I have been having a discussion with other allotment holders,
I have been pressing on and sowing seeds but others have
told me that it is too early as we could get more frost more snow
and it's generally too cold.
My argument is when plants grow naturally they will drop there
seeds in the Autumn and they will lay on/in the ground all Winter
without coming to any harm and start to grow in the Spring.
So, does it really matter if I plant seeds and a bit of frost gets to them ?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Wally

In message , Wally
writes
I have been having a discussion with other allotment holders,
I have been pressing on and sowing seeds but others have
told me that it is too early as we could get more frost more snow
and it's generally too cold.
My argument is when plants grow naturally they will drop there
seeds in the Autumn and they will lay on/in the ground all Winter
without coming to any harm and start to grow in the Spring.
So, does it really matter if I plant seeds and a bit of frost gets to them ?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Wally


An interesting debate! I understand what you are saying. When
considering there are seeds that, when bought from a retailer, actually
require a short period in a fridge prior to germination, it would appear
to make sense. And broad beans are often sown in November, germinate and
go through tough winters without apparent damage. I believe it is not
the seeds but rather the young shoots that require protection from
frost. For example, if you grow tomatoes outdoors the seeds, having been
left on the ground when the fruit fell the previous year, could, in
theory, germinate during a particularly mild spell in, say, early
spring, but the young plants would soon die in the event of a following
frost. Similarly with runner beans and quite a number of other seed
depositing plants. I suspect the norms we use have been developed over
centuries as proving the most effective way of raising healthy and
productive plants which is surely the objective. Just my opinion .....
very possibly codswallop :-))
--
Gopher .... I know my place!

Wally wrote:
I have been having a discussion with other allotment holders,
I have been pressing on and sowing seeds but others have
told me that it is too early as we could get more frost more snow
and it's generally too cold.
My argument is when plants grow naturally they will drop there
seeds in the Autumn and they will lay on/in the ground all Winter
without coming to any harm and start to grow in the Spring.
So, does it really matter if I plant seeds and a bit of frost gets to them ?

Perhaps the thing to consider is whether the seeds you are planting are
native to this country, or a similar climate?

I can see carrots, turnips, onions, potatoes, broad beans, etc all being
fine. I can't imagine sweetcorn, pumpkins, french beans, tomatoes or
aubergines being too happy about a dose of spring frost.

Incidentally, I believe the last frost date for most of this country is in
approx 3 weeks. (how they work that out, I have no idea, but so I've been
told)

In article ,
says...
I have been having a discussion with other allotment holders,
I have been pressing on and sowing seeds but others have
told me that it is too early as we could get more frost more snow
and it's generally too cold.
My argument is when plants grow naturally they will drop there
seeds in the Autumn and they will lay on/in the ground all Winter
without coming to any harm and start to grow in the Spring.
So, does it really matter if I plant seeds and a bit of frost gets to them ?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Wally



The diffence between nature and veg gardening is that in nature a plant
will drop a hundred seeds and one may survive and grow but you would want
more plants in your row than that
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

Wally wrote:

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

You haven't said where you are...

--
Rusty

"Wally" wrote ...
I have been having a discussion with other allotment holders,
I have been pressing on and sowing seeds but others have
told me that it is too early as we could get more frost more snow
and it's generally too cold.
My argument is when plants grow naturally they will drop there
seeds in the Autumn and they will lay on/in the ground all Winter
without coming to any harm and start to grow in the Spring.
So, does it really matter if I plant seeds and a bit of frost gets to them
?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

We mostly plant in modules and won't plant the main lot of our seeds for
some weeks yet to plant out end of May after all chance of frost has passed
(don't talk about the frost on the 9th June a few years back!). Exceptions
are Chillies which will be planted shortly to get the plants up and big
enough to flower quicker and then a bit later some Toms for planting out
also.
Out on the allotment there is no point in planting Parsnips, for example, as
they won't germinate in cold soil so better to wait until the soil warms up.
Ours is also much too wet to do anything with, not even planted our early
spuds yet.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

On 30/03/2010 12:36, Wally wrote:

Your thoughts would be appreciated.


My peas, potatoes and onion sets are already in the garden.

Too early to plant runner bean seeds. I do them directly in the ground
nowadays rather than individually in pots - it seems to make very little
difference to how quick the first harvest is - maybe a week or two at
most. Just not worth the hassle and space they take up - especially if
they get leggy and the garden is too wet to plant them.

Brasicas, leeks, lettuce, beetroot etc are up already in the cold-frame,
too small to plant out yet - I just need some dry weather in a few
weeks time to get onto the garden to plant them.

I've taken a chance and planted some parsnips, carrots, sweetcorn and
tomato seeds under the coldframe too. If they fail I will just plant
some more later on.

