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 ?
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
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.
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.
If you go to www.gardenaction.co.uk (http://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.
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.
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
Thanks teegee.I'll definately be printing that out for future refference.
cj :)
Wow that's far more useful than my typed up list! Thanks for that! :D
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!
When I started ,I was told you must put your potatoes in on Good Friday. :)
Thats fine Betula but Easter varies by many weeks and this year its nearly the earliest it can be.
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.?
Quote from: betula on February 19, 2008, 22:47:11
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.
The most precise around here [lincolnshire] is to sow runner beans on May 14th.
The old rule for shallots was plant on the shortest day then harvest after the longest
x sunloving
Quote from: Tee Gee on February 19, 2008, 17:27:01
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
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!!
Quote from: djbrenton on February 19, 2008, 19:11:36
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
QuoteThat 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?
QuoteAny chance to make it into a printable version, as the tables disappear when I tried to print it.
I see what you mean, I have also noticed another fault and that is I put the second lot of week numbers a line too high.
They were meant to be at the top of page two.
The latter is easily fixed the colour thing I am not so sure about (not being a IT techie)
I will follow it up and see what I can do.
What I have noticed is the pictures come out coloured but the the period boxes dont which seems strange.
By the way if there is anyone out there who is IT literate and can resolve this problem will they get in touch.
TeeGee I used to design websites, I had a look at the code on the page.
Could help you out :) Well try too :)
I very rarely do anything before March.I have learnt from experience that the constant nursing of too early sowing is a waste of time and leads to disappointment.I find this hard though as I am itching to get going.
The fact that I have to work on heavy clay does not help.I am slowly improving the soil but can not find the quantities of muck and compost that I need.
I tend to stick to the traditional growing year. ;D
Fantastic? Wonderful!
Colours? Me too - but if you print screen & print, they are in colour. You may need a magifying glass!!
Shallots in December? Not in this house!!
Sowing/planting early to beat the gun? More work & worry for little gain?
Its the green background I meant :)
Quote from: betula on February 21, 2008, 11:31:03
I very rarely do anything before March.I have learnt from experience that the constant nursing of too early sowing is a waste of time and leads to disappointment.I find this hard though as I am itching to get going.
The fact that I have to work on heavy clay does not help.I am slowly improving the soil but can not find the quantities of muck and compost that I need.
I tend to stick to the traditional growing year. ;D
Plenty of muck and mushroom compost here in Derby!
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l47/dlp133/feb014.jpg)
I have spent many a happy hour sorting out a planting calender for my plot. I kept the one I did last year to help me judge when things were started off a bit early (e.g the early sowings of banana shallots in early Feb, early March sowings did much better), or too late (celery, sown in late March, will now be sown in early March).
I agree it is really hard to sit on your hands at this time of the year, but as I only have an unheated greenhouse to bring seedlings on in, it makes no sense to sow too early.
QuoteShallots in December? Not in this house!!
Thought I had made a mistake Tim (I know I am prone too) ;)
Can you explain; The old grey matter is still a bit congealed at this time of year and this frosty weather hasn't helped ;D
Each to their own, TG, but I never put mine in until mid-Feb. Haven't even taken delivery of my Jermor yet.
Even my January Garlic has done well in the past.
Thanks Tee Gee and everyone much help there.I shall deter from planting till well into March as my allotment neighbour advised (well April he said)
I guess no point in planting if they aint going to grow is there.
Anyway got Rudby be be watching for the next couple of weekends and it's a rush job getting down the allotment in the morning and then getting back into to open a beer and get prepared
Ah!! we might be at cross purposes hear!!
The ones indicated on my chart in January are seed. I am usually into April for setts, I have even known to be as late as May with these.
A lot depends on which part of UK you are in too.The further north the later the season ..That old guy saying April is probably about right ..If the land ain't warm enough stuff won't grow ..But we are chomping at the bit to set stuff so I think we all risk it a bit :)
I have resolved how to print all the colours so depending upon what browser you use the procedure is a little different e.g.
In Firefox; select print set up and tick print background colours
In IE;
Select 'Tools' (alt+T) >
Select Internet Options >
Select advanced >
Select settings >
Select printing >
Select print background colours and images by ticking box
To save press 'enter'
Hopefully you should now be able to print the background colours.
Edit;
I have altered the background colour on the page, the previous one was rather dark when printed.
For those of you who have bookmarked the page you may have to refresh it to see the new colour.
We always plant out our potatoes on Good Friday too, but a German friend has this rule that they always plant out their potatoes on the 100th day of the new year.
I think sometime you have to go by your instincts because of the crazy weather conditions we sometimes experience, and areas can vary so much. I planted out my shallots in the middle of February last year, but I have yet to do them this year because of the frost. Probably will plant the sets out in a couple of weeks time, and if the weather turns cold will cover them with fleece.
I think planting charts can only be guidelines and you should rely on common sense and what is happening in your area. :) busy_lizzie
For everything - when the soil is good & ready?
Great chart, and thank you 8)....combining that with Tim's "good and ready" comment are excellent guidelines. Still sitting on my hands here - shan't be carrot sowing yet :o
I agree as I mention on my website;
A few words of advice when using the information on this site;
"Let common sense prevail"
For example, it is not imperative to carry out any task/s detailed here, simply because it says you should.
If the weather or soil conditions are not in a fit state to carry out the task/s, then delay the timing until such times as they are.
I'm sure you agree!!
Many thanks TG - printed (and waterproofed) :)