I purchased a heatmat recently to germinate my exhibition sweet peas.
It produced the strongest rooted plants ever,bottom heat I suppose.
I have now resown the seed trays with various fast maturing winter
items such as mustard and japanese greens and three types of
rocket.They have all germinated well so far in the cold greenhouse.
I intend to try to produce salad crops throughout the winter with
minimum attention.
The point of this mail is to see if anyone has used this method of
trying to grow organic food to plug the gap until spring arrives,and
if they consider it worthwhile.
The cost element of heating does not concern me.
What would be of use is to try tested types of greens that others have
been able to bring to maturity quickly and which are tasty cooked or
raw and suitable for growing in seed trays.

"Graham Wells" wrote in message
om...
I purchased a heatmat recently to germinate my exhibition sweet peas.
It produced the strongest rooted plants ever,bottom heat I suppose.
I have now resown the seed trays with various fast maturing winter
items such as mustard and japanese greens and three types of
rocket.They have all germinated well so far in the cold greenhouse.
I intend to try to produce salad crops throughout the winter with
minimum attention.
The point of this mail is to see if anyone has used this method of
trying to grow organic food to plug the gap until spring arrives,and
if they consider it worthwhile.
The cost element of heating does not concern me.
What would be of use is to try tested types of greens that others have
been able to bring to maturity quickly and which are tasty cooked or
raw and suitable for growing in seed trays.

I'd like to know too - but I'd also like to know what a heatmat is, please.

Mary

In message , Mary Fisher
writes

I'd like to know too - but I'd also like to know what a heatmat is, please.

A heating element in a mat that can be laid down on staging etc. (like
soil warming cable is used in a propagator)

See this page for an example:

http://www.cmsgardens.co.uk/props.htm
--
Chris French and Helen Johnson, Leeds
urg Suppliers and References FAQ:
http://www.familyfrench.co.uk/garden/urgfaq/index.html

"Chris French and Helen Johnson" wrote in
message ...
In message , Mary Fisher
writes

I'd like to know too - but I'd also like to know what a heatmat is,
please.

A heating element in a mat that can be laid down on staging etc. (like
soil warming cable is used in a propagator)

See this page for an example:

Thanks, Chris, aren't they expensive!

I like the idea of split root trainers though - anywhere in Leeds I could
get them?

Mary

http://www.cmsgardens.co.uk/props.htm
--
Chris French and Helen Johnson, Leeds
urg Suppliers and References FAQ:
http://www.familyfrench.co.uk/garden/urgfaq/index.html

In message , Mary Fisher
writes

"Chris French and Helen Johnson" wrote in
message ...
In message , Mary Fisher
writes

I'd like to know too - but I'd also like to know what a heatmat is,
please.

Thanks, Chris, aren't they expensive!

Didn't notice the price, that was just the first I came across from a
Google search.

I like the idea of split root trainers though - anywhere in Leeds I could
get them?

Yes we like them as well, though they are more expensive than normal
modules.

No idea. We've always bought ours mail order (we got ours from Bernard
Salt, but he has since dies). They are fairly widely available now
though.

The makers sell direct at:

http://www.rootrainers.co.uk/

and a Google search on Rootrainers gives plenty of other links.
--
Chris French and Helen Johnson, Leeds
urg Suppliers and References FAQ:
http://www.familyfrench.co.uk/garden/urgfaq/index.html