New to veggie growing, It is very cold around here at the moment. I would like to start my seeds off. I was thinking of puting some in paper pots (peas,parsnip and carrots)
Carrots are a bit fiddly in paper pots, unless you only have room for a few. Likewise peas. Parsnips can take a long time to germinate, so paper pots allow you to mollycoddle them to help them germinate and when planted out you know where they are and how many you have got! If you sow direct, and then have big gaps, its then getting late to "sow some more"
Carrots are good in reasonable large pots too (9" diameter, say)
can I use normal top soil or would u really need potting compost?
Garden soil tends to lack structure for use in pots. When watered often it compresses down - whereas potting compost has a mix of peat etc. that keeps it more open. It is also sterilized, so shouldn''t contain any diseases that might give little seedlings trouble (plus it has added nutrients as someone else has mentioned)
Where do I leave them, on window sill of house or I have a car port?
Have a read of the back of the seed packet. Some things benefit from starting off in some warmth, other things are happy to be outside. However, as soon as they have germinated they need good light, and are likely to grow spindly otherwise (so called "leggy") - which is often the case on a windowsill (putting tin-foil on the room-side of the windowsill to reflect light back onto the seedlings will help a lot). So once germinated putting them in brighter light (cold conservatory?) would help. Anything that has been indoors should not be put straight outside - put it out on a mild day, bring it in for the night, do that for at least a week before leaving out - and even then if you get a very cold night forecast bringing in for the night will help. Put them in a cold corridor for the night - not next to the Aga!
When do I put in the ground?
Things like Parsnips and Carrots need to go out very soon after germinating - before the long tap root gets to the bottom of the pot - otherwise you will get stunted roots
other things can wait until the are big enough, and some things which are tender must wait until frost have finished (say 1st week of June)
Oh, and sorry last Q when do u guys think it is good to sow seed direct to soil - April maybe? ground still seems way too cold?
Technically some things can go in now, cold or not, but the reality is that they may rot, or have poor germination, so when the soil warms up a bit is better. Again, check back of seed packet for timing and info. Putting some 2L pop bottles (with bottoms cut off) at each place where you want a plant, to warm the soil (mini greenhouse-like) and then sowing a small pinch of seeds under the bottle (and replacing it) in a week or so will help them get ahead.
Please note from Site Policies:
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=19481.0 "Please avoid using text speak"
Similar Topics
March 18, 2011, 19:28