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What's the best time to start planting toms/peppers?

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  • #1

    What's the best time to start planting toms/peppers?

    Hello everyone, hope we all had a good 2014 Hoping for a better 2015 gardening wise though


    Anyway, what's the best time to start planting toms/peppers: Janruary, February or March. I will be starting them off in a heated propogator and will then move them under lights until they're too big too stay in the house and will be moved into the unheated greenhouse.

    Over the last couple of years I have planted at different times with different results. In Janruary everything was fine, moved them outside after a few months, a late frost hit and well we all know what happens then.

    Decided to plant early march instead the year after. Come May looked over my neighbours garden to see blooming tom plants 3x the size of mine -.-

    So what do you think is the best month to plant in?

    By the way I live in Cardiff, so temperatures are usually a couple of degrees or so higher than the countryside if that makes a difference.

    Rhys
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  • #2
    If you don't have heat it is really a matter of luck with the weather. What I do is sow my indoor Shirleys in January because I know I can provide them with heat on the sitting room windowsill - that's not a problem. The bigger problem with them is the light levels - you have to provide extra light or they will grow very tall and straggly, but you mention lights so that should not be too difficult for you.

    I tried sowing the outdoor ones (Sungold, Totem and various others) in March but they got far too big before it was warm enough for them to go outdoors (I didn't have a greenhouse). I now sow them in early April and find this works well for me, but you may be able to do it a bit earlier in Cardiff. You could always sow a couple of really early ones and let them take their chances with the weather, depending on how expensive the seeds are.

    I've given up trying to race the neighbours (not that many of my neighbours grow veg) - I'd much rather have a decent crop at a time when I know it works than take up valuable space with something that fails.
    Last edited by Penellype; 02-01-2015, 05:11 PM.
    A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP. - Leonard Nimoy

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    • #3
      Don't know which is the best month but you could cover your back by sowing a few seeds each month. Might stagger your crop too.

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      • #4
        Later this month I will sow just 2 or 3 seeds of Gartenperle for some potted early tomatoes.They can stay on the windowledge if it's a cold Spring.

        The ones to go in the greenhouse border won't be sown until mid-March - usually planted out at the end of April, fleeced if frost threatens.

        If I'm planning some outside ones then I sow them at the end of March, otherwise they can get checked by the weather if planted out earlier.

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        • #5
          My 2014 diary reads Sungold & Tumbler 22/3 modules on window sill. 29/03 1st green 07/04 pot to 3" pots, 14/04 pot on to 6" pots.29/04 final potting on to MBB & hanging baskets into greenhouse. Tumble outside16/05.
          Potty by name Potty by nature.

          By appointment of VeggieChicken Member of the Nutters club.


          We hang petty thieves and appoint great ones to public office.

          Aesop 620BC-560BC

          sigpic

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          • #6
            I sow chillies and peppers at the end of Jan, have sown earlier but found there to be no advantage. Toms I leave until mid March, some people sow earlier but I find they get too big in the house too early.

            Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

            Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

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            • #7
              I used to sow beginning of Jan, but find there really is no point.

              So, for me - Habaneros early Feb.

              Toms and Cayennes early March.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Alison View Post
                I sow chillies ... at the end of Jan, .
                I used to, then waited till Feb, and have now decided to wait until the clocks go forward about 21st March

                Some people need to have something to do in Jan/Feb, so go for it, but March sowings always catch up anyway
                All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Two_Sheds View Post
                  I used to, then waited till Feb, and have now decided to wait until the clocks go forward about 21st March

                  Some people need to have something to do in Jan/Feb, so go for it, but March sowings always catch up anyway
                  I've not found that with chillies although it may well depend on what variety you're growing and when I've waited until March I've been about a month later cropping and had to plant out smaller (or later) which has left them more susceptible to slugs etc. Tomatoes however are a totally different story, no benefit what so ever in sowing early, in fact the plants get big and unwieldy when I don't want it - unlike the chillies which are a much more compact and manageable plant.

                  Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

                  Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

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                  • #10
                    The biggest problem I find with sowing Chillies too early is that they go very leggy with the sparse amount of light they get on my kitchen windowsill. I now wait until the end of February/beginning of March. As the OP is planning to use lights that shouldn't be a problem though.
                    Posted on an iPad so apologies for any randomly auto-corrected gobbledegook

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                    • #11
                      Thanks for the replies everyone, think I'll wait now until late feb/early March

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by rhyswales View Post
                        Thanks for the replies everyone, think I'll wait now until late feb/early March
                        I always tell myself that, but can never resist starting just a few seeds before then. Willpower is such a problem!
                        My gardening blog: In Spades, last update 30th April 2018.
                        Chrysanthemum notes page here.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Martin H View Post
                          I always tell myself that, but can never resist starting just a few seeds before then. Willpower is such a problem!
                          Went into my outhouse just now and seen the propogator I'ts like it was calling out for me. Can't see me lasting till early March

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by rhyswales View Post
                            Went into my outhouse just now and seen the propogator I'ts like it was calling out for me. Can't see me lasting till early March
                            Propagator to rhyswales -- plant me up. NOW, BIG BOY.
                            Feed the soil, not the plants.
                            (helps if you have cluckies)

                            Man v Squirrels, pigeons & Ants
                            Bob

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