Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: greentig3r on April 08, 2011, 17:49
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Allotment is not nearby so can't get there every day. We have no garden at home. If we start off veggies on the windowsill, would it be too much of a shock to stick them straight into a cold frame to harden off.
I know ideally they would be taken back in at nights but we don't really have that option. Would it be better to just start them off in the cold frame in the first place? Or direct sow with a cloche?
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depends on what vegs. you are growing. tomatoes/aubs/chillies might sulk but others (Whats left???) should cope well.
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I've picked some tomatoes specifically for cooler climates so hopefully they'll be ok (sub arctic plenty is the only one I remember).
As for the rest, I think it's mostly brassicas. Oh, and squash. Thought I'd try starting some indoors now and sow some direct in June.
Last year I drove them all to work every day and left them out till home time. :)I just wondered if anyone else had a similar problem.
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Your brassicas can go out into the cold frame and stay there, just remember to close the lid when sun goes down. You don't want a late frost to damage them.
Squash, cucumber, pumpkins and the like needs to stay indoors for another 4 to 6 weeks before planting out as they are quite sensitive to the cold.
I'm currently taking my tomatoes outside during these balmy spring days and bringing them back in at about 6pm. However, they were sown back in February and are quite well established. Perhaps for smaller seedlings you should give a little more time to develop before leaving outside.
I'm growing these tomatoes: roma, 1st in the field, tigerella, red alert, black Russian.
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Remember that if you put them in the cold frame it will need opening every morning, shutting every evening and watering about three times in the week.
I would plant the brassicas out in a seed bed, possibly within the cold frame, and leave the top open. The cucurbits do not need sowing just yet, if you do they will get so big that they will be in the way before it is safe to plant them out.
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Thanks- will need to find a pane of glass for the cold frame but will get some brassicas going in there asap!
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I put my sub arctic plenty out a week or so ago and they're thriving in the un-heated greenhouse. I was impressed with them last year.