Safe to start?

[Kimbo]

What is safe to start off in my unheated greenhouse.

I have peas and beans which I will be starting off this weekend as new seed houses have arrived which will go inside my greenhouse.

I also have several varieties of tomato, aubergine, courgette, pepper, chilli, cucumber, dwarf french bean and runner bean, lettuce, radish, onion, cabbage, turnip, swede, beetroot, leek, brocolli, carrot, etc.

I dont want to start things off then be caught out with well developed plants being frosted to death. I know the peas and beans will be ok (grew them last year) but not sure about the other stuff

I have a 6 x 12ft greenhouse with a 6 x 8ft coming in a couple of weeks. I dont have much room inside the house to start things off but do have one large (fits 2 seed trays in)and two small (fits one seed tray) unheated propagators, two windowsill propagators (30 cells ech), and a couple of root trainers with lids. I am also stocking up on fleece just in case - great bargain at poundland £1 per 6m x 1m, they also have some plastic cloches in as well which are on my list.

[bobleponge]

Kimbo, when I get home in 4 days (not that I'm counting) I will be getting lettuce, cabbage, courgettes, carrots and radish on the go, (all in pots). My onions are already well underway, as well as peppers, chillies, toms and cucumbers. The soft stuff needs a long growing season so if they have to come indoors they will do.
Its always a gamble with the weather, last year was just a nightmare, but I generally sow some stuff too early and hope the weather is kind, and sow later as well.
Just toooo impatient thats my problem.

[pigletwillie]

Dont sow your beans till Mid April ish. They will not tolerate cold at all and wont enjoy being planted out earlier than late May at all.

Your tomatoes, chillies, peppers and aubergines will need a temp of 10 degrees minimum, even at night, to prevent them from being checked but do need a longer season so ensure that plenty of fleece is at hand.

Courgettes grow like wildfire so again, sow in April time.

Most other things are generally quite hardy.

[Flummery]

I don't leave plants - other than hardy ones - in my cold greenhouse overnight until May. If the temp drops, tomatoes chillies etc look really sorry for themselves and can get badly checked. This results in a journey in and out each morning and evening but I choose for carbon reasons not to heat my greenhouse, but for wussy reasons, my house IS heated! It's part of my exercise regime! I will happily leave winter hardy salad plants and hardy annuals in there. As Piglet says, beans are not hardy in this country and need treating like prima donnas to get the best value.

[Cutecumber]

I will re-iterate what Pig and Flum have said...

avoid sowing the tender crops until late March and April unless you can give them the right conditions - and you can't with an unheated greenhouse.

It's fine to start some lettuce and (summer) cabbage off - sow in modules or pots to be pricked out and grown on elsewhere.

It's a wee bit early for carrots outdoors, but you could sow a large pot full in the greenhouse now (sow where they are to grow to maturity).

Some beetroot can be sown now - again, indoors in modules, but not all. Boltardy is a variety which should not suffer from the cold in theory.

Broccoli - is it the green calabrese? - might be best off in about a month or so as it is a little bit tender.

The tender crops - runner and french beans, tomatoes, chillis, aubergines, cucumbers and courgettes - will hate you if you put them in a cold greenhouse to get frosted. There is plenty of time for them to come good if you wait a month or so.

I can't help you with specific advice on radish, turnip, sweded, onion or leeks but I know they are more hardy than the tender crops above.

Remember that there are some varieties of crops which have been produced to be sown earlier than others, like the Boltardy beetroot I mentioned above - and others won't do so well. Your seed packets should give you some indication of this.

[wayne]

hi kimbo, 7th feb i planted some onion/spring onion seeds and in just over a week they were up! also planted some spinach (perpetual type) and that was up a few days later(afew days ago), there all in a large unheated greanhouse in trays of seed/cutting compost with no other protection. allmost forgot i planted my broad beans and they were all breaking through when i looked yesterday, i always start some early in the greenhouse and some a little later outside it gives a staggard harvest.
im sure there's lots more...