Anything we should be doing ?

[andy]

Anything to sow or plant (indoors of course) at the moment ?

[Ladygardener]

Soon be time for the Boxing Day onion sowing.

[andy]

Hmmm....never grown onions from seed before (always used sets) Any benifits to seed vs sets ?

[Ladygardener]

1. cheaper.
2. They say they bolt less.
3. More variety.
4. They say they store better too.
It's fun to take part in the trial and you can sow earlier Andy. There is a thread about it somewhere.

[Rosefriend]

Here's the onion thread Andy...

gardenworld.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=gotopost&board=overwinter&thread=8917&post=332341

A load of us did peppers in August (bigger yield) but I have got some other pepper seeds that I want to try, and will sow them just after Christmas. Toms I shall start early as well.....always say I won't but I do...
Not sure on Aubergines - mine took an absolute age to get growing last year so I may start those early as well.

RF

[carolann]

Its my second/third year at the boxing day Onions Andy and I plant sets as well but the seeded ones seem to do better dont know why???

[andy]

Just wondering if it's worth doing early (jan/feb) Tomato sowings and then following this up with a later April sowing. I did most of mine around the end of march last year and the Toms didn't ripen until mid to late August.

[Rosefriend]

I did start my toms last January and my toms did ripen earlier - depends on the variety as well really. I also did some late sowings - there wasn't really too much of a difference - 3/4 weeks perhaps.

The problem is that sowing in Jan they can get very leggy because of the lack of light. I used the silver foil trick and also buried them up to their necks in plastic beer mugs/cup thingies.!!

When I took them in the GH they went mad and I had the first truss growing still in the little pots.
I transferred them to 20litre tubs and had good yields.

I shall start again in Jan this year, especially the beef toms that can take a little longer, and possibly (lack of space) do the dwarf, bush, cherry cordon toms a little later.

RF

[jean]

Chillis and toms can be sown under heat at the begining of Feb, the only draw back is that when they need to be potted on you will need somewhere reasonably warm to keep them going until they will be happy in the GH in May. An indoor windowsill can be a bit too warm and the seedlings will get too leggy. Its all a bit of a lottery but sowing a few seeds wouldn't hurt

I'm hoping to get my Bunton onion seeds sown this weekend, I prefer the seeds to sets and have had better results

[Dutchy]

Sweet peas can be sown in protected places see the Sweet Pea competition thread.

Aubergines can be sown in February ( slow starters anyhow) but with my toms and Chilli I wait till the end of March. There is more sunlight on the windows and they do not go so leggy.

I suppose that when the soil is not frozen now would also be a good time to dig in horse manure under the beds where the Courgette will be this growing season. I dig a foot deep and bung some 3cm of manure and hay in and then the soil back on.
By the time you plant the courgette the bottom heat will help them grow away happily. ( not much food in half rotted horse manure.)