Talkback: Early seed sowing

Bring them in-they will not survive in a cold greenhouse until April at the earliest-especially as they are just seedlings-they need warmth and good light

Tomatoes aren't so bad-when you prick out the seedlings you can bury the stems up to the first true leaves-you can do that with a lot of seedlins-not cucumbers definitely

But they need good all round light -that is the snag if you start too early

Tootles, have a look on here: http://www.tomatogrowing.co.uk/

Excellent advice from Nick.

try growing your tomatoes in acid peat  this year instead of ordinary peat or garden soil. you will find that the true flavour of the toms. wil come out and you will be surprised how good they taste. oh bye the way dont be in such a hurry to start growing plants too early they al need daylight to grow strongly apart from the fact that you wil always get late frosts which can kill off tomatoes if sown too early.i have grown all kinds of plants for the last 20 years and from experience i have found that if you wait till march the plants will grow just as strong with less heat required.

denise bailey wrote (see)

Just wondering when to start my chilli seeds off thanks for info

They can take up to 3 weeks to germinate-so longer than tomatoes-would start in a couple of weeks or so

yes john  innes with perlite is fine the acidic peat gives the sharper bite to the tomato plants and their true flavour. i have been growing toms. in acid peat for years and get brillant flavour every time.long lost tip worth tying.

I treated myself to a super-seven seed tray system - seven little seed trays, each with a clear cover, which sits on a capillary matting on a long window sill tray.  This enables me to raise at least seven types of seed easily, and I can turn thetrtays round daily once the seeds come through.  They don't go up to my unheated greenhouse until they get pricked out into larger trays or individual modules, and even tghen I continue to put a clear plastic lid on until they have hardened of a bit.  I have had great success with almost everything I have planted in this way abnd the little trays are really easy to use .  You just water into the window sill tray when the matting begins to dry out.  For larger seed I add a  layer of fine gravel on top which helps keep the soil moist withough makiong the seedlings damp off.

I shall be planting tonight and tomorrow for my early start.  If I need to water, I use one of those little bottle-top sprinklers.

Good luck evberybody.

flowerbird=. try sowing sweet pea in october in your loo rolls and leave them till now in a light spot but out of direct sunlight. when they get to the three leaf stage nip them back to one leaf and ou get a much stronger plant and also more stems and more flowers later on in the year.go on and give it a try there is no such thing as failure just lost seedlings.bye the way when u decide to grow seedlings plant just what u need with a few extra in tay modules.that way you wont have to throw surplus out.when u are growing seedlings always water the trays or containers from the root up less losses and little damping off.bye the way has anybody noticed how the big organisations who produce new varities of bizzi lizzies have now left us with a hugh problem with them literally dying off when in full flower. This has only come about in the last two years, so be warned the beautyful bizzi lizzi is on the way out through to much messing with their jenes.