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i am unclear about how early we can sow stuff if we live in a mediterranean climate. when do you get tomatoes in for an early crop and which variety? i'm thinking beans and peas too. what are people's experience of early sowing?

We planted our beans and peas back in November. You could plant some now but you run the risk of them drying out if it gets to hot before harvest time. We'll be planting potatoes and chick-peas soon but won't transplant tomato seedlings, along with zucchini, cucumbers and french beans, until March or April.

Although there are similarities in planting times in the Med, they can vary a fair bit too. A friend in Spain usually plants a month before us, while in a town about 10 kms away from me everything is planted a couple of weeks earlier, so your best bet is to find out when your neighbours plant their veg.

hi, i want to try what the neighbours don't do though, as well as taking on board what they do. i think cloches may be the way forward.

www.llavorsdaci.org/ try to get to some of these seedswaps/ events.. a great crowd

www.redsemillas.info/ too.

we start everything off indoors on window sills. transplant to polly tunnel by the end of march, cover with an extra layer of cloche until all risk of frost is gone. or transplant straight outdoors in april.
you can grow your tomatoes in big pots, started off indoors by a window them move the whole pot outside in the sun over the summer, and bring it in again when it starts to get cold ( if its still fruiting ). doing them in pots means you can start them off REALLY early indoors.
we usually finnish harvesting outside by begining of november once the frost starts to return, and inside the polly tunnel we can continue harvesting the last of the late summer produce into december, weather dependent.

Hello Dina Summer veg depends when your last frost date is and how warm and light you can keep your seedlings, I start my chillies and aubergines Dec-Jan and tomatoes in Feb in my heated greenhouse.
Veg like broad beans, lettuce, garlic, carrots, chard, kale can be in the ground now.

you'll get tips, seeds freely if you chat to vuestros vecinos y campesinos. are there any cooperative viveros near you?