[riggers24]

I've had a mixed bag with my tomatos and chillis. Money maker 100% germination, San mazarno 50% Roma 25% so I've redone some more to fill in the gaps. I bought all my chilli seeds from the chilli farm in Devon, I've got six varieties on the go with very patchy germination. Same seed compost in the same heated propagator.

[seasprout]

Generally my sowings have been fine, what has been poor is an entire sowing of modern varieties of pea have failed, where as my HSL peas have come up 100%.

[sarajane]

Marmande, moneymaker and sungold all germinated well in spite of being  2 year's old. Trouble now is that they're just sitting there. 2/3 inches high but seem to be stuck at that height.
Me thinks we need some sunshine.

[victoria park]

Quite an interesting article here on the pros and cons and ins and outs of modern F1 seeds as opposed to heirloom varieties.
Particularly interesting are the comments on possible reliability of F1s, if certain conditions are not met. I must say my forays into F1 are a pretty mixed bag, with sometimes unfathomable failures. Certainly food for thought regarding the F1 problem I've had this year. Maybe seed fertility is an issue with some F1s.

http://daughterofthesoil.blogspot.co.uk/2006/07/f1-hybrids-what-every-gardener-should.html 

[gobs]

Thanks for that, Victoria, sounds an interesting bedtime read.

[JayG]

Now is perhaps a good time to remind those who haven't already seen it of a link to a table of germination times and rates at different soil temperatures - taking pepper germination as a proxy for chillies, they are unlikely to germinate at all at 10C (50F) whereas at 20C (68C) 96% should be up in about a fortnight.

Similarly, for tomatoes, 86% should germinate at 10C, but you can expect it to take about six weeks! 

The longer that seeds (even viable ones) are left sitting in conditions too cold for fast germination, the more likely they are to succumb to disease (or pests outside) which could mean they don't make an appearance at all:

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?action=seored;u=aHR0cDovL3RvbWNsb3RoaWVyLmhvcnQubmV0L3BhZ2UxMS5odG1s

[seasprout]

My Tomatoes have been ok at germinating this year (nearly all are Heritage), my chillis are generally poor, but I've got just enough for my needs.

But it's my cucurbits that are disappointing so far, courgettes, cucumbers, squash & pumpkins all hit and miss. Had to re-sow most of them again. 

[Salmo]

Sown 31st March beetroot showed on 12th and now all through, carrots showing over the weekend and still coming, parsnips still waiting.

I have had to keep these watered. Lack of rain adds to the problem of low day and night temperatures. Luckily it is too cold for much slug activity.