Hardy Tropicals UK

I had high hopes for growing some salad crops and veg this year, but everything is still trapped in it's winter quarters. I have no room to start them off

Has anyone got things on the go, if so, where are you storing them while waiting for winter to end ?

Dave Brown wrote:I had high hopes for growing some salad crops and veg this year, but everything is still trapped in it's winter quarters. I have no room to start them off

Has anyone got things on the go, if so, where are you storing them while waiting for winter to end ?

I have tomato and purple sprouting broccoli seedlings in small pots, in trays,the only room for them is in the bath!
The only veg planted out so far are broad beans and even these are fleeced.

some tomatoes are coming up in my dahlias I am starting up that seemed to have come from an old fruit from last year that fell in the pot.

I've got cabbages growing , not intentional tho. I grew some last year of which some went to seed and sprouted about a month ago.

I have tomatoes 'Moneymaker' & sweet peppers growing well on kitchen window sill. Plus Courgette 'Diamant' at the seedling stage as well

Hoping to sow climbing French bean 'Sultana' later this month

I sow my veg indoors, moving them under lights when they germinate, and this year (to save space, and because everything is backing up as not enough Light and Heat to get it growing quickly) I am pricking out to 1" cells, rather than 9cm pots, and will pot-on to 9cm later. I can cram a lot more 1" cells into the conservatory than 9cm pots of course ...

I only sow the number of plants I need - so 4 Cauliflower, each fortnight.

My heavy clay is cold, wet, and not prep'd up for planting, let alone sowing ...

Plan B? Buy plants from garden centre in a few weeks time to plant directly outside, and avoid further competition for precious covered growing space in the meantime?

I have some chillie plants starting to go to fruit, grown indoors. Started a new rhubarb clump, planted out some onion bulbs, cherry tomato seeds have just germinated and a few bags of potatoes started off.

Missed this thread before. I've got 8 tomato plants from seed this year, all 2-5ft tall now. Ferline, Black Krim, Golden Sweet and Purple Cherokee.

I overwintered 2 pepper plants from last year, one sweet purple and one 'peter pepper' (must Google to see the rudely shaped fruits), hope for a bigger yield this year, although I've got a plate full of dried chillis from previous years.

I had to put all my Cannas along with some other stuff outside a while ago to make room for the tomatoes. Now the tomatoes really need to get out there too, their 8L pots are about full and the next will be 20-30L.

Calendula flowers...or is it all veg?

Soz if it is!

I always plant when I return from my hols....I.e end of the month and I always get crops

Got most veg on the go now only some Red Cabbage to do which I forgot about,Toms and peppers are moving on slowly in the Greenhouse and planted some Broad beans out yesterday;also got runners and all the curcubits on the go Saturday.

All my usual salads are up but late after early sowings were rubbish with the cold Spring. One big surprise were the melons. The Sweetheart just managed to come through the cold and are now starting to move but the more tender Charantais have done brilliantly. It seems the lower temperatures have made more sturdy, chunkier young plants. They are ready for the greenhouse bed but I'll leave the open ground under cloches plants a little longer as it's still way too early for these outside.

Another surprise were the parsnips. I a;ways do an early batch followed by one around May bank holiday as warmer soil is supposed to improve germination. These have been very poor in recent years despite exceptionally warm Springs, last year I got just eight parsnips from current year seed. I changed to Carters seeds this year and took a chance to sow in very cold soil early April as soon as that awful wintry spell ended and got practically 100% germination by the end of the month. I used up thepacket in the recent warm spell and they have germinated already. Its been years since I last had to thin out and space the parsnips

I'm loving this time of year for the veggies! I've got tomatoes, Sakura, Lilac, John Hawkins, Sweet Olive and Sungold. Just planted a cucumber, sweetcorn, melons, various peppers and chillies. Bought a small poly tunnel last year, so it's been great for getting started early. Lots of spring onions and lettuce, which has been great - when it's warm enough to eat salad!

Trying some blueberries in pots outside this year, and the most exciting is sweet potatoes, which should do well in the tunnel.

in my own garden ....

12 different tomato plants (mainly cherry tomatoes), chillies, spinach, baby lettuce, super sweet sweetcorn, beetroot, swiss chard, celery, loads of basil and parsley, thyme, wild rocket, loads of oregano, green and sweet peppers,onions, radish, carrots (2 types) and some peas

I will try sweet potato, cucumber and some squashes and a few others in a few weeks when it warms ... everything looks ok so far, some tomato plants have flowers already but it's still too early ....

the weather is playing havoc but hopefully, everything will do ok ... sweetcorn has done nothing, but the leaves still look ok ... hopefully they will do well when the sun shines ... celery seems to love this crappe wet weather

I wish I had someone to grow more food.

I've got fruit forming on all 8 of my tomato plants, half a dozen ripe Golden Sweet (like Sungold) so far. I think that at this rate I'll have to allow 2 or 3 suckers per plant (they're all indeterminate) to reach the top of the 6ft canes, along with the main stem.