"David WE Roberts" wrote in
:

I posted a while back about problems getting tomatoes to germinate in
normal compost, and wondering if seed compost would be better.
I was keeping the seed trays in a mini greenhouse (metal frame,
plastic sheet cover) on a south facing sheltered patio.
[Also posted about previously.]
Nearly everything was germinating, but not the tomatoes.

I have managed to germinate more seeds from the same packets in seed
compost on an indoor windowsill so the seeds seem O.K.
I have now just brought in one of the original seed trays which has
been stubbornly refusing to germinate and it is now germinating on the
kitchen west facing windowsill by a radiator.

So the problem was the plastic greenhouse - presumably not enough
temperature, or not a stable temperature.

Cabbage and beet and perpetual spinach and cucumbers and courgettes
and sunflowers all seem to have germinated fine.
The cabbage and beetroot have done far better than those sown directly
into the soil of the allotment.

So the plastic greenhouse has its place, but in these cold, overcast,
wet weeks we have had it is not good for germinating plants such as
tomatoes.

I am now wondering if the predicted warmer spell will mean that it is
O.K. to try planting out a few tomato plants as frost seems very
unlikely here. Perhaps they should be grown on some more
inside/outside here where it is more sheltered untill they are a bit
bigger and the weather is consistently warmer.
However I am likely to run out of space quite soon.

Cheers

Dave R

If you have enough, Dave, I would put some out and see what happens.
It is a very bad year this one IMO, and we all have to improvise.
There is no guarantee that June or July will give us what we need!
Stay in there and do what is allowed with Mother Nature, a fickle force!

Best wishes.
Baz