As part of a bid to make this blog a better record of my activity in the garden I plan to post regularly (and as part of L’s Succession Planting Tuesday series) on the seeds I have sown each week. I am hoping that this will also assist me identify which crops are the best value for my garden and also how often I need to sow specific crops to ensure an ongoing supply. I seem to be running out of things like Bok choi all too regularly at the moment.
My first seed sowing this year was actually a couple of weeks ago. On the 9th January, before embarking on a short break at the beach, I sowed my first seeds for 2014. As well as attempting to ensure good succession crops of lettuce, spring onions, bok choi (although I haven’t actually had any bok choi in for a month or so) I also started sowing winter crops – kohl rabi, calabrese, and some cavolo nero.
I thought about sowing some cabbages and cauliflowers but I don’t think I will have sufficient bed space at the right point if I sow now so they will have to wait until February or March.
Seeds sown:
- Lettuce – ‘Salad Bowl Green’
- Leeks – ‘Jumbo’
- Spring Onions – ‘Bunching’
- Broccoli – ‘Calabrese’
- Kohl Rabi – ‘Purple’
- Cavolo Nero
- Bok Choi*
- Pak Choi*
- Dill
- Bean – Royal Burgandy
- Bean – