Is there anything worth sowing now or soon?

[Nick Blair]

Is there any herbs, vegetables or fruit plants you can sow now or in February?

[Alison]

If you look at some of the threads on here you'll see that a lot of people are sowing quite a lot already, however experience has shown me that it's usually better to hold off a bit in most cases. I will however be sowing chillies, sweet peppers, aubergines, alpine strawberries, peas and mange tout (both for polytunnel use) and broad beans before the end of this month. However, with the exception of the broad beans and legumes, they'll be grown on for a long time inside (and germinated in a heated propogator) so you have to be sure you have sufficient room for them to grow on - I've made the mistake of sowing too many and then they suffer from lack of light.

[daylily]

Onions, if you are growing from seed, celery, celeriac. Some brassica: cauli, cabbage.

[BarleySugar]

I'm going to try some Greyhound cabbage sown in the greenhouse, apparently they can mature almost as quickly as spring cabbage (planted in autumn), and as I didn't grow any of those I thought I'd give them a go. Greyhound is supposed to be a fast maturing summer cabbage, so I'll see how it goes.
I've also got some red florence onion and some white lisbon seedlings, some of which were started in a heated propagator, the others germinated in the greenhouse with no extra heat at all. I intend them to stay undercover until about March when they will hopefully be big enough to plant out.
I put in some Martock beans and broad beans in loo roll tubes and they are now through in the greenhouse too. Depending on the weather I'll plant those out in Feb, which has worked Ok in the past. The shallots will be planted out then too. I don't usually start the celeriac off before March in the grenhouse because mine get to planting out stage too quickly, and apparently a chill won't kill them, but it can trigger them to bolt. I get decent size bulbs from these plants, planted out around the beginning of May, so that works OK fro me.
Indoors I have started off some chillies, with artificial light to keep them from getting leggy. If I sow my tomatoes at the same time I find they get too big before I can put them in the greenhouse. Under the lights they were very healthy, but putting them out in the greenhouse checked their growth as I don't heat it. My tomatoes were planted in March last year. They were later ripening but I got more of them, which is a trade off that works for me.

[WendyC]

I've sown some sweet pea seeds in an unheated greenhouse. I have done them in the Autumn before but find come Spring when they're OK to go out they're a bit past their best so early in the year seems to be just fine for me. Don't know if you were only thinking of veg.

[Chef_uk]

I was going to start today, BUT this coming weekend's forecast reminded me its not even the middle of January. I started on the 27th last year and i'm fighting to stay true to that this year.

[stella]

Spring onions and leeks are in so are a few chilli seeds but I never manage to grow these.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Minus 1'C forecast for the Nottm area this weekend think I might wait a bit.

Colin

[Chocolate8me]

I put in some Martock beans and broad beans in loo roll tubes and they are now through in the greenhouse too. Depending on the weather I'll plant those out in Feb, which has worked Ok in the past.

Ooh tell me more?? I have saved egg boxes for seeds but how does the loo roll work?

[lottie dolly]

Ooh tell me more?? I have saved egg boxes for seeds but how does the loo roll work?

use the cardboard tubes instead of modules,then plant the lot when plant are big enough,but make sure the cardboard is below the soil,or it will act as a wick and dry the plant out,they can be cut in half and used to sow a few early beetroot and salad onion seeds in undercover of the green house,you will find lots of ideas on here,and for the supermarket flower pots,try a search on here,

[BarleySugar]

A good tip for the loo rolls that I got from here, is to squash them in half, then fold again into quarters. When unfolded they are then square. I pack them into empty mushroom boxes (from supermarkets) and then fill them with compost using a dessert spoon. Some people put paper in the bottoms to hold the compost in, but I don't bother, in the boxes they fit quite snugly. Great idea for peas and beans, or anything that needs a bit of a longer root run. I don't worry if they go a bit moldy before I plant, as the idea is for them to rot down. Some people pop them in the microwave, which is supposed to stop it, but I've never bothered myself.

[Chocolate8me]

Thank you both, I now need to find a way of using lots of toilet paper so I can use the cardboard...

<Choccy runs off to pretend to be the Andrex puppy>

[lottie dolly]

ask people to save theirs for you,especially if they got kiddies,also kitchen roll middles,can be cut up what size you want,

[cazp]

Hi, the pack of "Amsterdam Forcing" carrot seeds I have indicates you can sow from mid January. I might sow some this weekend.

[briggsy2011]

i wont be sowing anything this weekend as its forecast freezing so i will be clearing up my garden ready for the mass planting of seeds. I cant wait to plant early this early as i left it 'late' to start my first season on 16th april
x