[Digger Mum]

Hello folks!

My lottie has a lot digging & bramble root removal to be done, yet many of the seeds I have are sow direct.

Are these strict guidelines or merely suggestion? Can carrots and kale for example be sown in pots or trays and transplanted later on?

Thank you 

[Elcie]

If the pot is deep enough (eg a bucket!) then there is no reason why you can't sow carrots in it and leave them there as long as they have space.  Some veg don't like to be transplanted, but if you grow them in pots (eg Richy's paper pots) then they won't know the difference if you plant them in a hole big enough to take the pot which will rot down if it is paper.

[paintedlady]

I virtually do all my seed sowing at home and harden off asap.  I've successfully sowed parsnips in loo rolls before now    I'm also learning that the trick with the modules in seed trays is to let the plants get a bit "pot bound" otherwise the roots can get disturbed when the compost disintergrates as you pop them out    At home I also have a number of cold frames to protect them from any heavy showers or hail which is quite common about this time of year, and somewhere to put the growing number of seed trays on the go and rapidly decreasing space to house them!

[richyrich7]

Kale seedlings will be fine in 3" pots 1 per pot till they are ready to go out or you are ready. Carrots as already been said can be grown in deep pots right through to cropping  though whether you can transplant them is another matter.

[Digger Mum]

Excellent, thank you very much!

I guess I could do an experiment - grow some carrots at home in pots and transplant some in paper pots to the lottie.

I've already sown a number of leeks in modules  hope they'll be ok!

[Stripey_cat]

Leeks are fine being transplanted.  Root crops (unless they're short, stubby roots like round beetroot or radishes) need to send the tap-root down undisturbed, so need to go into longer pots and get planted out long before they get pot-bound.  Some things like kohl rabi don't like being disturbed, but you can do them in paper pots and then plant the whole thing out.

[diggerjoe]

I had very good results last year with beetroot sown in very small modules just half inch square - planted out when about inch and half high my ground is not the best but they raced away and we had loads- yellow ones white ones and red -doing the same this year but with two sowings.

[Stripey_cat]

You can multisow beetroot (plant out several seedlings in one module), which is great if you don't have monogerm seeds - just stick in a couple of the multi-seed-fruits and don't bother to thin.  You need to plant them out at slightly wider spacing than individual ones, and you can pull a couple from each clump as babies to give the rest more room.