From 14th February onwards there’s a spring in my step as the daylight hours increase to over 10 hours, the magic number of hours that plants need in order to grow and photosynthesise and it increases every day until the summer solstice. so its hoorah as we can all start sowing. Elsewhere the beds are waiting patiently and the thick layer of manure and homemade compost I laid has been taken down by worms so ready to go with a little top raking.
There’s still some fresh food to be eaten, here the weather has been pretty mild overall, some frost but not much rain (my worst weather type!) so there’s a lot still standing. The frost eventually took care of lettuces that were outside but I still have some great lettuce, rocket and rocket ‘wasabi’ in the greenhouse, the colours are so vibrant and its a great feeling eating fresh salad whenever you want, I will be picking those leaves until the flowers set and at that point they will change a bit in taste and consistency. Rocket flowers are so pretty I adore them, they’re really delicate and I am looking forward to seeing them but I am sure that the insects are looking forward to them more than me though, a good early source of food for our pollinators.
The kale is also turning to seed and setting flower, it’s the only variety I grow so I will be seed saving once the flowers are spent and the seeds have formed. You can only do this if you grow one variety or they cross pollinate so you don’t end up true to type. Even if you don’t seed save I do encourage you to allow some veg to flower for the pollinators.
I have been busy trying to create more content on Instagram and Youtube, it’s not my strong point but I think simple clear advice is helpful and I am happy to help growers so I will be creating small videos to upload , if there is anything you’d like me to cover then let me know on my email info@queenofseed.co.uk. If you haven’t checked out my YouTube account then you can click the link here https://youtu.be/Gizc8yk0ovk
Anyway, back to sowing…..sowing times very much depend on where you are so if you live further north then you’ll need to adjust your sowing times and add on a couple of weeks. Earlier in the year, the daylight hours are too short to grow most seedlings as they will struggle for light. If you have some containers to sow in and somewhere warm to pop your seedlings then it’s ready steady go. For those that sow direct then the wait is a little bit longer I’m afraid, you’ll have to wait until the ground warms up in May. We still have a fair way to go until the last frost date ( In Sussex its end April ) so the bulk of sowing is for plants that will be tolerant of cold temperatures. Seedlings that I sow now are happy with colder temperatures, onions, lettuces and peas for example, these can be germinated with warmth and then left in a cooler area to grow on. Tender and frost sensitive plants like aubergines, chillis and sweet peppers can be started early but once they’ve germinated you’ll need to keep them warm and give plenty of light until you can plant out.
Everything I sow is sown into modules /seed trays ( except parsnip or carrots ) and planted out as strong transplants, I also use a propagator with a heat mat. I have this set up in an unheated greenhouse and at night I cover with fleece. The main reason for keeping the propagator in the greenhouse is light. I have a naturally dark house and the windows don’t give enough light so once germinated seedlings will go leggy and weak. Its so important to take heed of the light you have and work with it, just be patient if you can’t so now there’s still a lot of time. Some of you may be on my seed subscriptions so you will have to adapt to your space and be flexible in your sowing times. As mentioned above direct sowing really kicks off once the ground is warm enough, feel it with your hand and sow when you feel that warmth, probably won’t be till May. That said some seeds will undoubtedly benefit from an early sowing and this applies to the warmth loving Aubergines, Chillis and Peppers, they will struggle being sown direct and you will have much better success if you start them off early inside.
Seeds you can sow direct outside now include Garlic, Peas and Broad Beans, Carrots are good too but you’ll need to fleece them or grow them inside.
Seeds you can sow undercover: ( you can start on heat to germinate and then move to a cool area to grow on ) Broad Beans, Fennel, Early Brassicas – Onions, Brassicas (Cauliflower, Khol Rabi, Turnip, Cabbage, Broccoli etc). Lettuce, Coriander, Dill, Parsley, PakChoi, Radish and Peas.
Seeds you can sow undercover which need heat: Chilli, Aubergine, Sweet Peppers.
Seeds that are happy to be multi sown and planted out without thinning; Leeks, Onions, Shallots, Spring Onions, Beetroot, Radish, Peas, Turnips, Chard, Oriental Leaves, Rocket, Spinach ( for leaves ).
I promised last time l’d talk about multi sowing versus single seed sowing. I have just made a video about multisowing onion seeds, so for those of you that have signed up to a subscription you should have some of these to sow now if you haven’t done so already.
There are some good benefits to multi sowing namely its really space saving and you get more produce per area, clusters of veg definitely will increase yield per area and for me having a smaller garden means I can pack a lot more in!
If you use modules to start your seeds off as I do then you’ll know that the use of compost is heavy, that is you go through a lot! Obviously if you are making your own that’s great but often buying in will be necessary and can be expensive so multisowing will help keep compost use down. For example, in a 40 cell module tray, you could sow one beetroot seed per module giving you 40 beetroot seedlings but if you multi sow, say 4/5 seeds per module, then you get approx 200 beetroot seedlings in the same tray! A lot of seeds respond really well to multi or group sowing. This means that rather than thinning out seedlings once they grown and planting out one seedling in each hole, the seedlings are planted as a group. Think of the example above, in a small space for beetroot sowing , you’ll get so much more if you plant them out as a group rather than one by one.
That said if you are sowing direct into the ground and don’t use module trays, then rather than sowing one seed per hole, you sow a cluster of seeds that all grow up together. Seeds respond very well to close planting and don’t mind at all, as they grow they push away from each other quite happily. Harvesting is super easy too, just twist away the one you want, leaving the remaining ones to grow on in situ. Of course, sizes here may be different, perhaps you’ll get more medium size beetroots instead of large, but personally the size is negated by the yield, for me anyway.
Next month : Tomatoes take the centre stage and I am off to Senegal so until then, happy sowing 🙂