Finally made a start

[stonethrower]

today i planted carrots, parsnip, tomatoes, peas, runner beans, spring onion, lettuce, sunflowers, sweet pea, and nasturiums

i don't know how many (if any!) will grow . . . . but i've put it off long enough and finally had a crack at it . . . . and now there all on my windowsill where they will hopefully take off . . . . advice (and even constructive criticism!) welcome

[seasidegirl]

Nice selection. Be fun watching them come up.

[Keaniebean]

It's nice when you get going, it's even more exciting waking up one morning to find they have grown for you. Dont do what I did and put them above a radiator that is on or you end up with baked sweet pea shoots.

The only ones that might object to being moved are the carrots and parsnips, but my neighbour always manages to do it fine. I've never tried it. Good luck with them all though

[crowsashes]

my nasturiums are already 4 inches tall i dont know what happen but they seemed to have shot up over night!

thankfully the weather has been much milder so maybe in a week or so i can put them out.

have to do my other veg later on today. get them all potted and set up on the ledge, hoping to double my produce from last year, but last year there wasnt much

[yvette]

Well done - that's quite a start Hope it all does really well!
I got out today and sorted out my herbs. - usually I can keep my parsley going over the winter but with all the cold this year there is almost nothing left. Gave the thyme a severe haircut! Broke a pair of scissors trying to trim off a woody bit of lavender - doh! Planted some chives, spinach and salad bowl lettuce in pots. Tomato seeds planted in a tray - have very few windowsills, so they are now on the chest of drawers in the bedroom. Still got beans and carrots to plant.
It was so lovely being out in the mild air - just a couple of weeks ago I went out to do some weeding and the ground was still frozen solid! Always feel a bit lonely in the garden though, as husband and son not so keen...

[phil55494]

It's good when you feel you can finally make a start.
We've had sweet pea seedlings growing on a windowsill for a couple of weeks and I've moved them outside into a cold frame this morning. Leeks were sown yesterday and the leaf beet and spinach sown last week are coming up in their trays on the windowsill. Need to get cracking with the chillies and tomatoes and everything else we want to grow.

[Flo]

Let's hope that the frosts don't return with malevolence or you may all need to consider planting out again.

I'm doing a more haste, less speed job and have only put out carrots, parsnips and onions knowing that I have spare seeds if the worst happens. Everything else can wait till the Easter weekend. No greenhouse you see. The fact that there are peas in peat pots on the table (nearly 200 so no meals on table), parsley, lavender and rosemary on one window ledge and aubergines and tomatoes on the other is another matter.

If it gets less windy I might put broad beans in pots to get them started under the covers I have but the covers aren't very windproof.

[grahamhobbs]

One thing I have learnt over the years, don't be in too much of a hurry to get things sown at this time of the year. The packet might say you can sow them now, but they don't explain that they will probably get too leggy if indoors or die if it goes cold/wet outside - they are only interested in selling seed. Unless you can provide perfect conditions, sow more towards the middle of the period the packet suggests, the plants will almost certainly catch up with earlier sown seeds and may well actuallly beat them, because they haven't suffered earlier on.

[Millymollymandy]

One thing I have learnt over the years, don't be in too much of a hurry to get things sown at this time of the year. The packet might say you can sow them now, but they don't explain that they will probably get too leggy if indoors or die if it goes cold/wet outside - they are only interested in selling seed. Unless you can provide perfect conditions, sow more towards the middle of the period the packet suggests, the plants will almost certainly catch up with earlier sown seeds and may well actuallly beat them, because they haven't suffered earlier on.

That's what I keep saying - we are in agreement Graham!!!

Having said that I've just planted peas, mange tout and broad beans outside, but my packets said from Feb to April so I reckoned I was in the middle of that time period.

[Mrs Moustoir]

I think I've said before, my elderly neighbour doesn't plant anything (apart from his potatoes) before the 1st May. His squash and bean plants soon catch up with mine planted a month before.

Saying that, it is always at this time of year that I get "windowsill envy". I'd love to have a few pots or trays of stuff growing on a windowsill but we don't have any and as in most French houses, the windows open inwards.

[stonethrower]

well we have signs of life anyway . . . .

peas, lettuce and sunflowers are the first to make a shape!

just as well, my four year old was beginning to lose hope . . . . it has been 5 days

[katholicos]

I'm new to growing veg and I am really enjoying sowing seeds and watching them germinate and grow. I can't believe i haven't killed everything already

Isn't it fun!

[Keaniebean]

Inspired by you all I got some seeds potted up and made some room to sew some more. I have another 3 propogators full, but ran out of soil last night, there is another few propogators on the way today as I got some more soil now.

I hope my garden will be full of this year.

[Gem]

Well done with the early start, though as has already been said, don't get too disappointed if they don't do as well as the later stuff.

I do find warm weather plants like peppers and aubergines fruit a bit earlier if they are started off early in the greenhouse though I tend to grow a few early and a few later just in case..

Good luck with the growing!

Gem

ps I might throw some together some salad tubs this weekend as well!. The seed beds left me with far more than I can give away/use so no harm in risking some!

[stonethrower]

nasturtiums, tomatoes, sweet pea, and runner beans all now showing

no sign of life from carrots or parsnips

about how long should they take