Late seed planting

[Dorothyrouse]

We are going on holiday end of March until April 9th, apart from planting potatoes before we go, I wasn’t going to sow any seeds until we return, will everything just be a bit later?

I thought maybe carrots and parsnips could be sown in next couple of weeks, but the ground is v cold and wet.

any thoughts please?

[Mr Bones]

Usually we sow carrots (if it's warm enough) at the end of March and parsnips in late April so holding off until you get back should be OK. Most later sowings seem to catch up.

[Nicos]

Agreed…hold off for now. It really is more winter weather than springlike isn’t it?

If you have a few dry days and the soil starts to dry before you go, you could always cover it with a bit of black plastic to keep it dry and encourage it to warm up a little faster- ready for sowing when you get back.
Maybe even put fleece over the sown seeds to help bring them on too.
( I always put fleece over my sown carrots anyway to keep off carrot fly but it’s amazing how quickly they come on once they germinate)

I think it depends on how soon you want to start cropping them. It’d be less faff just to wait til you get back as Bones suggests

[Dorothyrouse]

Thanks, this is what I was thinking, but you read so many posts about people sowing seeds now, and I just think even in ‘plastic greenhouse’, they will dry out, so all a bit of wasted effort !

so most of my seeds will be sown after Easter!

[Nicos]

I was just thinking Dot.
When I was a working mom I only ever seemed to have the time to start sowing seeds over the 4 day Easter weekend - whether it was early or late. You just do what you can and enjoy the results