Allotments 4 All

Hi

I'm new to the game.

What can I can plant straight in the ground, without sowing first.  I don't really have the room (live in an apartment, and my shed is small) to have loads of plastic box's everywhere growing my seeds.

Many thanks

Hi sanjoseblue and welcome to A4A! You can sow most things in the ground but you'll need to wait for the right time. You could be sowing broad beans and planting garlic and  shallots  now depending on how your soil is. Water-logged or frozen is bad = so better to wait. Mid- March on the planting (potatoes) and sowing starts in earnest outdoors but tender things like courgettes and squash need to wait until May or June. You will get planting recommendations on the seed packets.

The main reason for starting things indoors is that you can extend the growing season, giving the plant more time to mature, but most things except for the really exotic or tender can be grown successfully outside.

Good luck with your growing.

Hi and welcome to A4A
Nothing really extra to add to Grawrc's list, the only other thing I can think of is to ask where are you? If in N Scotland or W Cornwall, your planting times will vary by quite a bit

Good luck

Should maybe have added that between now and March is a good time for planting bare-root fruit trees and bushes if the soil condition is OK.

There are a number of good books available including "allotment month by month" by Alan Buckingham - £9.74 on Amazon - that give good advice on when to plant what and how to prepare the soil.

I live in a flat, and don't have a cold frame or greenhouse on the plot.
So I plant and sow virtually all the flowers and vegetables that I grow direct in the ground,  one exception being tomatoes, and mostly later than sooner.
Like most people I have successes and failures but generally do okay.

You can buy vegetable plants (rather than seeds) from most garden centres and mail order, but these won't be available for a few months yet, and of course it works out much more expensive than sowing yourself.

Hi
I can recomend peas, they do much better for me when i direct sow them. just sow double what you think you need, carrots and parsnips also do much better direct sown.
Salad mixes do well to .
I have always struggled with direct sowing onion family (onions and leeks)and sow them indoors then transplant.
I think the rule really is give it a whirl , its always worth investigating things for yourself. Just make sure that your soil is well prepared though and you have wide enough rows to be able to weed between them.
good luck
x sunloving

I had problems sowing peas in the ground. It turned out to be pigeons, and I solved it by covering the rows until they were a couple of inches high. These days there are very few seeds I sow direct, but the main thing is, wait till the soil warms up. You can sow the tougher broad beans around late Feb or early March, but in general, don't plant seed until you can sit comfortably on the ground with your bare bum, and delay is often best.

Yes agree with the others - loads of stuff can go in the ground. Try warming it with black plastic in late winter, so you might be able to bring your sowing time a bit earlier?

Wow, thats for all your advice so quickly.  That is really helpful.

My plot is in South Bham.

I'm also glad I'm not the only person living in an apartment who has the same problem as me.

Thank you so much.

You'll have a good day.

Whereabouts in south Birmingham. 

Hall Green.

Crikey, i'm very close to you Blue,although i have my own garden for my allotment !
I too have difficulty in timing my planting,its pretty much "suck it and see" i have various degrees of failure and successes.

jennym has always given me good advice from this very helpful site

good luck!

The problem with peas is that before the pigeons get them the mice are likely to get in first and eat the seed - the earlier you put these attractive nibbles out the more likely they are to go.

I find it's well worthwhile growing them indoors to quite big (the standard method in a strip of guttering) then the pea seeds get worn out and less attractive to rodents.

Last season I tried a better method from Gardening Which where you use the cardboard/ali containers (bricks) that longlife juice comes in -  they are much deeper than guttering so it is definitely easier to grow big strong seedlings, and when they are ready the bottomless containers can be put straight into place and earthed up.

You cut the two long narrow sides off, stand each one on an old plastic bag (to be slid away when planting out) and fill them with compost - five of them fit neatly in a standard (foolscap)drip tray so they are much easier to water well.

What a cracking idea.  Thanks for that info

Oh, and by quite big I mean when you need to take a standard plastic propagator lid off but before they start pushing tendrils into the next box - a tangle can be a pain.

Cheers.

Don't leave them too long before planting out, since they don't like being root-bound. About three inches high is enough.