Hello all
I have just taken over a plot in sunny Surrey and I could do with alittle advice.
I am thinking of starting off all my veg in my cold greenhouse in trays pots and modules instead of using a seed bed or sowing insitu.So I can then take the plants up to the plot and plant them out in there final spacings.
Could anyone tell me if this method will work.I have been reading up on veg growing and most books and sites recommend seed beds or sowing where u want the plants and thinning.
Any advice would be gratefully recieved.Thanks.
One other quick question............when i sow leeks in pots or modules do they need to be very deep pots/modules or will standard sizes be ok?
This is what I do, but mainly because it's a bit colder where I live. It makes spacing, weeding and planning easy but you soon run out of room in the gh. Also watch out for soaring day time temperatures.
This works with most plants however carrots, parsnips and others (someone else will be best to advise on the rest) shouldn't be transplanted unless using paper pots that get buried with the plant.
I started my leeks in a normal size seed tray and I'm just going to thin and move them onto a deeper pots (also known as old buckets) where they will live until June.
As glow777 has said.
Also swedes and turnips don't like being transplanted, again you could possibly start them off in paper pots.
Hi, I have successfully used the cardboard inside toilet rolls and kitchen rolls for leeks, beans and sweet peas. I also helps protect the young plant when you plant them outside.
Hi slippyfly, :D
I agree with above, however I had no success sowing in modules & transplanting beetroot, dunno why they just refused to fatten up ???
If you intend to grow any of the brassica family, ie cabbage, kale, sprouts etc, definitely start in individual modules , in soil that you have sterilised with armillatox or jeyes fluid, & when they have got 4/ 5 leaves pot them on again into bigger pots with sterilized soil & then plant them out . This method will give them a better chance of beating the dreaded club root. If you have just taken a plot on you will not know if there is a problem with this disease ,so best be on the safe side.
Adrian.
I start almost everything off in pots, modules and trays. The exceptions are onion sets, garlic, shallots, mixed/cut and come again salad leaves, radish, spring onion, spuds, parsnip, carrots, swedes, turnips and mooli. Think that is it..... :-\ I start things off in pots because I am quite haphazard and it means I have things ready to go into the ground almost 12 months of the year so whenever a gap reveals itself, I can plant something in it. As you can tell, my rotation plan leaves a lot to be desired! :)
Any reason for not giving the onion sets/garlic a chance to start off in large modules?
Need to ask as I have a bunch of them in larger modules which have gotten nice set of roots and shoots.
Start mine off as I am impatient I reckon ;D
i too planted my garlic in to pots they shot up very quick they went out side on the warmer days and went in the out house on the snow and ice iv just planted them in the old plot (my garden ) becaues they out grew the big pots they wear in and up to now they look very well
Had to pop mine into modules as I was making new beds on at parent-in-law's but wanted them to get a start. Just going to wait and see I guess.
I don't start my onions of in modules because i only grow Japanese hunions due to rampant white rot on my plot. Maincrop onions never make it. These onions are planted out in the autumn and over winter on the plot. I don't need to start them off in modules because the ground is already warm, and well prepared! ;D
A very big thankyou to all who replied its been a big help ;D ;D Thankyou.
Quote from: loulou on March 24, 2006, 14:46:48
i too planted my garlic in to pots they shot up very quick they went out side on the warmer days and went in the out house on the snow and ice iv just planted them in the old plot (my garden ) because they out grew the big pots they wear in and up to now they look very well
Hi loulou I always thought that garlic had to be out in the cold for the bulbs to form properly or something like that, I'm only a beginner and tend to read lots of things and then I get confused ;D
It does need a few weeks' cold to initiate division of the bulb. I don't know how growing in modules affects this, as I've never tried it.
I planted some garlic in two module trays and put one outside in a broken coldframe- some protection but not much, and one in my unheated greenhouse. The latter are starting to shoot but the former are doing nothing. I'll beinterested to see what the results are long-term.
i put my garlic in pots hoping to get oh to help me dig more ready but it never happend ( weather illnessetc) so i had to harden them off and put in my garden that have Been in a few days now and look well (fingers crossed) ill get the camera out and ask oh to put picks up for you to see but you now what they say the prof of the pudding is in the eating heres hoping mine make it ::) at night i had then in dorrs in the cold out house and in the day thay wear in the garden so i hop that helped