What can I start now in an unheated greenhouse?

[mrbadexample]

Evening all.

I tend not to think about sowing anything much until later on in the year when it's warmed up a bit, but I get the impression that everyone else is cracking on.

So what could I be sowing now to get some use out of my greenhouse?

Is there anything else I should be starting off to plant out later?

I'm rubbish at this time of year. I always think it's too early to be doing much, and then later on I find myself wishing I'd been more active.

I think what I'm really after is a virtual kick in the pants.

Cheers,
MBE

[veggiechicken]

Brassicas, onions, leeks, lettuce, peas.................most stuff apart from the Mediterranean type veg.

Now get on with it.

[nickdub]

I'd just add to what VC said that with a bit of care you can start non hardy stuff like tomatoes and courgettes too, provided :-

a) you germinate them indoors in the warm, then get the seedlings going in a sunny windowsill
b) you put them out in the Polytunnel when they are a bit bigger in pots
c) you keep an eye on the weather forecast and bring them back in the house if any hard frosts are froecast

so its quite a bit of extra work, but you give some of your plants an early start.

[Billy's lad]

Just put 2 pots of early potatoes in the GH and will bring back into the conservatory if it turns cold again

[annie8]

I only have potatoes chitting in the greenhouse at the moment. Have started tomatoes and chillis indoors and will start moving them out to the greenhouse as described above when it gets a bit warmer.

[Babru]

I sowed some mixed salad leaves in a trough in my unheated greenhouse a few weeks ago. They germinated fine. Every time it gets cold they stop growing, and when it warms up a bit - like now - they grow a bit more. Hoping to get some salad sometime! Once I see them growing away I'll sow the next crop.

I have moved a pot each of mint and oregano into the greenhouse and I see a bit of growth. I'm hoping to get some sprigs for eating earlier than if I just left them outside.

I've also sown some micro tomatoes as part of the early tomato challenge elsewhere on this forum, but too cold for the greenhouse at present.

[annie8]

You've got me thinking i should start some salad in the greenhouse. Might start some little gem and rocket.

[Babru]

Just got my greenhouse in December annie8, so it's all new to me. Worth a shot though I thought, and there were lots of seeds in the packet, so I can always have another go later.

[annie8]

Very exciting to get a greenhouse. I have had mind for a couple of years now and just love it My salad outside was a disaster last year because of the early snow and then hot weather but the year before I did start things off in the greenhouse.

I read somewhere that beetroot and peas don’t like being transplanted. Any views?

[nickdub]

Very exciting to get a greenhouse. I have had mind for a couple of years now and just love it My salad outside was a disaster last year because of the early snow and then hot weather but the year before I did start things off in the greenhouse.

I read somewhere that beetroot and peas don’t like being transplanted. Any views?

More or less any plants can be transplanted successfully, but some stuff like root vegetables need more care than others. Quite a few people start beetroot or carrots off in root modules, 2 or 3 seeds per block, when they are a few weeks old you pop the whole block out in the garden then start the routine again. Peas are OK to transplant, but you need to get them growing in time for them to really get their roots down in, so in a way its easier to direct sow later in the year. I start some off this time of year in deep wooden trays as I'm a bit lazy, and so I don't need to worry if they get a bit big before I put them out as the trays are about 6" deep.

[mcdood]

I read somewhere that beetroot and peas don’t like being transplanted. Any views?

I multisow beetroot in modules and then transplant into bed. Works really well. I sow peas direct.

[moreteavicar]

By modules, do you mean the plastic trays or something where what you plant in goes in the ground as well?

[nickdub]

By modules, do you mean the plastic trays or something where what you plant in goes in the ground as well?

The ones I had in mind are just plastic trays where you can push compost in to sow in, then pop them out from below when you are ready to plant them out - may be other good alternatives on the market now for all I know as I tend to be old-fashioned so don't keep that up-to-date with recent developments.

[mrbadexample]

Thanks all. Some good ideas - I'd better get cracking and give the thing a clean first. I need to sort the floor out too, as it's green and horrible. I didn't realise I needed to seal the concrete, so that hasn't been done. The other problem is it's dead level so any excess water just lays on the surface and algae builds up in no time. I never thought when it was being done, or I'd have had a tiny little slope to it. I'll take a few photos when I get chance and post them in the DIY section to see if anyone's got any bright ideas on how to improve the situation.

I went to buy seed potatoes today, but they'd sold out of Rocket so I'll try elsewhere tomorrow. They went quite well for me last time I tried them.

[rary]

As has been stated salad veg will do OK in a cold greenhouse, sow some for growing in the greenhouse and some for outside, is Walsall in the Wolverhampton area if so the temperature will be a bit higher than in the country as large conurbations are to a degree, a bit warmer, so you might be able to get them out a bit sooner also beetroot can be transplanted, but if you go for modules sow them in the bigger ones which are 15 to a tray and less pressure on you if the weather turns bad, and one seed per section as most beetroot seeds are a cluster, though you do get mono seeds now, so check, any thinings can be used as salad or micro greens, also you could sow some peas for harvesting the growing tips, you should get 2 or 3 harvests per shoot