Topic: Seed Beds

[Philbasford]

ive noticed a lot of things said about seed beds, as we are on our first allotment and only got it in jan we are obviously still in the early stages.  We have planted from seed a few rows of leeks and parsnips,  It says about transplanting from the seed bed to where they are finally going to be,  But are intending on leaving them where they, earting up or when they come through putting them slightly deeper.  Is this ok?.  Everything apart from some sweet corn and hot peppers are having to be sown as seed straight in to the ground this year as we simply dont have any where to put seedlings in trays

[adrianhumph]

Hello Philibasford,
                            Without wishing to confuse you , some veg are sown in seed beds & then transplanted to their growing positions & some veg are sown & grown in situ ??? .Confused allready  ::)  With regard to leeks, these traditionally are sown in either a seed bed or in trays or several seeds in 3 inch pots, grown on for 2/3 months & then planted out where they are going to be harvested. The reason for this is that when transplanting they need a 6 to 8 inch hole made for them individually & each one dropped into it. Parsnips on the other hand hate to be moved ,so these need to sown where they are going to be harvested from, sow 2or 3 seeds,  6 inches apart in rows 12 inches apart , if you are lucky and more than one seedlng emerges at each place , you pinch out the weaker ones leaving one seedling.
 For more info I would suggest getting one of the better gardening books available & also carefully reading the instructions on the back of the seed packets.

                                                                                     Adrian.

[grawrc]

Think too about crop rotation and splitting vegetables up in to their families so that you don't get inwanted soil infections.

[grawrc]

Have a look at the following link:http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,18178.0 and you'll find more links within the thread. Also look at the wiki (link at top of home page) which has all sorts of useful info.

[bupster]

Don't worry about it too much. I should leave the parsnips where they are, but think about shifting the leeks when they're the size of pencils. The leeks will be happier in dibbed holes, and you can put them in the bit of your allotment that you want to be given over to alliums - garlic, onions etc - as they may well be hanging around till next spring. That's your rotation sorted. Then maybe pop in some carrots or radishes (or both!) with your parsnips so you can say that that bed's for root crops.

Rotation can get very complicated as there's no single system. The rotation I'm planning to use was in the HDRA's organic gardening book; onions and peas and beans in one group, brassicas in another, potatoes, tomatoes and curcurbits (cucumber, squash etc) in a third, and then finally root crops - the beet and carrot families. There are other families as well, but you probably won't grow that much from them (though I'm trying salsify, scorzonera and lettuce - all from the daisy family) and they can join whichever group is smallest.

HDRA have a link here http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/factsheets/vegfam.php that says what the families are, but don't get too panicked about it in your first year. If you have a couple of books maybe sit down and try to plan what you'd plant in an ideal world, but if you're anything like me it's clear a bed, plant a bed, panic, clear a bed etc.

Finally, if you can't plant much indoors (me neither), maybe prioritise clearing one bed really well, leaving it, hoeing off the weeds, and calling it your brassica seedbed. Brassicas take up loads of room and don't mind being moved, so most people grow them in a seedbed till they're a decent size before planting in position, so tiny plants aren't taking up lots of space.

[grawrc]

My rotation is pots (potatoes surprisingly enough) roots (onions leeks carrots parsnips) legs ( beans and peas) bras (cabbage cauliflower, turnip etc). Seems to work well  enough. I got it from Caroline Foley's Allotment Handbook.

Don't think it matters to much as long as you group the ones with similar nutritional needs together and change every year.

I don't have a seedbed as such - I either plant in seed trays or directly in the ground where they're growing.