How do you raise your plants?

[Nikki Arnold]

Whether you're a complete beginner or a gardening guru, every GYO-er will have a preferred technique for cultivating their plants. Do you raise seedlings in your greenhouse? Maybe you've got an innovative system for growing outdoors? GYO would love to know which way your prefer to raise your plants and why!

(Note: your comments may be edited and published in GYO's April issue)

[Piggle]

Heated proporgator to get them going - as soon as they sprout though they are out and on the window sill. After that they make the transition to the unheated greenhouse and then out when the weather allows.

I give them tough love I'm afraid

[SarzWix]

I start just about everything off in modules/cell trays. It gives me much more control over the space available to me, as things which grow slowly over a long period, such as brassicas and leeks, can be growing whilst the beds are being used for something else. This means I can grow over-wintering onions and early potatoes in the beds, and as soon as they're harvested, I have something waiting to take their place. Growing undercover first also means that I can get an early start with tender plants such as tomatoes and sweetcorn, which is important in the north where we have a shorter growing season.
Hardening off is very important when you've started your plants indoors though, as the transition to outside can be a big shock, so it must be done gradually over a couple of weeks to toughen up the foliage prior to planting out.

[Newton]

Peas started in gutters, parsnips sown in toilet rolls but quickly planted on the first signs of germination, and I use several 49 module unheated propagators which I use to start Pak choi, beetroot, fennel, spring onions, leeks, and even flowers!

[VirginVegGrower]

I sow seed into modules with propagator lids over and gravel trays under. These sit on my windowsills, in the living room if heat needed or in the orangery if not. I then pot on into individual
3"/4" square pots, if necessary (those needing to wait for space or until after frosts) or I plant out from modules once seedlings are hardened off. From end March/April I do use my greenhouse benches. It's a constant shuffle round, which I rather enjoy!
The only exception to the rule are the peas which go into guttering, in the greenhouse.

[Thelma Sanders]

I do a mix of things, so just ticked other.
Early peas go under fleece outside, later sowings of dwarf french beans are sown direct as well .
All the tender things get started in pots in the greenhouse or in the heated propagator if needed.
Brassicas are started in the cold greenhouse in large size modules in the hope that they won't need potting on before they can be planted out.

[Two_Sheds]

If I sow direct, the slugs just eat everything

So almost everything is sown in modules in my gh (I have a gh, I'm SO much a grown-up) and then planted out when conditions are right (when the moon is in Virgo and it's not too cold/wet/claggy)

[stavroslinni]

I end up spending making use of an old newspaper and making small pots out of it, nearly eveything ends up getting started off in them, saves the roots being disturbed when big enough to put out in the lotty and anything which dosn't germinate just goes on the compost pile

[Gearoid]

I start off my tender plants inside in modules, then transplant outside when ready. Hardy ones get direct sown around April or so. A second sowing of tenders is usually done in early June, just in case of any losses and to fill up any gaps.

[kfan]

I want to try to avoid sowing directly where I can so I can plant as space becomes available in blocks or drifts instead of rows in between my flowerbeds as well as on my plot. For this l I use cheap plastic see through boxes with see though lid (I can use the lid to make a sort of propagator), but I usually cover them with a piece from a compost bag first. I use modules where I sow in clusters or individually depending on the seed. The boxes stand 1) in my porch or 2) upstairs next to the boiler.

Once they are big enough to be potted on I want to use pots made from newspaper (I recently saw this here on a thread) and these will be standing in a 1) bamboo cloche tunnel covered from the inside with garden fleece or 2) in a hot frame (heated by rotting farm manure). Once frost danger is over the seedlings will just stand in my utility area outside. And from then on I will do the sowing in the porch for those that need it warmer and under the bamboo cloche tunnels but without the fleece for the hardy ones.

[Chef_uk]

Last year was my first year and my inexperienced showed in that I started off way too many seeds indoors. The first two weeks were fine as each pot would have 3 or 4 seeds but by the end of February I had to prick them out in to their own pots and some, bigger size pots and so our kitchen windowsill was full, half of one worktop, both upstairs landing windowsill's, our bedroom's windowsill, and our son's bedroom windowsill. My wife stopped me short of using our living room's windowsill.

BUT, it proved to be the best way as if had sown direct in the soil, I would have struggled differentiating between weedling and seedling. I got all my pots for free from the freecycle network.

[veggiechicken]

Indoors for small seeds and outdoors for bigger ones like peas and beans. Small seeds are easier to sow indoors, because the light is better, there is no breeze to blow them away and you can be more precise with the number of seeds you sow so there is less waste. The larger seeds are easy to sow individually at the appropriate spacing in open ground and more able to stand up for themselves against the weeds.

[binley100]

I try to raise my plants to grow up nice and healthy and be very productive to repay me all the love and care I've given them .........

[Aberdeenplotter]

I have a heated grow bench in my shed complete with thermostat to prevent over heating. I also have a 400 watt Son t Agro grow lamp which creates quite a lot of heat and I bought an led grow lamp last year in an attempt to reduce the cost of providing artificial light. (the light was cheaper to run but the plants missed the heat created by the Son t Agro grow lamp) I start all my seeds using that set up and then when I run out of space, move the plants into my greenhouse where heat is provided using a thermostatically controlled fan heater. Horrendously expensive to run but I don't smoke and I don't drink so I justify the cost of maintaining a healthy hobby on these grounds. When I run out of space in the greenhouse beside the shed, the hardiest plants are moved to an unheated greenhouse where I have a paraffin heater which can be brought into service if a cold snap is forecasr.

p.s. Asda has paraffin at £5 for 4ltrs. Dobbies take £9.99 . Nuff said

[HeyWayne]

Everything started off at home under cover. Only way I can keep a regular eye on them - especially as I cannot guarantee I'll be able to get to the plot on a regular basis.