"alan.holmes" wrote in message
...

I've planted peas, parsnips and climbing french beans but nothing
ahs appeared, why is that?

I'm getting concerned that nothing I plant will grow!(:-(

Alan



The good part of this is that you're not suffering the discouragement
of slugs eating your seedlings or pigeons and mice eating the peas :-)
Hang in there... something will show eventually...

Keep the peas moist by watering every day and if they're not up in 10
days, re-sow. (most likely after that long you'll have most of them
through anyway but I almost always get patchy results along a long
row). You might like to cover them with fleece to discourage the mice
and prevent the pigeons getting them.

Parsnips are a mystery to me. Sometimes they germinate in a week in
April when it is cool, other times they refuse to germinate in any
conditions. I don't like to germinate them under 'ideal' conditions
and transplant them because the roots tend to divide. Always, always
buy new seeds for your parsnips. I've just howed in eight rows planted
mid April that have produced about 4 small plants. I'll start again
after I've got some fresh seed.

Runner beans are the most hideous foodstuff known to man :-) Can't
understand how anyone could eat them! Pray they don't germinate and
sow a nice alternative instead?? More seriously, the advice on soaking
in another reply is good advice. I wouldn't use the bleach, I'd use a
proprietary anti-fungal because of the way that micro-organisms which
live in the roots are set back by bleach but not so badly in other
'brews'. Cheshunt compound would suffice.

Good luck. Don't be put off. Keep trying.

TJ