First time sowing seeds - is it too cold here?

[nickdub]

Have a similar issue growing here with neighbours Leylandi's, great as wind break but now too tall. Please let us know what works best with neighbours

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=408

Perhaps a friendly word with an offer to either help or do the work required in the pruning back would do the trick ? Quite often people don't mind stuff getting done, as long as they don't have to pay or work themselves :-)

[baps]

Have a similar issue growing here with neighbours Leylandi's, great as wind break but now too tall. Please let us know what works best with neighbours

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=408

House was for sale for over a year, so we could do nothing last year. Didn't really want to start bugging the council. New couple moved in last year, and the guy is a gardener who also wants to have a garden. I did mention the trees, and he said they would deal with them, so hopefully that'll happen. Not going to happen in time for this year I guess, but hopefully for next year!

Perhaps a friendly word with an offer to either help or do the work required in the pruning back would do the trick ? Quite often people don't mind stuff getting done, as long as they don't have to pay or work themselves :-)

If it was just a trim job I would, but these trees are higher than our house. They really need a tree surgeon I guess. Not going to be cheap 'cause I'd imagine they're too big to just take a chainsaw to. But if he is also looking to have a vegetable garden, they'd need completely rid of them I'd imagine.

[muck lover]

Leylandi = green Formica

[nickdub]

Don't mind a bit of chainsaw work myself ( just as well considering my garden), but I fully understand that they are v dangerous - so not many people would want to take a hands-on approach when the trees get that big.

[baps]

And just for an update, the french beans have all popped some little arms out! Sprouted? Not sure what the term is. No sign of the others but I take that as good.

Thanks guys!

Baps.

[baps]

These guys aren't hanging around. Crap camera on my phone, but wasn't expecting them to grow so fast.

So now wondering what to do next with them. Should I put them in 3" pots or something larger? Indoors/greenhouse? From what I'm reading I need to harden stuff I've sowed indoors. Greenhouse hit 21oC today, but was 2oC over night (yep I got a max/min thermometer!) Not sure if that low temp is too cold, it was pretty warm here today so I wouldn't expect that high temp to be average.

Any suggestions would be welcomed! Now they're growing I don't wanna screw them up too much!

Baps.

[nickdub]

I'd pot them on in to 5" pots or larger if they were mine. Be best really to keep them in at night if its getting v cold in your greenhouse, but they'll probably cope left out there if its too difficult to manage.

If we get really strong hot sun it can also get too hot for seedlings in a greenhouse ( gardeners are always moaning about the weather) - so keep an eye on the forecast, and if the day time temps are projected to be over 20 C, then best to leave the plants outside when you are not around to check on them.

[baps]

Another trip to the shops needed then! Thanks for the tips on temperature.

[Chestnut]

I think some folk start seeds on kitchen paper when they are sowing things like parsnips which can be a bit unreliable at germination. The idea is that you only actually put in the ground the seeds which actually show signs of life! I have to admit that I haven’t tried it myself yet- only my second year, and I so far seem to get on best with crops that are happiest when left to their own devices.....

[nickdub]

I think some folk start seeds on kitchen paper when they are sowing things like parsnips which can be a bit unreliable at germination. The idea is that you only actually put in the ground the seeds which actually show signs of life! I have to admit that I haven’t tried it myself yet- only my second year, and I so far seem to get on best with crops that are happiest when left to their own devices.....

I do most of my seed by chitting them first as you describe for various reasons. Obviously its much easier to manage for handling with large seeds like peas or courgettes.
For smaller stuff like say herbs if I only want a few plants I just take a small pot of compost, scatter the seeds on the surface, give it a bit of a wetting , put it on a plastic bag, then put away somewhere warm.

For crops like parsnips you have to vary it a bit because you want them in the ground as soon as the root shows, but unless you have tiny fingers they are too small to handle. I have two ways round this - if I have a ton of seed I just chit in on kitchen roll as usual, then keep filing up the container with water when they are ready to go in the ground and wash then out a wodge at a time - otherwise I start again as usual, but I make up some sort of gel medium like starch paste and stir the chitted seeds in to that, this gives you a lot more control on the seed spacing but is obviously more of a faff.

[baps]

And I'm back with more seedy questions.

These guys are now looking pretty good (thanks folks!) Peas and courgettes in the attached pics. Can I ask, should these be moved to larger pots yet or what would you guys suggest? Been nice last couple days. Not sure if it's going to be nice enough to go in the beds yet though.

Thanks!

Baps.

[nickdub]

If they were mine I'd pop the courgettes in to larger pots in the next few days but plant the peas outside when they are a little larger. Peas are quite hardy so the weather is not a problem and in order to crop well they need to get their roots down deeply in to the soil.

BTW if you want more peas in due course you should be fine to just start them by chitting them in a plastic box then sowing the chitted seed directly in the ground - saves the potting/transplanting bit of the job.

[baps]

Ok I might give that a go with the peas. Was watching videos of people doing that in various ways. I'd need tweezers or something to do that with tiny seeds! Could do it with peas though.

I've also been watching people make mini hoop houses for raised beds. I figure I could give that a go. So if I had a couple hoop houses on the beds, I could plant those courgettes out in the beds for example? Also, the one thing I haven't been able to find out is if there would be any harm leaving the hoop houses on over summer? Thinking as much for smaller plants like lettuces/chard/carrots. Have a real slug problem, so thought it might even help with that.

Thanks,

Baps.

Edit: typo!

[nickdub]

Any sort of extra warmth for plants like courgettes is always welcome at this time of year - best to get the plastic up a week or so before you intend to use them BTW, to help warm the soil. I used to make mounds, hollow them out and put a couple of panes of glass flat on the top, but it all comes to the same idea of using the sun to warm up an area . You'll probably find the courgettes outgrow their accommodation at some point, but by then everything shpuld be warmer anyway.

Starting off seeds like lettuces/chard/carrots under cloches will also give them a good beginning again warm the soil first if you can before sowing. As you mention you can also get ahead of the slug problem a bit if the soil surface your seedlings are in is dry, I use a bit of ash from my woodburner as well, but it only works if kept dry. It'll be a matter of judgement how long you can leave the cloches on for - you don't want to cook them or start the lettuce bolting OTH if we return to grey.cold weather you can leave them on as long as you like. Some people use fleece over carrots to protect them frorm the root fly they can get.

Not had any problems with small chitted seeds - if there's just a few like tomatoes, I use the point of a knife to pick them up. For things like parsnips you can use water to get them moving and then mix with sand or compost to make handling easier - I even used to use wall-paper paste years ago as a carrier, but most of it now has fungicides in it.

[baps]

Ok, sweet! New beds, with fresh compost so I covered them with black landscape fabric to try warm them up. No idea if that worked or not but I think I'll have a go putting some hoop houses on a couple.

Thanks Nick!

Baps.