[adri123]

I notice that some are already sowing 'early' tomatoes etc.  I've done nothing at all yet and getting a bit worried about missing the boat on all crops....oooer!!

Has anyone not yet sown their main toms or is there still plenty of time?

Cheers

Adri

[DD.]

Still very early days, in fact some would argue too early!

If you're sowing toms now, you have to bear in mind that you'll probably be putting them in a greenhouse in March - and that involves heating.

[snowdrops]

I’ve not started yet, not wanting to play Hokey Cokey later on, you know how it goes ......you put your plants in,plants out,plants in & shake them all about ...... ive not cleaned the greenhous3 from last year yet,plus the old tomato compost is still in there so there’s plenty of time before I’m ready. I’m aiming for less stress from here on in.

[Plot 1 Problems]

Nope not got a thing started yet, I'll get the broad beans sown in pots next week and maybe the toms, chillies, peppers, etc the week after, providing the night time temps start picking up.

[oldgrunge]

Not started yet. Chillies and peppers will get sown next weekend. But tomatoes won't be sown until beginning of a March, and the outside ones mid March.

[Plot 1 Problems]

Not started yet. Chillies and peppers will get sown next weekend. But tomatoes won't be sown until beginning of a March, and the outside ones mid March.

Good point, any toms for outside will be sown mid to late March.

[Nikkithefoot]

I learn't the hard way sowing too early. If you have a heated greenhouse/polytunnel and ideally a South facing garden then  you can get away with early sowings. Me I have a NE facing garden and unheated polytunnel. I'll start delicate plants in the next week or so indoors, then by the time they need to be in the tunnel I can get away with them inside a mini greenhouse inside the tunnel, with a candle/ /terracotta set up to keep them warm frost free.

[erikaz1]

Well this post makes me feel a whole lot better! I spent a couple of days last week tidying the garden (read: WILDERNESS) and have managed to build the most enormous bonfire from all the mess. I've planted nothing at all so far but I have managed to find most of the fruit bushes again. I'd imagine it'll only be a matter of time before the weather gets warmer and the weeds get the better of me again. As for the greenhouses, one got broken in storm Georgina and I'm now waiting for some of my house windows to be swapped so I can re-use the glass and the other is in dire need of a wash and clear out after last year. One of these days I'll get on top of it all and not feel so bogged down by all the mess.

[snowdrops]

Well this post makes me feel a whole lot better! I spent a couple of days last week tidying the garden (read: WILDERNESS) and have managed to build the most enormous bonfire from all the mess. I've planted nothing at all so far but I have managed to find most of the fruit bushes again. I'd imagine it'll only be a matter of time before the weather gets warmer and the weeds get the better of me again. As for the greenhouses, one got broken in storm Georgina and I'm now waiting for some of my house windows to be swapped so I can re-use the glass and the other is in dire need of a wash and clear out after last year. One of these days I'll get on top of it all and not feel so bogged down by all the mess.

Snap I know how you feel. But to be honest it’s because we do so much. I’ve resigned myself to the fact my garden & Allotment are never going to be pristine, will always need something doing yesterday but what the heck I do keep at it & love all the time I spend out there so I’m going to stop beating myself up about what I haven’t done & concentrate on what I have done 😊

[erikaz1]

I've literally just been outside with the dogs (they're REALLY good at making me go outside) and have discovered the mini daffs in the pot by the front door are about to flower. The snowdrops came out a week or so back and I can't wait for the wild garlic carpet to come through again. My garden backs onto deciduous woodland and had been neglected for 10 - 15 years so had just become a forest, mostly covered in enormously tall ash and sycamore trees. These are now all down and slowly being converted to fuel. I've had two toasty warm winters courtesy of the garden so far and am already preparing for next year. The down side of the neglected plot is that the weed seeds that have been hidden in the dark for so many years are now having a party and coming through in abundance. I spent Friday pulling out all the pheasant berry that had self seeded and next on the hit list is the buddleia that's come from the seeds of the bush that lives next door. I'm determined to get my chickens this year! 

[wapello]

 Living on the IOW and with a heated tunnel , i like to think im off to a flyer,the min/max  was today
 was  29 min and 86 max, ive got  2 types  of cauli,  2 of cabbage, and 2 of broccoli,  chilli , 3 of peppers, 2 types of plum toms  l  also planted  2 runner beans that i saved from last year just to see if they are any good,
 my wife is also getting her hanging baskets sorted and troughs  she has planted some baskets up   

[SnooziSuzi]

I took a chance today at sowing a few things in my unheated but protected polytunnel: onions (Red Barron and Bedfordshire Champion), some brassicas and chilli's.  All were sown into those modular cells with one of those plastic covers in my poly.  The temperature in the poly was 11c today but the temperature is set to drop this weekend so I might not get anything from them.

I'm in Durham so either they will or they won't survive... We'll see   

[sunshineband]

So much depends on whereabouts you live and what, if any, under cover growing areas you have. I learned the hard way that it is easy to get tomato plants, for example, germinated and growing away in mid February, but they cannot be planted out in an unheated polytunnel until mid April here..... so what happens to them in the meanwhile? They get all long and thin, and no amount of planting them deeply makes up for that. The greenhouse at home, which is frost free, gets overstuffed with seedlings and nothing thrives as well as it might if they had enough light and air.

Later sown tomatoes soon catch up and are much stockier too. The thing I do sow earlier are chillies as many need a long season to do really well, so precious space goes to them.

[Wendyloo]

We have not started yet due to heavy snowfall hoping weather will soon warm up.
What's the latest you can plant seeds for this year's crop or are we already too late

[SnooziSuzi]

HI Wendyloo, welcome to the site

Seeds can be sown throughout the growing season and will germinate and produce a crop of some type.  If you look on the back of your seed packets it will often tell you what the recommended sowing dates are and when the supplier recommends no longer sowing, but I often ignore the final sowing date and chance it anyway and still get something out of the packet.

Obviously, you couldn't sow carrots in September and expect them to produce long roots before the frosts set in as you are in Blackburn, but you can extend the season by using fleece, a polytunnel/greenhouse if you have them etc.

I know it seems scary that we're into March already and there's still snow on the ground but this will change quite quickly as we get into April - I've known some years where it's snowed deeply in early march and by the 1st April we were all baking in 25c heat!

Personally, I'm going to dig out a heated propagator that I bought in the sales last autumn in order to get my chillis, tomatoes and other things going, and hopefully the weather will have improved enough by the time I come to plant them out.