hints & tips for a newbie!

[Annabelle28]

Hi all

After a semi successful 2008 growing on from donated plants, 2009 is our 1st year of growing from seed

So far I have seed potatoes (King Edwards) chitting nicely in the windowsill and the following seeds planted in egg boxes in the airing cupboard to germinate:

- Sweetcorn (Baby)
- Carrots (Chantennay)
- Beetroot (Boltardy)
- Courgette

Planning on planting the following in veg patch:

- Potatoes
- Sweetcorn
- Carrots
- Beetroot
- Peas & Pea Shoots
- Onions (from sets??)

... thefollowing in containers:

- Peppers (in mini greenhouse)
- Tomatoes (as above)
- Salad leaves


... and the following in borders out the front to try & avoid the rabbit we encountered last year!!

- Broccolli

Any hints / tips / general advice would be much appreciated!

Happy growing!

Annabelle

[peter]

Bit early for sweetcorn (unless it is going under a polytunnel) and carrots are best sown direct in the soil.

[Annabelle28]

Ahhh ok... even for baby corn? When is best time? Is it best to start off indoors?

I have 1/2 pack of seeds left for carrots so when would be best time to plant outdoors under cloches?

Thanks

[peter]

Do the packets not have suggested sowing times?

Sweetcorn really dislikes frost.

[Primrose]

I'd suggest saving the remainder of the carrots until mid April, when you can sow them straight into the ground. They really don't transplant successfully. I'd also try and avoid planting sweetcorn in egg boxes. They need to be sown in deep containers so that their root system isn't disturbed. Empty loo rolls packed with compost work well in this case, and if you've got any spare seeds, I'd sow the remainder in mid April at the earliest because otherwise they'll be too tall and sprindly to plant out before the weather is warm enough and all danger of frost has passed. I'd also sow the beetroot straight into the soil in April - it's difficult to transplant successfully, and sow the courgettes (one to each 3 inch pot) in mid April too. I don't really think egg boxes are suitable because they won't contain enough compost or be deep enough to allow the roots to expand and if they're checked at this early point in their life they'll never really recover. However, there's plenty of time for you to resow if you run into trouble, so don't be dispirited if your first attempts get too spindly. Most of us make the mistake of sowing too early, especially when we're beginners, and have to go back to Square One and start again.

[Geoff]

Usual reminder - please edit your profile to tell us where you are to make the advice more accurate - I don't sow Sweet Corn until May for example.

[Johnboy]

Hi Primrose,
Beetroot sown in modules transplant very easily and to me are a great success and also a great saving in seeds. With Maize; Fodder Maize is sown direct in the second week in May here and the growth is unbelievably rapid and a great profusion of cobs. Now it maybe true that this is grown for silage but the cobs are super to eat and the characteristics of this Maize cannot be that far remove from Sweetcorn.
I think that Maize is a crop that needs to be grown totally unchecked so to sow too early and have to hold fire on the planting out because of the weather is sure to be a drawback to success. Maize only takes about a week to germinate and if slightly late in sowing they very soon catch up.
Maize is a very hungry crop!
JB.

[Primrose]

Johnboy - your comment about beetroot sown in modules is very interesting because the only time my beetroot sowing failed and I bought some from a garden centre in modules none of them transplanted successfully. However, I'll perhaps try this method again this year and hope for better luck. I guess, being a bulb/root crop it's not different from celeriac and that grows successfully that way.

[Tigger]

The other thing about sweetcorn is the length of time it takes to ripen, so it needs a long growing time. If you delay sowing just a week or two, you'll end up feeding them to the birds.

[Annabelle28]

Thankyou all for your responses, v helpful

Any tips for onions? Are they better grown from seed or sets - direct into ground or...?

Thankyooooooooooooooouuuuu!

[Southern Softie]

I have never grown onions from seed but I do hear they can be much better although more prone to going to seed. [Correct me if I am wrong please]

I have heard of people growing indoors sets then planting out but I don't quite understand why as last season I planted onion sets in the winter and spring and they both worked.

I was surprised, however, that I got better results from the spring planted as I thought they were meant to thrive from being overwintered. However, this could be down to the place I planted them as the spring one sets were in a raised bed.

This time round I planted 200 sets in a raised bed on Dec 21 (apparently traditional to use the winter soltice to plant onions/garlic) and most have sprouted nicely (185). I have also just (4th April) planted another 150 in a chalk laden piece or ground to see how they fair. I do love onions.

I am still in my own experimental stage with garlic and onions and, to be honest, trying to build up experience of all veg growing.

When I picked the onions last year I put them upside down on a slatted bench to dry out over a period of a week, bringing them inside at night and in wet weather. I then plaited them (with the help of my beautiful lady) and hung them in my shed. As an experiment I have left one of them there to see how long it keeps and it is still good and firm now after 6 months.

I have much to learn but I think it is key to experiment and ask people such as the experts on this forum for advice, it saves so much pain.

[Johnboy]

Hi Southern Softie,
I hate to do this but I am about to correct your first comment.
It is Onion Sets that are more prone to going up to flower. This is why many people grow their Onions from seed.
I am very pleased that we, in you, have somebody willing to experiment.
By experimenting you will more rapidly gather the knowledge you need to be a good grower.
As an example;
I carry out at least one experiment per year and a couple of years back covered a bed with manure then covered with Heavy duty Black Polythene and grew Carrots on the plot the next crop and had a wonderful crop of Carrots all as straight as a di. Convention says that you should never grow Carrots on a manured plot. It appears that it is how the manure is introduced to the plot. By worms it seems to buck convention. Had I not experimented then I would never have known.
Keep on experimenting SS and I am sure in the years to come you, above all, will have some fine crops.
JB.

[Southern Softie]

Thanks for pointing that out. Am happy to be corrected. That is probably why heat treated sets are better i.e. less prone to going to flower. I have since read more and found that onions are biannual so growing from seed is probably the best choice to avoid flowering. However this can still occur if there are a mix of hot and cold spells which can fool the bulb into thinking it has passed through 2 seasons. Interesting stuff....for a gardener anyway. I'll give seeds a go next year and see how they fair against sets.

I have also found it very very useful to keep a diary. I use this to note down what I did, for next years reference. I also put in the dates of my planned planting, especially for succession planting. It's so easy to lose track of when you were meant to plant the next row of carrots or lettuce etc. Also saves looking at the seed packets every week to figure out what you are meant to be doing.