The Seed Sowing Thread 2015

[jacob]

Greetea, I always bring my trays and compost into the kitchen!

[veggiechicken]

Guess what I'm doing now?
Sowing seeds in the kitchen
Flower seeds beginning with G and H http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1327058

[Mr Gardener]

I sow a lot of seeds but they won't all germinate & I give some to family & friends. Some weaker seedlings I do pick out & compost,like tomatoes,I think it's what they would have wanted,they just didn't have the strength. Also being part of the compost will continue it's life

I suppose if you think of it as reincarnation it not so bad...

[Bohobumble]

Yeay! It's sunny!

It's seed-sowing-frenzy month!

I sat on my itchy fingers to the best of my ability (I wasted one or two seeds of a few varieties and I have possibly learned my lesson for next year!)

Today I shall be mainly sowing in modules/pots:

Strawberries - Baron Solemacher, Alpine Red & White mixed and some old Mignonette and 'wild strawberry'
Turnip - Purple Top Milan
Brussels - Evesham Special and Rubine
Celeriac - Ibis
* Marigold - Colossus French and Naughty Marietta
* Sweetcorn - Swift F1
Tomato - Losetto F1 Hybrid and Ferline F1 Hybrid
Malabar
Borage
Wild Bergamot
Sorrel - Blood Veined
Comfrey
* Herbs - Sage, Parsley, Sweet marjoram, Oregano, Basil, Chives, Coriander
Foxglove - Primrose Carousel

Some of these I have grown before, others I haven't so I shall see how it goes... after all, gardening is a continuous experiment no? Maybe I should be sowing peas (Mendel)....

[Kristen]

Today I shall be mainly sowing in modules/pots:

Sweetcorn - Swift F1

Seems very early ??

Tomato - Losetto F1 Hybrid and Ferline F1 Hybrid

Still quite early ... needs a heated greenhouse if sown this early I think?

Comfrey

Recommend getting a root of Bocking 14 instead. Seed-grown ones will self-seed all over the garden, I deeply regret not knowing this before I sowed mine. I now have Bocking-14 but the damage was done by seeds from the original plants getting into compost heap and spread all over the garden

Usually lots of allotment holders grow Bocking-14, so begging a root from them would be the cheapest way

[Bohobumble]

Seems very early ??

Did the same last year with the same variety, had a really great crop, packaging says March.... Mr FG agrees but other companies say April: Get Growing Sweet Corn Swift F1|Mr Fothergill's Vegetable Seeds my other types say to sow in April. Last year they went into a blowaway against a wall before planting out, this year I have a greenhouse

Still quite early ... needs a heated greenhouse if sown this early I think?

They'll be on a warm windowsill to start, they've been sown in line with the destructions. I haven't sown all seeds (they're really stingy on these F1s) so have a back up if anything goes awry, or a cheeky bonus of seeds for next year if all goes well! They were bought specifically to grow outdoors tho I will be very careful to harden off properly as they are quite pricey to replace. Tomato 'Losetto' - Tomato Seeds - Thompson & Morgan and Tomato 'Ferline' F1 Hybrid - Tomato Seeds - Thompson & Morgan As it happens I paid a quid for each pack thanks to VC.

Recommend getting a root of Bocking 14 instead. Seed-grown ones will self-seed all over the garden, I deeply regret not knowing this before I sowed mine. I now have Bocking-14 but the damage was done by seeds from the original plants getting into compost heap and spread all over the garden

Usually lots of allotment holders grow Bocking-14, so begging a root from them would be the cheapest way

Yes I have thought long and hard no this one; I had read similar stuff, but ultimately I wanted a true one rather than the Russian hybrid. I'll be using it primarily for gardening but will consider using it for medicinal purposes so officinale is the better option.
I have a couple of precautions in mind, the plants will be grown towards the allotment gate and a shed on my plot, a good distance from any planting and no-where near the compost heap so no chance of stray roots making a run for it. I shall also remove flower heads so that it cannot set seed. No-one on my site appears to be growing comfrey at all.

