Love me tender love me do

[Holly]

Hello grapes,

Put very simply, I'd like to know how you care for your tender veg. Specifically, advice on how to germinate them.

A bumper crop of squash, courgettes or maybe even sweetcorn would make my year, so preparation at this ealy stage wil be crucial! Does anyone have advice on how to succeed in this delicate area?

Thanks!
Holly




Your comments may be edited and printed in the April edition of Grow Your Own.

[Mrs Dobby]

Chilli seeds are best planted side on, as this allows the young plant to push the seed case straight out of the soil (more streamlined) and thus better germination rates seem to happen.

We do the same with squash and pumpkin seeds, and again germination rates are good, plant into an unheated propogator, water well and plant on as soon as they are up!

For sweetcorn we plant them into an unheated propogator, 2 seeds per compartment using a 24 partition seed tray, cover and leave on the windowsill, as soon as they are up remove the cover and pop into the greenhouse, watering as required, plant out once you feel the frost risk has passed (generally once the Hawthorn has blossomed in your area)

We tend to underplant sweetcorn with our pumpkins and squashes, the pumpkins and squashes give good groundcover, suppressing weeds and reducing the evaporation rate whilst the sweetcorn grow up above, generally we get good crops from them both in this way (220 sweetcorn cobs from 120 plants and 60 squashes and pumpkins from 25 plants)

[vicky]

I've lost more by sowing too early than to anything else! Pumpkins and sweetcorn seem to be very sensitive to cold and esp cold wind.
For pumpkins I wait till the sowing month on the packet then sow individually (big seeds get sown on their sides) into pots in the greenhouse, don't overwater!
Sweetcorn seem to do well if you germinate them inside on damp kitchen towel which you pop in the airing cupboard (I had 44 germinate last year from a pack that was only supposed to have 40 in it!!). Once you see the root appearing I pot them into loo rolls in the greenhouse (root goes down!) and cover with a little compost. Again, don't overwater!
They do need to be hardened off and I keep mine in the greenhouse, even if I have to pot them on, until the weather's warm enough for them to go out.

[jackie j]

Courgettes are sown in indivdual pots untill ready to go out, I then dig a hole and add compost before putting the plant in. Water in, and leave. I have so many courgettes every year I cant give them away, some end up like marrow's if I miss them or leave them too long. They do need lots of water once the fruit is formed. You also need more than one plant. Hopefully male and female flowers will open at the same time and the insects will pollinate them.

[Pumpkin Becki]

My best tip is to sit on your hands and don't be tempted to sow too early!

I sow my pumpkins, squashes and sweetcorn, two seeds to a 3" pot, at the end of April/ beginning of May and keep them on a bright windowledge until the end of May/early June. Any earlier than that, and the seedlings are desperate to be potted up (and I don't have enough windowledges for that!), or they need to go outside, but risk being hit by a late frost. So don't get over excited and think you know better than the seed packet, you'll only regret it - I have.

[willgrow]

Wait until the soil has warmed up dont be tempted to plant out too early. I like to grow my sweetcorn in root trainers,and my courgette and pumkin and squash one seed to a 3in pot started off on the kitchen windowsill. I like to wait until the plants are quite sturdy before planting out. Sweetcorn and courgettes like plenty of water, although not over the flowers just at the base,pumkins are greedy plants and like to be fed well. Courgettes get tomato feed every other watering after the fruits have formed. Its amazing how many recipes you can come up with for courgettes !

[Alison]

As others have said, the best thing to do with sweetcorn, sqash and courgettes at this time of year is to keep the seeds in the packet. The only tender things I sow at this time of year are chillies, peppers and aubergines which I start off 1 per pot in 1.5" newspaper pots in a heated propogator. As soon as they germinate they come out and live on the utility room window ledge with some base heat until they have their first proper set of leaves when I pot them on into 3" pots. There is no need what so ever to prechit although it can be nice to see when they germinate although you don't want them to get too wet (they may rot) and if they're planted too deeply they never seem to surface. Although I do plant squash etc seeds on their side I have also read that this is an old wives tale and I've bothered with smaller seeds and usually manage to get nigh on 100% germination so don't want to make it any more of a phaff for myself .

[gojiberry]

Squash and courgettes grow very quickly in ideal conditions, so as every one has said there is no need to start them of early as they need ideal conditions for planting out. I find that mid May is about right for my area and a six week period to get seeds germinated and plants grown to a planting out size. So I usually sow around beginning of April. Sweetcorn I start about the same time but won't plant out till beginning of June. I find that sweetcorn is more sensitive to the cold than squash and courgettes and also I can cloche them which I cant the sweetcorn. All three of these I grow one per pot (why waste seed) Last year I had 100% germination on 40 sweetcorn seeds.

Ian

[frogga]

I use toilet roll centres as pots, planting one seed in each for sweetcorn, courgette and cucumbers.Once they are large enough they can be planted into the ground without the need to disturb the roots, and the cardboard is bio-degradable. They can be brought inside too if its a chilly night with ease to save the plants.

[SueA]

I think the temptation is to sow them too early, I know I have done so in the past but I always think they'll have longer to grow & get ripe if I sow them early as we don't have as much sun around here as some areas. I usually sow courgette seeds individually in 3" pots either in a plastic bag on the windowsill or in a heated propagator to get them off to a quick start. You have to be careful not to water them too much though or the stems can rot at the base before you're ready to plant them out. I like to get them to a fair size indoors, harden them off in my little plastic greenhouse & not plant out until they're quite sturdy.

[fruitylou]

I sow half at the earliest it says on the packet and half at the latest, that way when the first lot of plants are starting to slow down cropping the second are just getting into the swing of things.

[Holly]

Thanks everyone. Really great, thorough advice as usual!
Holly