Sowing in January

[becky_jo]

Hello! I am keen to get going with the veggies earlier this year (I haven't usually start sowing til late April/May the last couple of years...)

My polytunnel book suggests that the main things I should be thinking about sowing is possibly early carrots and some salad leaves (among other things, but this is what interests me most). That's fine and I'll give it a go directly into the beds in the polytunnel and see what happens.

I suppose my question is, is it too early to start sowing other things in trays in the house? For example courgettes, tomatoes, peas, cucumber, sweetcorn, broccoli, ready for planting out when it gets a bit warmer? (I know we've had a mild winter so far but I'm sure we are going to get a cold snap soon!)

I'm in Inverness-shire if that makes any difference. I am still fairly inexperienced but enjoying the learning curve!

Thanks in advance.
Becky

[burnie]

With the weather we have forecast, I wouldn't be in too much of a rush, we are still lacking light as much as heat just now, if you have a maximum/minimum thermometer, I doubt you are getting anywhere near a decent temp for germination. I have an electric propagator in the conservatory and that is where I will be gardening until mid late March and I'm a 100 miles south of you(though on the colder but usually drier East side)

[becky_jo]

With the weather we have forecast, I wouldn't be in too much of a rush, we are still lacking light as much as heat just now, if you have a maximum/minimum thermometer, I doubt you are getting anywhere near a decent temp for germination. I have an electric propagator in the conservatory and that is where I will be gardening until mid late March and I'm a 100 miles south of you(though on the colder but usually drier East side)

Thanks burnie - yes I'm not in a rush; the fact I've already started planning is already a good start for me! I have space to sow seeds to germinate in trays on a windowsill in the house like I have done with courgettes etc in the past - is now a good time to do that or is it still a wee bit early?

[burnie]

I have Mammoth Onion seeds in just now, sown at Christmas time, leeks will follow when the onions are big enough to come out of the prop, then chillies and tomatoes after that, by then it will be well into March.

[veggiechicken]

Hi Becky, I've sown courgettes and cucumbers - sensible people say its too early. I also have tomatoes and leek seedlings but they're a bit more sensible.

[bario1]

Personally I wouldn't sow anything tender until March, especially up where you are. Courgettes grow fast and they might outgrow your windowsills way before it's warm enough to put them outside... do you have a greenhouse?

[Bren In Pots]

Up to yet I've only sown lettuce and some peas for shoots, next month I'll be sowing my toms and Chillis.

[annie8]

I wouldn’t start courgettes now. They grow fast and there isn’t a real benefit I don’t think from early sowing when you can’t put outside for months. You could possibly start other things though. I am experimenting by starting a few tomatoes and early this year, but not much else apart from maybe a few chillis until about March.

[Penellype]

I would hold fire on everything with the possible exception of peas and salad greens. If you do get early plants going you will need indoor lights to stop them from going leggy and weak while you wait for warmer weather. Later sowings will produce better plants and probably bigger crops, and I often find that things like carrots are no earlier when sown in February than in April when germination and growth is much faster. Daylight hours are crucial, and without lights you can't do anything about this.

Apart from tomatoes, peppers and lettuces which will all stay in the house for the whole of their lives, I will only be sowing spinach, lettuce and beetroot (all in the hotbed late January or early February) and peas (February, indoors for planting out in March), and planting onion sets before the beginning of March.

[Atta]

I wouldn’t start courgettes now. They grow fast and there isn’t a real benefit I don’t think from early sowing when you can’t put outside for months. You could possibly start other things though. I am experimenting by starting a few tomatoes and early this year, but not much else apart from maybe a few chillis until about March.

Last year I sown courgettes (I started in window sill) in the end of June and I had decent crop till frost took them down.

[Snadger]

When I was at my old plot I pulled a seed head off a leek I had planted purposely to propagate from. The story is that my neighbour on my other plot had huge leeks that were her fathers own show winning strain he had developed. They weren't interested in leeks and when her father died I asked if I could have a leek to propagate from rather than lose the strain. Three years on this leek was the last of its kind.

Today, after sitting the leeklets from the seedhead in water for a week I have planted up about 20 into a polystyrene cup (its all I had at the time) and they are sitting on the South facing kitchen window sill hopefully making roots and establishing themselves

[SarrissUK]

There's no harm in trying the stuff that can go outside in the cold, so look for hardy stuff

Courgettes are absolute wusses and can not deal with any kind of cold and will keel over and die from a gust of cold air. They also grow massive real quick and you'd not want that on your windowsill.

[becky_jo]

Personally I wouldn't sow anything tender until March, especially up where you are. Courgettes grow fast and they might outgrow your windowsills way before it's warm enough to put them outside... do you have a greenhouse?

We have a polytunnel but no greenhouse. I think I'll wait a bit for the courgettes

[Scarlet]

Tomatoes, courgettes, chillies, cucumbers, beans are all tender plants. They can't go outside until your last frost. Until then you have to bring them indoors overnight. I have a Greenhouse, in April and May I will put my tomatoes out for the day and bring them back in at night if temps are forecast low. If they get frosted they are generally lost As a general rule for me (I'm in the South West) my toms and chillies will go in the GH fulltime in mid May. I don't really think about sowing courgettes or cucumbers until mid April/ beginning of May.

[4Shoes]

Hello! I am keen to get going with the veggies earlier this year (I haven't usually start sowing til late April/May the last couple of years...)

My polytunnel book suggests that the main things I should be thinking about sowing is possibly early carrots and some salad leaves (among other things, but this is what interests me most). That's fine and I'll give it a go directly into the beds in the polytunnel and see what happens.

I suppose my question is, is it too early to start sowing other things in trays in the house? For example courgettes, tomatoes, peas, cucumber, sweetcorn, broccoli, ready for planting out when it gets a bit warmer? (I know we've had a mild winter so far but I'm sure we are going to get a cold snap soon!)

I'm in Inverness-shire if that makes any difference. I am still fairly inexperienced but enjoying the learning curve!

Thanks in advance.
Becky

Hi Becky,

I'm from the North East (Close to Huntly) and worked in Inverness and the North East for many years. Inverness whilst milder has the same last frost date as Forfar, Aberdeen, Huntly - 2nd week in May. Best Idea might be to go to Garden Focused web Site, Set your location and go to the Vegetable Calendar and pick what you plan to grow. Then for crops you'd like to grow in you polytunnel take a couple of weeks off the sow outside date or use the sow under cloche dates. You could try more if you have plenty of seed and wish to experiment.

The biggest problem about growing seeds early (if you can't get them into your polytunnel) is lack of space. A tray of onions sown now might require 4 trays space before temperatures will allow planting outside. Only sow what you absolutely need to. Crops will soon catch up. I tend to wait too.