Keeping my Hand in

[Tee Gee]

This morning I took a few photos of what I am growing this year;

[Tee Gee]

[Obelixx]

Edibles, ornamentals or a mix Tee Gee?

I have tomatoes, chillies and musk strawberries germinating on heat mats indoors and some onions and beets in trays in the polytunnel but, so far, no onions germinating.

Is there a secret to germinating onions cos I've had no success with spring onions at previous attempts?  I've sown some Apache spring onions plus Italian red onions and some pink onons like Roscoff and hope they'll grow.   No extra heat but the PT is light and warm by day and they have a cloche to keep temperatures and humidity even.     Meanwhile, outside, the onions sets planted in November are all thru and groing well and the garlic planted in February has suddenly poked thru and grown 2 to 3 inches in the last week.

[Tee Gee]

A mixture e.g.   

Pic 23 =3 Varieties of Tomato

Pic 24= Sweet Peas, Geranium, Lettuce

Pic 26=Lupins

Pic 28=Sturon Onions

30=Chrysanthemum cuttings+

My sweet Peppers and Chillies have just nicely germinated, will leave them for a few days more before I pot them up.(Top right pic 27)

I have sown my Sturon Onions in cells this year and put them on the hot bed. As I recall, they took around 10 days to germinate.

[Obelixx]

Thanks Tee Gee.  If this lot fail i'll try onions again on teh heat mats when the tomatoes and chillies are all ready to pot on.

[Tiny Clanger]

I got Rose De Roscoff germinated in the propagator in the conservatory. Now moved to the bathroom window . The tomatoes from the bathroom window are being moved to the conservatory. I'm  warming the compost pots in the propagator as the compost has been outside on the patio and the shock to the plants if I just dumped them in would be severe. Spring onions germinated in the propagator, but not many. They were a few older seed I had left over. I've still got acorn squash stored in the greenhouse, but they will have to come out by month end. Tee Gee's stuff always looks brilliant x

[Digeroo]

Well done.  Looks like you are keeping busy.
I have grown onions from seed for the first time this year and the first batch was very slow.  Then my daughter wanted some spring onions, so I put those on top of a radiator and they have sprung up like weeds. I would like an electric propagator but there is simply no electricity supply near my windowsill. 

[Obelixx]

A few days ago I transferred my tomato and chilli seedligs to covered shelves in the polytunnel and moved the modules with onion seeds to the heat mats.

I have my first onions!!   Just a few so far but very encouraging.

Thanks Tee Gee and Digeroo.

[Harry]

I have grown onions from seed for the first time this year and the first batch was very slow.  Then my daughter wanted some spring onions, so I put those on top of a radiator and they have sprung up like weeds.

I've only just tried onions from seed, a few different varieties each had wildly different propagating time, with some not propagating at all. All sown in the exact same conditions. :( Ailsa Craig worked best for me.
I like the radiator idea, but how do you stop them drying out? Mine didn't seem to appreciate getting watered and I reckon some rotted/drowned.

[JanG]

[/quote]
I like the radiator idea, but how do you stop them drying out? Mine didn't seem to appreciate getting watered and I reckon some rotted/drowned.

You're absolutely right that the degree of wetness is really important. It works well to water the seed tray well to begin with - I like to water from the bottom - and then maintain moisture levels by putting the tray inside a plastic bag. That should stop the warmth of the radiator drying out the compost.

Your varieties which didn't germinate might just have been less viable seed. Onion seed needs to be pretty fresh to germinate well.

[cambourne7]

Looks amazing