Ways to out-wit the weather

[Sara]

How do you beat cold weather? Here at GYO we're already ordering our seeds and thinking ahead to early spring. We'd love to hear your tips for making frost-defying sowings from February onwards.

Do you use a propagator, fleece or a home-made cloche? Perhaps you transplant seedlings raised on a windowsill? Share your suggestions with us, below!


Tips may be edited and included in the February issue,

[VirginVegGrower]

I grow seedlings undercover of the house's windowsills in those early months of the new year. Seed trays, module cell inserts and a vented lid for mine. It also means that I am on tap to turn trays, water and monitor their progress, without traipsing through snow and mud.

PS. I am seed ordering from the new catalogues too.

[bearded bloke]

I put a fence of debris netting on the windward sides of the veg patch to reduce chill factor

[Andromeda]

It really does depend on what I'm sowing, but initially either in a propagator inside the house or in a well insulated greenhouse with fleece wrap. Early direct sowed seeds are put into ground that has been covered to ensure it's not frozen and then protected by fleecy cloches shaped like mini poly-tunnels.

[Mikey]

This year I built a hot bed and filled it with compost and topped it with some soil and left it covered. Next year I'm extending it to encompass 2 small leftover beds from the garden. each 1200 x 900, I'm hoping to get an early crop of some of my favourites, a row of international kidney spuds, early nantes carrots, beetroot, and some salad veg. I'll be starting at the end of Jan covered with a homemade plastic cloche, and hoping for some late April early May pickings.

[Aberdeenplotter]

as a vegetable exhibitor, I already have leeks growing in my shed on top of my heated bench and under an LED growlamp. Onions will be started off towards the end of this month. More space on the heated bench to work with this year as I've made a bigger bench.Despite this, before long,I'll be boxing and coxing to try to find space for all my seedling plants. Downside is that with a thermostatically controlled fan heater running as well, the electricity bill is racking up at a great rate. . Once the shed is full, it's then overflow into the greenhouses at home and then there's the annual shunting plants in and out to harden them off. If it sounds as though it's a chore, well that bit of it is but it's an important step towards the tickets on the showbench and veg on the table

[VirginVegGrower]

Note to self...I want big onions this year, so copy AP!

[Snadger]

Emigrate??????

[veggiechicken]

Buy in seedlings from a reputable supplier?

[salilah]

Once I cleared the tomatoes from the greenhouse, the leaves (lettuce, pak choi, mustard etc) went in - they will also be covered with fleece now it's getting colder - so I will have a few leaves over winter depending on the light, and an early start in spring. I've also got a couple of min-polytunnels for the raised beds - one has outdoor very-late-sown-and-munched broccoli just in case, and the overflow of leaves; the other will have early beetroot and chard, or maybe lambs lettuce...

I'm usually way too late to sow things for winter, but I try to keep something going while I can, and will probably use the Morrisons buckets in the greenhouse for early start for pea shoots, more leaves, chard, etc...

[solway cropper]

Electric propagator for the first lot of tomatoes and peppers and window sills for the less sensitive stuff. The first of the potatoes will go in containers in the greenhouse mid February if it's not too cold. If the temperature drops too far once they're planted I can bring them into the floor of the utility room at night. That doesn't impress Mrs Solway but it does mean we get new potatoes by the end of April.

[planetologist]

I use a combination of overwintering per/biennials outdoors (fennel, perennial onions, salad burnet, nettle, PSBroccoli, carrots, parsnips, land cress, etc.) for a harvesting until May, starting things indoors around 21 December (leeks, tomatoes, broad beans), and sowing rocket from February outdoors. I've built a "propagator" with a duvet in a cardboard box, a central heating thermostat and a lamp, to sprout the squashes, since the occasional heating from the stove isn't good enough for them. The per/biennials are the most important bit, as they survive winters like in 2009 and '10 without any cuddling, so are the permaculture ideal of minimum input maximum output, and there are only so many windowsills.