[Baldy]

Hi all,

I noticed that John's month by month guide for January mentioned that you could put tomotoes / aubergines in an heated propagator in January.
http://www.allotment-garden.org/garden-month-help/garden-january.php

I was (possibly) a little late getting mine going last year - but January seems very early to me - I'd have thought that lack of light after germination would be a big issue. (To be fair, John's guide seems to imply that you 'can' rather than 'should' plant seed this month).

Do others have success with toms sown in January? 

Cheers,
Balders
 

[trunk monkey]

I agree with you on the light issue Balders. However, a friend of mine sows his tomatoes on boxing day. He then keeps them underwatered, cramps their roots and generally gives them a hard time. I jokingly, refer to this as the Bonzai technique. Come the warmer weather and longer daylight hours he pots them on and feeds and waters them. He claims the tomatoes then go wild and grow and crop like crazy. I have tried it myself but with poor results. Anybody else got an opinion on this?

[JayG]

The earlier you start anything very tender, the more facilities and space you need to keep them happy until they can be moved to their final planting place.

Aubergines are probably a better bet than tomatoes this early as they need a long growing season to deliver the goods, although a forum search will tell you that few people find them at all easy however and whenever they try. 

[Baldy]

Largest aubergine I've ever managed was about the size of a golf ball. Along with melons they are scratched from my list of growables. Sometimes its best to know when you are beaten... 

Cheers,
Balders

[sunshineband]

Baldy, aubergines are off my list too    I know when  I am beaten!

Regarding the tomatoes being sown now, I did this a few years back little realising that a) they need decent light of they get straggly and b) they take up masses of space indoors.

In fact I ended up sowing some more in mid March, which soon caught the others up, looked much healthier and cropped far better overall.

So now I sit on my hands and wait 

[mumofstig]

Baldy, aubergines are off my list too    I know when  I am beaten!

same here 

[Baldy]

susnshineband - its the sitting on my hands that I'm really having trouble with - think I might have to do some engineering work on the plot rather than planting.
The weather is perhaps hinting to me that now would be a good time to get the pond done that I've been thinking about - wouldn't take long to get it filled (though the digging out could be hard going). 

Cheers,
Balders

[3759allen]

i started mine at the end feb (i think last year) and they grew very big before being able to plant out. think it's too early atm, and can't see you getting any huge gain.

[sunshineband]

susnshineband - its the sitting on my hands that I'm really having trouble with - think I might have to do some engineering work on the plot rather than planting.
The weather is perhaps hinting to me that now would be a good time to get the pond done that I've been thinking about - wouldn't take long to get it filled (though the digging out could be hard going). 

Cheers,
Balders

Sort your seeds, wash your trays and pots, plan where what will grow throughout the coming season, shovel chipped bark on your paths, sow some onions seeds inside, and some early mixed salad if you have a greenhouse, and (my latest thing) micro-greens on the windowsill or even beansprouts.

Suddenly it'll be all go, and you will be absolutely ready, Baldy 

[pigguns]

I'm giving grafting a go this year just for fun, but can't find any info on when to sow my rootstock and scion-aubg.  as the Aubs are so slow may get them going soon before the root.   It'll be a bit of guesswork.

[Baldy]

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=825 - a little info about grafting - looking at the rootstock seeds Aegis F1 & Estamino F1 suppliers don't seem to provide detail about when to plant - so the RHS advice of 'a few days' before the cultivar
is all I could find to go on.
I was thinking about grafting last year - maybe I WILL give it a go this year - perhaps I don't know when I'm beaten... 

Cheers,
Balders

[pigguns]

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=825 - a little info about grafting - looking at the rootstock seeds Aegis F1 & Estamino F1 suppliers don't seem to provide detail about when to plant - so the RHS advice of 'a few days' before the cultivar
is all I could find to go on.
I was thinking about grafting last year - maybe I WILL give it a go this year - perhaps I don't know when I'm beaten... 

Cheers,
Balders

Yes that's what I got too.  Only doing it for a laugh as all the online stuff says Aubs grown this way are really good.  Just a bit of fun.  Will do Aub first tho due to slow growth rate compared to Aegis.

[devonbarmygardener]

My grafted cukes and aubs were amazing last year. Loads of fruits.
Grafted toms did no better than seed sown ones imho

[mumofstig]

I had great success with growing early toms in 2012, I think it was.  We had an early warm spring and everything carried on growing well, although it invoved a lot of work - shunting plants out to the greenhouse, for the day, then back into the house for the night.
Obviously it didn't work last year, with the freezing spell we had in March, even the windowledge wasn't a happy place for little plants

I will sow just a couple of seeds of a small growing variety, in a few weeks - it's pot luck on the weather if the plan works or not. I'd never waste time and money sowing loads!


I found the early Tomato Experiment which had very mixed results. It may be worth a read if you have itchy fingers!

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=87470.msg970195#msg970195

[devonbarmygardener]

I'm thinking exactly the same as you mum