Parsnips are a sod to germinate. I've given up trying to grow them
directly in the ground because they are completely overrun by weed
seedlings before they show through. Same with carrots. I've found I can
grow them from seed in deep troughs and transplant them out with a lot
of care - if the roots hit the bottom of the tub it means I get L shaped
carrots :-) or they split. Actually the split carrots haven't been a bad
thing. I harvested the last of them a couple of weeks ago - they had
overwintered nicely in the garden, which was a pleasant surprise. The
tops had completely died off of course but the carrots themselves were
fresh and sweet - perhaps the frosts had made them sweeter? There was
also the BENEFIT of them forking. Where there should have been one
carrot there was four or five nicely formed large carrots - all joined
at the top. A whole row of large forked carrots. The only downside is
the problem of cleaning out the soil between the forks.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

"Rusty Hinge" wrote in message
...
Wally wrote:

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

You haven't said where you are...

--
Rusty

Milton Keynes area Rusty.

Wally

Thank you all for your input, some food for thought there.

Wally

"Wally" wrote in message
...
I have been having a discussion with other allotment holders,
I have been pressing on and sowing seeds but others have
told me that it is too early as we could get more frost more snow
and it's generally too cold.
My argument is when plants grow naturally they will drop there
seeds in the Autumn and they will lay on/in the ground all Winter
without coming to any harm and start to grow in the Spring.
So, does it really matter if I plant seeds and a bit of frost gets to them
?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Wally


My thoughts would be that they are right, unless you are prepared to lose a
proportion (or all) of what you sowed too early.
Do take advice from more experienced allotment holders, they wish the best
for you and your crops and if you argue you know better they will stop
helping you.
Worse than that, it will annoy them. Intensely.
Tina

On 30 Mar, 17:59, "Christina Websell"
wrote:
"Wally" wrote in message

...I have been having a discussion with other allotment holders,
I have been pressing on and sowing seeds but others have
told me that it is too early as we could get more frost more snow
and it's generally too cold.
My argument is when plants grow naturally they will drop there
seeds in the Autumn and they will lay on/in the ground all Winter
without coming to any harm and start to grow in the Spring.
So, does it really matter if I plant seeds and a bit of frost gets to them
?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Wally

My thoughts would be that they are right, unless you are prepared to lose a
proportion (or all) of what you sowed too early.
Do take advice from more experienced allotment holders, they wish the best
for you and your crops and if you argue you know better they will stop
helping you.
Worse than that, it will annoy them. *Intensely.
Tina

Plants that would be natives of a climate like ours should be OK but
those from
warmer clims like tomatoes, aubergines etc wouldn't like it.
David Hill

On Tue, 30 Mar 2010 11:36:36 +0100, "Wally"
wrote:

I have been having a discussion with other allotment holders,
I have been pressing on and sowing seeds but others have
told me that it is too early as we could get more frost more snow
and it's generally too cold.
My argument is when plants grow naturally they will drop there
seeds in the Autumn and they will lay on/in the ground all Winter
without coming to any harm and start to grow in the Spring.
So, does it really matter if I plant seeds and a bit of frost gets to them ?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Wally



In nature if all the seeds germinated together in one go and they got
frosted the plant would die out. So nature ensures seeds germinate
more slowly at colder conditions - you'd call it eratic but for a
plant it's just self preservation.
There are somethings that don't mind a bit of cold, others will be
wasted.
One allotmenter told me everyone else ploughed on ahead but when it
got to summer hers all caught up with theirs.

--
http://www.Voucherfreebies.co.uk
http://www.holidayunder100.co.uk

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Wally


My thoughts would be that they are right, unless you are prepared to lose
a proportion (or all) of what you sowed too early.
Do take advice from more experienced allotment holders, they wish the best
for you and your crops and if you argue you know better they will stop
helping you.
Worse than that, it will annoy them. Intensely.
Tina


No argument involved Tina just listening to comments and putting
my comments across, I find that this is the best way to learn.
I respect any advice I get on the allotment also any help I get in here.

Wally

On 31/03/2010 13:07, Wally wrote:

No argument involved Tina just listening to comments and putting
my comments across, I find that this is the best way to learn.
I respect any advice I get on the allotment also any help I get in here.


Don't be afraid to experiment yourself too. Sometimes the established
wisdom passed down the generations is questionable. Especially nowadays
with many different veg varieties with different resistances and changes
to the climate etc. My neighbour does his gardening based on the phase
of the moon. Such ancient superstition is common here in rural
communities. I don't disagree with him, no point. Besides I might find
myself buried under his rhubarb bed as part of another ancient
tradition. ;-)

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

David in Normandy wrote:
My neighbour does his gardening based on the phase
of the moon. Such ancient superstition is common here in rural
communities.

I believe the basis of the moon phase planting (and planting out and
harvesting) is all related to the effect on water by the moon, as displayed
in the tides. It is meant to relate to the water being 'drawn up' more
easily at the times it's needed, etc.

Whether it works or not is another matter - I have considered trying to do a
blind trial test on it, but since I rarely get time to even plant, let alone
be told what I can plant when, it seems most unlikely I ever will.