[GrannieAnnie]

It is so easy, even for those of us that have been growing for a while, to want to start everything off as soon as the weather looks a bit sunny!

We can't wait for all thos lovely veggies to be on our plates.  I've got stuff in the greenhouse early, but then people on here say "oh my tomatoes are leggy they are a foot tall"  and I think wow, mine are only 2 inches tall yet!   

Some things will die, others will survive, but I never pay very much for my seeds, so it doesn't matter if some die off, I'm not losing much.

Someone on here kindly sent me a little self seal bag of leek seeds, I think it was shaun.  6YEARS AGO!  I've still got loads.  Actually I thought they weren't going to germinate this year, but when I looked in the greenhouse this morning, there is a tiny leek peeping at me!  WAAAYYAAAY!

Also my lovely daughter buys me some seeds for Mother's Day, and I save my tomato and pepper seeds and my runner bean when I can, oh and peas.  And John nd Val sent me seeds with their gardening books.

So don't get too despondent Dopey, you will be fine!  Honest!   

[jay001]

I think reading the seed packet is a good place to start. Follow what it says and you won't be sowing at the wrong time

i learn,t very early on -- about 4 weeks ago now  that nothing seems to be set in stone you can read the back of a seed pkt,or go on advice from people on here,but we are all spread around different part,s of the country---- and world and we all have different weather and climate-- i guess next year i will rely on the disaster,s that i have had this year ( my first ) and if i can remember  learn from it !!!  

[Dopey113]

I think my problem is I'm eager, too eager, i have had this lotty from last year and cleaning it up putting in a fence (rabbits) shed, cleaning out carpet, and everything else, i got it late and didn't get much in of anything, and what i did put it was kinda half assed attempt to just get something to show for it, so this year will be my first full year at the right time of the year to start planting and seeding, and I dont want to miss out like last year,

[Dopey113]

I think reading the seed packet is a good place to start. Follow what it says and you won't be sowing at the wrong time

I get my seeds from premier_seeds_direct there all £0.99p each and they dont come in a packet, come in plastic resalable bags, but i see what you mean though

[jay001]

I think reading the seed packet is a good place to start. Follow what it says and you won't be sowing at the wrong time

I get my seeds from premier_seeds_direct there all £0.99p each and they dont come in a packet, come in plastic resalable bags, but i see what you mean though

are there no instructions on a label on the clear pkt dopy ? i have had seeds sent to me via amazon from seed sense in clear pkt,s but a little lable tells me what i should do to germinate them,dosn,t allway,s work for me though as a novice 

[Dopey113]

No none, but he gives you instructions on the website have a look and see what i mean

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280852263835?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

I could print it off, but i got about 20 lots from him, and i just go back now and then to have a look at what to do

[safetrade]

I get all mine from premier seeds aswell but I just follow the seed chart on here sum were and so far so good

[shokkyy]

I do keep a sowing/planting plan each year, but I also keep a log. Every time I do anything I enter it on the log, with date and any comments. So, for example, if I realise something is growing really fast and I sowed it too early, I note that on the log. Next year I can look back at the log and won't make the same mistake again. I can see how long it took from sowing to germination, then planting out, harvesting, for everything I grow. I find it impossible to remember this stuff more than 5 minutes, so that log is a very valuable part of the learning curve for me.

[Dopey113]

shokkyy I admire that, honestly, I drive LGV (old money HGV) and I have to fill in my tachograph and a book each day of faults, takes about 3 mins, but I hate doing even that!!

[compostqueen]

Yes but logging your veggies and allotment doings is not going to be a drag but a labour of love. Honestly!  You'll record your triumphs and failures and then be able to look back on what did well, what worked and what didn't.  Keep photos to remind you what went where and that's a good aid for when you come to sow and plant next year.  If I grew some fab leeks I can look back in my book for when I sowed them and so hopefully repeat the success   

I know I might be a sad person but I like to go to bed with a cuppa and fill in my sowings and plantings etc for that day 

[grendel]

last year things got planted as I got the ground cleared, so no particular ordering, it seems to be going a bit the same this year too, I just sort my seeds by month, I did a spreadsheet showing when to plant what, but that seems to have gone out the window too. just go with the flow, my leeks were planted too late too close together, but we still got a great crop of finger thick leeks.
Grendel

[kentishgal]

I wont even have compost in my raised beds for another couple of weeks!! So far my garden is devoid of life (other then the odd potato bag and strawberries/brassicas/garlic in the blowaway)!
Although my first tomato seedling poked its head out this morning!! Hurrah!!
Its my first year growing anything edible and so Im just gonna chill and appreciate the fact that there will be much trial and error this year!

[jay001]

I wont even have compost in my raised beds for another couple of weeks!! So far my garden is devoid of life (other then the odd potato bag and strawberries/brassicas/garlic in the blowaway)!
Although my first tomato seedling poked its head out this morning!! Hurrah!!
Its my first year growing anything edible and so Im just gonna chill and appreciate the fact that there will be much trial and error this year!

hey kentishgirl -- less off the trial  -- not had one of those  yet and hope i never have to --- and concentrate on more of the error-- had load,s of them !!! new hobby for me that get,s me outside with seedlings i have grown --- oooh far to early in my nice warm flat but hey i am learning after 4 wks as a begginer  have garlic up -- around 4" now and was worried about  late frosts so asked on here and had my worries sorted by dd all the rest are still in mini plastic greenhouse lost so much but hope for so much more to come up especially my toms &peppers mini plastic greenhouses might only last you a year but ---hey one year of happiness beats a life time of none  :happy: 
cheers jay 

[Dopey113]

I have only just started to label my seedlings!! learnt a had lesson there, on what's what, looks all the same, onions and leeks, so at least I do that now

[Goosegirl]

Having had a hip replacement (see another thread), I have only got broad beans sown. I know from experience that things catch up well when sown later. Some places have had snow  so don't be in too much of a hurry. I would rather sow later and get more success than sow early when most seedlings will succumb to frost or whatever. Don't despair - your vacant plot will soon be covered in edible greens and in much better condition than if they were subject to cold weather to halt them.