Posts Tagged ‘New Seeds’

Broad beans are ready to harvest now from an autumn sowing. These great long pods are from the Broad Bean Aquadulce, which is a very hardy variety, the standard for overwintering.

One great thing is about broad beans that they are ready to harvest in late May, when there is hardly any other veg available to pick, from an October sowing, and it is really satisfying to sow the broad bean seeds outside in the autumn. An other main reason is for the autumn sowing is to avoid the damage caused by black flies. These insects love to feed on the top of the broad beans and on the joints of the flowers, but with overwintering the plants you can easily avoid this, as the plants will flower and the pods will be ready sooner than the black flies can do any damage to the crop.
The advice is to pinch out the growing tips of the plants as soon as they are in full flower, this will help to avoid black fly attack and the plants will put their energy towards producing tastier and bigger pods rather than vertical growth.

Sowing:

Sow the broad bean seeds outside in the open ground in October-November for an early crop, under cloches in January or March-April. Alternatively the seeds can be sown inside in February and later transplanted out when the seedlings about 30 cm tall. Harden off the seedlings properly by keeping them outside during the day and putting them back inside for the night. Do this for 4-6  days before planting them outside to their final position. This is very important with the broad beans as the cold spells in March can easily damage the young, inside grown plants.
Sow the seeds in double rows 5 cm deep, 20-25 cm between the rows and leave 70-80 cm between the double rows. Plant them in blocks, this way the plants will protect each other from wind.

Growing:

Once the seeds sown the broad beans need no or little attention. Make sure they have enough water when in flower and keep them weed free. The only thing what you should do is to pinch out the growing tips when the plants are in full flower.
After harvesting the pods make sure you leave the roots in the soil as they contain plenty of precious nitrogen.

Our sweet peas are proving to be very popular. Especially the heirloom mix varieties like our best ever selling  highly scented heirloom mixture of sweet pea. This mixture of peas are specially selected for their perfumed blooms. You can enjoy them in your allotment, garden or even on your patio area. Yes indeed, it is possible to grow them near your house and the strong stems make a great cutting flower too.

Most gardeners sow the sweet peas in March, unless you are a really serious sweet pea lover and sown them in the autumn, but the spring being so late it is not late to sow them at all this month. After a couple of weeks the seedlings should look like these above and by the beginning of May, you will be able to transplant the sweet pea seedlings outside to their final position. So why not give it a go and make your garden nicely perfumed over the summer months.

This week’s breaking news in the gardening world is that some retailers sell carrot plug plants at really high price. The highest price was 1.09, but after the famous Which? approached the company, it has stopped selling the plugs. Wow, well done Which?. Other retailers offer the carrots from 44p a piece, and it is still a poor value for money.

OK, so some gardeners do want to grow veggies from plug plants, and it is understandable that you can buy tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers as plugs, in the end you will have more then 1 fruit from one plant. One carrot plant will produce only one carrot though and, well for 44p or 109p it is not exactly a grow your own and save money project, is it?! And it is really easy and popular to grow carrots from seed, and most of the seed retailers offer great value carrot seeds.

We believe that with some practice everyone can grow their own vegetables from seeds at low prices. Money saving is one of the major factors when people turn to grow their own vegetables and there are companies out there, who sell quality and cheap vegetable seeds. So watch out if you want to save money on your gardening!

Cos lettuce is more popular year after year in the kitchen garden around the country. The crisp texture and sweet flavour make well worth a try to grow this type of leaf veg.

Early crops can be sown under glass from mid January until end of February. Sow the lettuce seeds into half an inch deep drills. Prick out the seedling when large enough to handle and grow them on in small pots, and when all risk of frost has passed they can go outside to their final position. If you don’t have the space inside, then you can sow them a little later in an unheated greenhouse or directly outside from mid March to June. Thin out as the seedlings emerge and you can eat these thinnings too, leave 6-10in between the plants. Little gem requires smaller space as it is a really compact type cos lettuce with a very sweet flavour.

Start cutting the crops as the hearts begin to form and by the time you harvest the last plants the hearts will be fully developed. This way you will enjoy long cropping with only one sowing and the when the hearts are fully mature the plants don’t keep very well, especially in dry conditions and many gardener ends up wasting the delicious lettuces.  If you want an all season supply then it is a good idea to sow an other lot when you just start to cut the crop.

L. latifolius is the well know perennial sweet pea. Native to Central an Southern Europe and can be found in Japan and in North America where it is an introduced flower. Once it was widely grown in many English garden. Despite its lack of scent it is getting more and more popular again among keen gardeners. The mixture of seeds available are produce white, pink and purple flowers, wich makes a stunning display and give a year after year enjoyment.

The plant is a climber, so best to grow on trellis, on a south facing wall, or you can try to grow them in hanging basket for a cascading effect. Easily grown in any type of soil, but thrives in a well drained rich and warm soil. Prefers a sunny location, perhaps near to your patio where you can enjoy the beautiful flowers all summer long.

