Topic: when to plant

[Maidenheadtaff]

We were digging down the allotment today and an talking to an old boy about when  best to start planting.He said we shouldn't plant anything till at least April as the frost would stop most ves growing.

I thought we could plant the potatoes that have been chitting in early March and most other veg like carrots also around this time.

Should we delay,as this frost we've had this week has been a bit dodgy ?
 

[steveuk]

I personally plant my earlie spuds middle march, but i am mindfull of the sharp frost we are experiencing, but then i have covered my beds with poly-thene to warm them up.

be more experienced people on here with better advice

[silverbirch]

I think a good rule of thumb for most of us is "When you think it's time to plant, wait two weeks". 

My spuds tend to go in around late March / early April, but I always put fleece over the top.

I'm always in a rush to get stuff in, particularly beans, which then sit there, sulk and die.  The second sowing does much better.  I normally reckon on mid May to be finished with the frosts where I am, but it can still get cold at night after that.   If I were putting bean seeds out, I probably wouldn't bother until early May.

I put parsnips in at the end of February, and some early carrots between the rows, mainly to mark them.  Again, I just cover with a bit of fleece.

[kt.]

I have just posted a veg planner to your email address. I have 2 laminated. 1 in the shed at the lottie, 1 in the greenhouse at home   ;) A god send for sure.

[grawrc]

If you go to www.gardenaction.co.uk you can set the frost dates for where you live. Mind you it says end of April for edinburgh where I am and I never wait till then. It's pretty unusual to have a really heavy frost in April and if I know one is coming I cover stuff up with fleece.

[Tee Gee]

Its not so much the planting that is the problem it is when the tops begin to emerge and they get frosted! then all your early planting may have been in vain.

I prefer to plant later and grow them non stop I prefer to plant  the first week in April and grow them on non stop.

Chances are I will be eating mine around the same time as the ones you plant now.

[Tee Gee]

I noticed that quite a few people have asked questions such as this, so to save me a lot of typing and going over the same ground time and time again I have knocked up this planner in the hope that it will help some of you 'newbies'

Come to that I will be taking a copy of it myself to stick up on my allotment as my memory is not what it once was.

http://tinyurl.com/yv9u3h

[carolinej]

Thanks teegee.I'll definately be printing that out for future refference.

cj :)

[posie]

Wow that's far more useful than my typed up list!  Thanks for that!   :D

[djbrenton]

Around this time every year someone has to remind you all of the old rule.

Don't plant till you can sit on the ground with a bare bum!

[betula]

When I started ,I was told you must put your potatoes in on Good Friday. :)

[morton]

Thats fine Betula but Easter varies by many weeks and this year its nearly the earliest it can be.

[betula]

I know Morton,does not seem much logic too it.I know one old guy who always used to start his onions on Boxing Day.Does anyone know why these days became traditional days to plant.?

[redimp]

I know Morton,does not seem much logic too it.I know one old guy who always used to start his onions on Boxing Day.Does anyone know why these days became traditional days to plant.?

That saying has nothing to do with weather and far more to with when workers had days off.  During the old 6 day week and overtime till you dropped, Good Friday was the first extra day off as the weather was improving - so get your potatoes in while you can.

[morton]

The most precise around here [lincolnshire] is to sow runner beans on May 14th.

[sunloving]

The old rule for shallots was plant on the shortest day then harvest after the longest
x sunloving

[springbok]

I noticed that quite a few people have asked questions such as this, so to save me a lot of typing and going over the same ground time and time again I have knocked up this planner in the hope that it will help some of you 'newbies'

Come to that I will be taking a copy of it myself to stick up on my allotment as my memory is not what it once was.

http://tinyurl.com/yv9u3h

TeeGee, this info is fantastic for somebody like myself who is a newbie to all this.  I have tried to print it but in vain as the colours on the screen. 
Any chance to make it into a printable version, as the tables dissapear when I tried to print it.
Many thanks :D

[RosieMcPosie]

tee gee, you are a god send! thanks for this, it'l come in very handy in the next few weeks/ months!
although, i am a bit too impatient it seems, i have toms and chilis, parsnips and rocket, all sorts of lovely things started off already!
i can't wait for spring! and summer- just think, i'll be eating my own slada and veg soon! yay!! 

[Froglegs]

Around this time every year someone has to remind you all of the old rule.

Don't plant till you can sit on the ground with a bare bum!

:o :o ;D ;D

[Tee Gee]

That saying has nothing to do with weather and far more to with when workers had days off.

I would agree with this statement based on my own experience.


When I first started gardening I found that other than weekends, holidays, were the time I tended to do most of my sowing & cutting taking.

If you look at my planner you will see that roughly speaking that much of the sowing is done around Easter, Planting around what was once Whitsuntide and harvesting around August bank holiday.

This could possibly be put down to coincidence,but if you think;

....around these times the weather here in the UK is generally suited to these tasks, so it comes as no surprise to me that people did in fact do much of their gardening then, I know I did!

Obviously as the years went on I refined some of my sowing dates because of technology i.e. thermostatic propagators and growing lights  for example.

What do you others think?