So what exactly is everyone sowing at the moment against the advice on the pack?!

[Earthbabe]

I never get on too well with a jar except for chick peas so tend to sprout things that will do ok on a sheet of wet kitchen roll in a plastic tray. That way any "waste" can go straight in the compost bin.

I tried a plastic spouter years ago and that was a dismal failure.

Sunflower seeds do very well if planted in compost in the same way as the pea shoots above.

[Alison]

I've found the plastic sprouter very good for smaller seeds but for some reason not so good for larger ones like chickpeas etc - do these in a jar as this seems to work better for me.

[Mrs Dobby]

Mr D is desperate to start planting, but after reading our books and seed packet info he knows we are better off waiting for a while yet, but I did let him have a heated propagator from Wyevale yesterday, so along with the 8 unheated propagators he already has I think that when we start we should be able to start most of our seeds off quite quickly!

We've 34 garlic plants and 94 onion sets growing well on the plot, plus the last one of the pumpkins in the bedroom (we had an accidental germination of some of the saved seeds at Halloween, and planted 10 up, only 1 is now left, which was the one in our bedroom, which is now 18" tall, has about 10 leaves and looks like its going to flower very shortly!), but apart from those we've nothing growing that we've actually planted yet!

Another question along these lines is just what should we be propagating when the time comes? Ok, I know the toms, chillis, aubergines, melon, peppers all need to be brought on indoors first, but what other crops benefit from being propagated before planting out, is there any real benefits to sprouting them first?

[Alison]

I tend to grow quite a lot of mine on first, this gives me the following advantages:

1 - maximises my use of the ground as I don't need to dig the previous crop up quite so soon
2 - means that when I plant them out they're bigger and therefore hopefully more able to resist pests
3 - don't suffer from my cats digging in the seed beds, they just love what they think is bare earth
4 - less thinning out
5 - can start things off earlier which hopefully leads to an earlier crop
6 - more likely to look after seed trays in my greenhouse / conservatory as it doesn't necessitate working in the rain!
7 - probably loads more but my brain is starting to cease up!

Does involve planing on though which is where bio degradable pots come in handy - have a tool which makes pots out of newspaper on order at present.

[Crazy Chickie]

Alison, whats you pot makin' gaget called? and where do you get them from? Sounds like a great idea, I sometimes use loo rolls but they often go mouldy. The inner tubes from xmas wrapping paper work well but even when you cut them up small there's never enough.

[Morty_007]

Try these

http://www.crocus.co.uk/times_online...CategoryID=561

http://www.thenaturalstore.co.uk/pro...ategory_id=113

search pot maker or paper potter on Ebay


http://www.britisheco.com/cnb/shop/b...dCategoryID=40

http://www.thegardenersshop.co.uk/in...T&productid=75

http://www.greeneyedfrog.co.uk/Publi...il.aspx?id=996





I decided agsainst it last year. I'm sure there must be a cheaper way!

[nick the grief]

To help keep hands off the seed box for another month, try pea shoots?

• Fill a seed tray with compost
• Soak the peas overnight, or not, as you prefer.
• Put an unfeasible quantity of peas into the seed tray, 1 pea thick. They should be mostly touching, all you should see is a sea of pea with the compost showing through the gaps.
• Cover with compost (about 1 cm), water and watch them sprout 10-14 days.
• Then cut and eat! If you cut about 2" above the compost level, above a leaf joint, you'll get another crop in 7 days or so

Any peas will do for pea shoots, and they don't need full sun. Tall varieties will have more stem, short will have more leaf. The shoots taste of FRESH PEAS!

You could still stick some Broad beans in as it's warm (comparitvly)

[Crazy Chickie]

*eek* Crickey they're expensive. Think I will try and improvise something similare myself. I tend to keep and recycle most of my pots anyway. Cheers for the links thou,

[Sunbeam]

A very interesting topic everyone! Yep PW - am sitting on my hands, but looking at my packets of seeds which I have arranged in month order of planting.......

I thought I was the only one that did that!

[Sue]

I think it's about time that the method for making origami pots out of newspaper is dug out again, anyone remember where it is?
Sue

[Jaxom]

there is a site on the web that shows you how to fold paper pots from newspapers. I gave it a go and have to say the resulting pots were firm and thick enough to withstand a lot of water. Here is the link to the site.http://www.geocities.com/newspaperpots/
If you double the size of the paper by using a whole sheet of a broad sheet newspaper rather than half the resulting pot is about 12cm square and quite big enough for larger potting on.
Jax

[GeordieVik]

origami

aaarrrgh! just tried to make the pot, and it ended up more like a paper plane!! More practise needed...

[pigletwillie]

Your lucky, I have a napkin

[GeordieVik]

PW,

so it isn't just me being stupid then????

Vik

[kirsty b]

I have only sown seeds that had Jan on the pack. Some are old seeds that I inherited with the lottie, so I'll be fairly amazed if they even germinate! I'm making myself wait now before I play with any more!

Kirsty