Seed sowing for beginners

Right... I'll maybe keep my seed and try again in March! Thank you for the pointers there.

 

I don’t have a greenhouse. I’m hoping to build some sort of cool frame on the south side of my workshop but I really need to pull my finger out for that and it needs a whole lot of work first! I have a shed I’ve managed to test my husband out of Scott Window but it’s not that bad. I was thinking of pulling the seedlings out by day and sticking them in there by night. We are in the south so rarely freezing during the day

 

Not sure what seeds you are growing Tara, but most seedlings will need to be kept indoors until late April. Lots of the annuals we grow are from the Eastern Mediterranean, South Africa, the Americas etc , so they need looking after until well into spring. Finding room inside the house is always a problem. Could you move your husband into the shed until May?

 

Now why didn’t I think of that.

 

Last year I started some Lobelia seeds early indoors, and though they germinated they quickly toppled over and died, probably what people call damping off. They were tiny, fragile little seedlings on thin stalks. I grew some later in the spring directly outdoors and they were fine, flowering a bit later than they otherwise would have. I also grew some Aubrieta from seed at the same time, and most of them survived, but I think I planted them outside when the Lobelia seedlings died, and decided that in future I would try to plant seeds directly outdoors later in the spring.

I have some packets of interesting seeds that I am wanting to get started, but I will wait until at least March to plant them, only just over a month away.

 

that was my Covid 1 lockdown project. I did exactly that and built a little cold greenhouse on the end of my store cupboard. Traded a few plants with a neighbour for his left over double skin polycarbonate sheeting. It was only about 1.2m square but I made a stack of shelves from the kids old bunk beds, put a big opening window on the top - propped up during the day, over crowded it with seedlings and had a lot of success.

some of the shelves were too high though and needed a step to get water up there. That meant I flooded it a bit which they didn’t like. Still - over all was a success and now I’ve bought a bigger pro version I’m still keeping the little one. Took me maybe… 15 hours all in once I finished planning and started cutting - having bought an £89 table saw from B&Q and the wood for the frame from a local timber yard. Initially I covered it with polythene but the first storm showed what a bad idea that was… very doable though as a home project.

 

that looks great. I'm going to try to copy that if you don't mind. what did you use instead of polythene in the end?

 

This is our big coldframe that my hubs build about 4years ago. We've had to experiment with the front roll down covers as over a couple of winters strong winds worked they way under and ripped then a bit so now we have removable battens running down the sides of the roll down covers and are pleased to find that this has solved the past issues. All our Pelargoniums, tender Fuchsias and Strawberry plants spend the winter in there.
We also have a greenhouse that has a bubble wrap enclosure built for one half of it. This is brilliant for cuttings and seedlings.

Lastly we have a ground level coldframe situated against the house.

Seedlings get gradually moved from the bubble wrapped section of the greenhouse to the unprotected side of it...then out to the ground level coldframe before spending their days hardening off in sheltered areas.



I always have rolls of fleece to hand too...just in case.

I would definitely recommend using a house wall, if you have a section free to use, to construct a overwintering frame against as it gives out additional warmth.

 

unfortunately thank we don't have a wall to use against he house but my workshop is always heated. I also thought id run a bar heater to it to keep the edge off it. thanks for the pictures. they look the biz!

 

Nice one @Upsydaisy ! I had trouble with plastic not wanting to stay in place so I ran strips of velcro (hook on frame/loop on plastic) along the edges. They hold fast and then it is easy to roll up the plastic between uses.

@Tara Jane is you can afford heat, that is a giant bonus. You can always just put a few of your "least favourite" plants in there to start and to test how well it protects them agains the elements.

 

I used polycarbonate in the end. It’s a fantastic geeenhouse material…
I would say to come and have a look but we’re in Jersey so it’s not quite a round the corner trip.

 

Those structures look great. My paltry frame looks rather insignificant by comparison.

 

Not at all @Jocko , it's a means to an end and will serve it's purpose of providing you with many strong and healthy plants.

 

Well @Jocko this wasn’t any frame. This was a Covid Lockdown 1 frame.

Funny though: just wondering about making one just like yours for a corner I’ve got!