This is my first post here so hello!!! *waves* Ok. Spring is in the air for the first day this year. I'm in Norway, so the growing season isn't as long as I'd like, but today the snow is melting and I saw some snowdrops this morning, so my green fingers are getting itchy. However, it's a full 2 months until all risks of frost will have passed - traditionally taken from Norway's independence day 17th May (last year it snowed on that day, despite some of the days in March having reached 20 degrees C lol). I want to make a start on some indoor sowings, but I don't have a lot of space, or a good hardening-off site outdoors, so I don't want to end up with a house overflowing with giant seedlings for a month. It's only my second year of growing food in this country to I'm still unsure about timing. What could I start sowing now? Tomatoes? 2 Months on a windowsill won't be too long for them will it? Does anyone have any suggestions for a sowing timeline over the next few weeks, to give things a good head start without having them ready too early?
Dude(tte), I started my tomatoes in February, haha. I know about being impatient. I did the same thing last year. I think things like peppers or eggplants would be okay, too, but not beans. They grow REALLY fast. I'm kind of a newbie- only been doing this for about two years, so I'm no expert, but that's a start. PS: WELCOME!
Hehe, yeh beans are mental! Ok, so tomatoes are a good plan. Umm, let's see...courgettes are mental too so they can wait a while. How about things like calendula/marigolds? I always plant a few with the tomatoes...2 months is a bit too much time for them isn't though? Or is it? *beginning to wish I'd taken notes over the past few years* Oh, also, oriental leaves....I know the adult plants can be hardy way down to very freezing temperatures, but how about seedlings? At what size could I consider them frost hardy? If it was ok to put large-ish seedlings out in frost then it wouldn't matter if I start them early and need to kick them out when they start taking up too much space...
Not sure what you mean about oriental leaves if you are talking about bok choi or some of the cabbage family, then probably once they have their true leaves they would be hardy if you harden them off by degrees. Two months is actually about right for your tomatos and things. Garden centers hold their bedding plants for sometimes six months or more in the packs they sell them in. You may have to feed them before setting out time rolls around but that's easy enough to do with a liquid fertilizer.
I don't live in Norway, but here is what I do around here when it comes to planting the more cold hardy greens and such. When I see the wild greens and plants start coming up I figure it is time to get my greens and other cold hardy plants in the garden, direct seeded. I figure if the wild ones know when to come up that the ones for the garden should be ok too.
I don't know about Norway, but here in Minnesota I should have started tomatoes & peppers back in late January or early February. (I buy seedlings for these two specifically BECAUSE of the long growing time needed!) Rather than figure out how soon I can get my plants into the soil, I work things backwards. When is your first frost-warning of the fall season? That's the date you need to have everything harvested by. To be safe, you can make your harvest-date two weeks prior OR plan on having something to cover your crops if an early frost comes. (personally, I'll cover my crops but it's easy to do with containers) Once you know when everything must be harvested by, you can read the seed-packets and work backwards to know when everything needs to be planted. Check around too though. When choosing our carrots, we found everything from 60 - 75 days. It may not sound like much, but that's the difference between one and two harvests for us! love, mom