[skeggijon]

Today I've sown:
Aubergine - Black Beauty
Rokita, Thai Hot and Stromboli Chillis - all vsp viability test seeds. Already sown some of each a few weeks ago, but none came up, so this was their last chance!
Black Cherry Tomatoes
French Marigolds

[Kristen]

They'll be on a warm windowsill to start ... They were bought specifically to grow outdoors tho I will be very careful to harden off properly

How early will you be able to plant them out, safely (aiming for min 10C at night) - Middle of May seems optimistic to me?

So that's 10 weeks - I reckon they will be 3' tall by then, if on a windowsill in reasonable light in a house with heating - so, say, 18C during the day.

[bramble]

Sowed my chilli seeds two weeks ago. 4 varieties.
Birds Eye, Hungarian Hot Wax, and 2 types of chill i bought in Turkey'
They have all germinated and are on the window ledge in the conservatory in the daytime and back in the propogater at night. Sowed my tomatoes on Saturday, Red Alert, Manitoba, Sungold, Black Cherry, Alicante and a black one called Kumato which i saved the seed from last week when i was in Spain.

[Penellype]

Spinach experiment time

I normally grow Tirza F1, which has lovely big leaves, and Bloomsdale which is a cheaper seed and does nearly as well. However last year I found that all of my spinach bolted after producing just a few leaves per plant. I reckon this was due to not standing the pots in water trays, but I'm also trying to avoid waterlogging things so its a difficult balance. So this year I have decided to try a self watering salad grow planter. I've sown 2 varieties as I would normally sow a pot of each at this time of year - Tirza and a red veined one. This time I have sown half of one of my usual 18" pots with Tirza and the other half with red vein, using exactly the same method as last year. I've then sown half the salad grow with Tirza and half with red vein as a direct comparison. I expect that I will get a better, longer lasting, bigger leaved crop from the salad grow, but we shall see.

[marcofez]

Sown 27/02/2015
Sweet Peppers
1. Friaello
2. Doux D'espagne
3. Jumbo Sweet
4. Mila's Bulgarian Red
5. Sweet Orange F1
6. Californian
7. Corno Rosso
8. Gourmet
9. Big Banana F1
10. Mini-Red
11. Mini-Yellow

Hot Peppers
1. Hungarian Black wax
2. Red Habanero
3. Padron
4. Cayenne
5. Inferno
6. Ancho
7. Chenzo
8. Scotch Bonnet Yellow
9. Hotscotch
10. Jalapeno
11. Ciliegia Piccante
12. Pinocchio

Tomato
1. Amish Paste
2. Mortgage Lifter
3. J.Hawkins
4. Polish Plum

Aubergine
1. Black Beauty

[Gillykat]

I filled a window propagator with seed compost the other day and brought it back home to put on the south-facing living room windowsill. It's nicely 'heated up' now so I have just sown my first vegetable seeds

6 x Pepper 'sweet colour spectrum'

6 x Tomato 'gardener's delight'

6 x Cucumber 'Marketmore 76'

My nasturtium seedlings are growing by the minute So I think they may be getting taken up to the allotment this weekend and put into the greenhouse so I can start some other seeds off on my living room window.

This week I think I'll mostly be working out where I'm putting stuff and plan out a sowing list so I don't miss any out or leave them until too late. Itching to get started but going to get everything organised (pots cleaned etc) and ready over the next couple of weeks. It's my first time of growing vegetables so I don't want to make loads of mistakes by sowing everything too early No doubt I'll make enough this first year anyway whilst I get to grips with having an allotment

[Jungle Jane]

So happy to have sown my tomatoes,they're on a sunny windowsill
Tomatoes; Moneymaker - 15 seeds
Essex Wonder - 12 seeds
Gardeners Delight - 15 seeds
Red Tumbling Tom - 15 seeds

[Dorothy rouse]

Chives
Mixed salad leaves
Rocket
Chillies

Then it rained again!

[Bacchus]

Planted some aubergines - first time ever for these and I'm not a huge fan of shop bought ones. Other family members seem to like them though so if they grow I'm sure we can settle on a reasonable price