The sweet pea seeds can take long time to germinate, you can help the germination by soaking the seeds overnight, but most importantly by keeping the sown seeds in a warm place, at around 20 Celsius and the compost moist at all times. When the seedlings are large enough to handle just prick them out and grow them on at cooler conditions before planting out the strong and established plants to their final position. Choose their location carefully and support the plants as they grow or they can be left to grow as they wish if you have a wild corner in your garden.

The plants can reach a height of 2 metre and more and will need some attention or they will take over your whole garden.

Come sowing time! Spring is approaching fast and everyone is getting ready to sow some tomato seeds. They are fairly easy to grow from seed and if you have a warm windowsill in your kitchen then the germination will not be a problem.

For the tastiest fruits many gardener grow the tomatoes in a greenhouse, polytunnel or even in a conservatory. However outside growing is rewarding too, just make sure you grow the plants in the warmest, sheltered area of your plot, garden.

Sowing the tomato seeds

Ideally label and fill a small pot or a seedtray with seed sowing compost, firm down and water. Scatter the seeds thinly as most of them will germinate be careful not to over sow at this stage. Place the pot on a windowsill or warm light shelf to germinate, and within 2 weeks, you should see seedlings, and they will be big enough in around 4 weeks to move on to individual pots. Sow seeds about a cm deep, keep the temperature 12-25 Celsius and the seeds germinate within 14 days. Make sure that you keep the compost moist during the entire growing process, and warmth is very important too. If you sow the seeds outside in an unheated greenhouse or propagator, wait until all risk of frost has passed in your area. And do not worry you can sow them as late as end of April, the plants will go faster in the hopefully warm spring and you just have a slightly later crop.

Move the tomato plants by gently holding the seedlings by their stalk and carefully moving them out with the help of a dibber or such like. Grow the plants on for 3-4 weeks before transplanting them to the final position after all risk of frost has passed.

When the roots are showing at the bottom of the pots it’s time to transplant the tomatoes.

Moving into their final position

Once the plants have 6-8 pairs of true leaves (more importantly when there is no frost expected), then it is time to move your tomatoes to a growing bag, border of your greenhouse or a warm fertile place in your garden. Break up the compost in the bag and scoop out some so that the root ball fit in the hole. Water well and place it in a warm spot. Oh and make sure you made some holes in the bottom of the bag for the excess water.

If you are growing indeterminate/cordon tomatoes, then you will need to support the plants with a cane and tie the plants to it carefully.

Ideally tomatoes grow on one single stem, expect the bush varieties, so snap out any shoots that grown in leaf joints, and once your plant has produced four or five trusses of flowers, pinch out the growing tip (the very top of the tomato plant). Doing this will ensure that all the growing energy is put into producing fruit rather than plant growth. You will need to keep doing this as the plant will try and grow more sideshoots. You also need to feed once a week with fertiliser, and water daily, or even twice a day in dry and sunny spells.

These are just our recommendations, individual growing conditions affect the germination of the seeds and the growth of the plants.

It is time to sow the pepper seeds now, actually we are sure that some of you keen gardeners has done so already as early as January. With chillies is all about the temperature, as they are originally from a very warm part of the world such as India or South America. The most popular variety is still the Jalapeno and the Habanero type peppers.

Sowing: The chilli seeds really need some attention, so make sure you use a fine seed compost. Some gardeners prefer to use vermiculite and compost mix, you can buy them in any garden centre.  Sow the seeds about an inch deep and cover with perlite if you prefer, however it is not necessary. The temperature should be between 20 and 25 Celsius, so it is only possible to germinate the peppers inside your house. Aid the germination by sealing the seed tray or the pots, whichever used for sowing, into a plastic bag, surely you have one somewhere in your home. The bag will keep the moisture in as well, but be careful here and do not overwater. A warm windowsill, if there is such a thing, or for best results you can try the top of your telly, is the best place to germinate the chillies. Keep the temperature as even as possible during the process, well we know it is hard so again if you seal the sown seeds into a plastic bag will help a lot. Germination can be slow and eradicated with some chilli peppers, with the world hottest chilli everyone is struggling.

Growing: Once you have success with the germination, just transplant the seedlings into individual pots and keep the seedlings and the plants above 20 Celsius during the entire growing season, conservatory or a greenhouse are the best places for your pepper plants.  Again it is a hard job even if you have an unheated greenhouse the temperature will drop quite dramatically during the cold english nights, but do not worry you will have some good results if the sun starts to shine every now and then.  The habanero peppers need a warmer and longer growing season then the smaller bush varieties like tepin or the Bulgarian carrot. And yes, you do get better results if you feed the plants. Tomato fertilizer tend to be the choice of many gardener, but you can experiment and use any general veggie feed too.

These are just our recommendations, individual growing conditions affect the germination of the seeds and the growth of the plants.