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Just because you can sew it in January
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in the UK doesn't mean you should.
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Welcome to Gardening with Ben. And today
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we're going to be talking about why you
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shouldn't necessarily start your seeds
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off in January and what seeds to avoid
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Now, the biggest seed what I see a lot
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of people growing is tomatoes. As the
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packets will often say, start from
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all the way up to April. And yeah, seed
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packets obviously give you a date when
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you can start them, but it's not
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necessarily right for the area that you
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live in. Now, I live up north in the UK,
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so it's a lot colder than it would be
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down in Cornwall, for instance. So
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obviously the growing difference is
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about a month in time when to start
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seedlings off. Now I see a lot of people
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starting the tomatoes off and other
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vegetables pretty early in January
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because obviously like I said the seed
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packet says January so people think oh I
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can start them off now. whereas however
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they don't necessarily grow well at all
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and you'll end up wasting money on seeds
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and if you purchased all like heirloom
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seeds and F1 seeds they can be pretty
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expensive to buy and you'll end up
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having to buy more to sew them again.
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And the reason why these fail and don't
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do well is because they need the heat
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and the light to grow. You may think,
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"Oh, I've got the heat in my house. I
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can start them all off there." But if
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there's not enough natural light, the
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days aren't that long at the moment. So
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if there's not enough natural light,
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they won't grow well at all. And the way
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that they don't grow well is that
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they'll grow leggy, which means that
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they start stretching when they growing
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towards the light. And if they stretch,
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they won't grow very well. They'll grow
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thin and spindly, and they won't often
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recover very well at all. Obviously,
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people say if they grow leggy, you can
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plant them a bit deeper so that they'll
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grow well, but it's not always easy and
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you end up snapping them when you're
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trying to plant them and end up losing
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them again. So, it's always best to
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start a bit later than what the actual
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seed packets say. I often say now I
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don't start all my seeds off till March
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as that is when we get quite a bit of
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light and it starts warming up again.
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February can be known for a snowy month.
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So often I start all my seeds around
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middle of March towards the end of March
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and into April. And sometimes we're
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lucky we get a little heat wave around
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Easter time, which we have over the last
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couple of years. And that is perfect for
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starting all the seeds off and
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germinating them. Now I've been starting
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my seeds off around March time for the
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last 20 years. And I get amazing crops
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down at the plot. When I first started
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my a lotment, I went off the seed
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packets and I thought, "Oh, I can start
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all these this month." However, no,
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don't start them off in January. Wait
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until March time. The only seeds that
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are best to be started off now are the
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chilies, the oragans, and the peppers
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because they need a long growing season.
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But again, make sure they get enough
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heat and natural light. Now, they'll
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need the window for the light, and
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they'll need a nice warm temperature.
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They need about 25 degrees to germinate.
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So, that is some of the reasons why not
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to sew this month. And some crops hate
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low light levels. So without the right
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light, they won't grow well. It's best
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off starting them in a greenhouse when
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it gets to March time because the light
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in the greenhouse is amazing. And if
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they're against cold wind, the cold will
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hit them at the night and they will
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suffer and possibly not develop as well
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as they should do. So yeah, January is
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about choosing wisely and only growing
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the things that need to be sewn this
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month. So make sure you drop us a follow
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to stay up to date with what we're
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sewing all our seeds and what we're
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planting. Until next time everyone,
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remember keep smiling, keep shining and
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keep gardening with Ben everyone.
