started, so onion sets now in modules, spring onions, lettuces, peas and broad beans sown. Now we just have to keep the mice away from them!

[Colin Miles]

Broad Beans, Meteor and Robin Hood - Pea, Ruthless - Mangetout, Oregon Sugar Pod - Sweet Peas all set up to pregerminate indoors. Only reached 5C here but sunnyish afternoon. -5C last night!!

[Ricard with an H]

Broad beans in the cold frame, some flower and herb seeds under the velux windows in my shed and sweet-peas in the ground but under fleece.

[vegpatchmum]

Some Lettuces, Courgette, Mangetout, more Leeks, American Land Cress and another load of chillis, not forgetting a few flower varieties - all in propagators in the house.

VPM
x

[alan refail]

Hi VPM

Courgettes in early March. There's brave!

[Ricard with an H]

Courgettes in early March. There's brave!

Keen and optimistic ?

I lost two sowings of French bean last year because of optimism and although we are several degrees warmer on the St Davids peninsular than inland I hadn't considered the effect of wind.

Right now i'm planting the wind-barrier, i'm told the clever thing to do is to slow the wind down rather than stop it.

This gardening lark is hard work for a creaky-old-lad. Sometimes I need help taking screw caps of the bottles No, really, thats how bad it is.

[vegpatchmum]

Hi VPM

Courgettes in early March. There's brave!

I know I did wonder about it but I have two varieties - one to be sown in April and this one, Black Beauty, to be sown in March. They are in a propagator in the house and will remain in the house until April at the earliest, at which point I'll move them into my bubble wrap cloche in the small greenhouse

I'll still have my usual 'All Green Bush' to fall back on if these fail, as they will be sown in April.

VPM
x

[Geoff]

Last year I sowed Courgette 'Parthenon' on 3rd March in propagator. It went into a 25 litre tub eventually (made by cutting down a plastic container) to grow on in the heated greenhouse before moving to the cold greenhouse. It cropped well but unfortunately there is nothing in the diary to say when I moved it or when it cropped.
When I bought the tunnel I read a book that came with it by Mark Gater, Joyce Russells's book and the 'Undercover' sections of KG for several years (often written by JR) and compiled a large spreadsheet of notes. Under Courgettes I have noted:
From JR book : Consider Parthenon Feb, more March, plant end April protected
From MG book : Thinks March is too early, mid-April to May
From Undercover : start in heat in March/April, sow May
So cutting to the chase, I sowed two Parthenon yesterday intending to move them to the tunnel at different stages and see what happens. For anybody not familiar with them, Parthenon is parthenocarpic which means it doesn't need pollinating so good under cover.
For outside I normally sow a few middle of April to go out under a cloche but rest are first week of May with Squashes, Pumpkins and Gourds.

[lez]

Not sown any thing yet. I'm itching to get going. Nearly mid march and nothing in. I put some polythene down on the lottie last week to try and warm the soil so I could sow parsnps. Since then rain, and overnight tempretures dropped and we even had more snow. I am temped to sow in the greenhouse but the tempreture in there seems to get colder than that out side. I have small prafin heaters but not sure if they are up to it. I am going to sow in side a mini greenhouse with plastic and fleece fitted with a small frost buster heater in side and in side the main greenhouse to see how I get on. Anyone else ever done this?. Good luck to all.

[Ricard with an H]

Last year i'm sure I started my french beans off by first laying them on wet kitchen roll until they sprouted so this year I did the same with broad-bean and the same French bean.

Broad-bean sprouted but French bean didn't, is that what happens and is this why I sprout my beans first. I can't remember if it's advice I read or have been given or maybe in a dream.

What do you think ? Are those beans that didn't sprout past it ?

French beans are very fickle ?

[Beryl]

I would have thought it is much too early for french beans. They will rot if sown too early. Here in the south I wouldn't even think about it till mid-May. Broad beans are more hardy.

Beryl.

[Ricard with an H]

Thanks Beryl.

Yes, I thought as much. But they didn't sprout and the temperature in my shed never gets below 10 degrees, daytime once i've lit a fire it gets up to 15 degrees on the coldest day and everything else is germinating.

I'm having to assume that the beans are now duds. Last year they sprouted very quickly though I do need to learn from last years mistakes and as you point out I didn't get a healthy crop going until, erm......... late May/June.