Sowing seed

Sowing seed for the spring and summer more often than not starts in March to April in the north of the UK. This is because the weather needs to warm up and light levels increase to help the plants to grow. However if you have a heated greenhouse, propegator and some space in doors you can get started now.

Last week I planted some prize onions which have now germinated and my saskatoons. The saskatoons are proving to be very slow to germinate, I can't find any advice as to how long they take but have found one estimate of 18 months, I am really hoping its not that long but it could take a few weeks (its only been one so early days yet).

Today I planted my tomatoes (tiger tom and chery roma), chilli (Fish) and some lemon grass. The tomatoes and chilli can be started at any time from January to March but you really need a green house when starting early. The lemon grass I was quite pleased to find in my local garden center as it can be quite hard to source, this is started from Febuary to March (same rules as before for starting early). Lemon grass is a tender herb like basil and will spend its time in the greenhouse even in summer. All these need a lot of warmth in the soil to germinate, even in March that can be tricky and impossible with out a propegator at this time of year. I bought medium sized tray for 12 pounds, its worth the investement for any serious seed grower.

I used peat pots to sow into, this can be transfered into bigger pots when the time comes to avoid picking out and causing root disturbance. When I sow everything else in March I also have expanding peat cells, these expand when watered and the seed is down directly onto them. I used a mixture of john inns seed compost and permiculate to create a fertile but light mixture. All that remains now is to keep watering and let nature take its course.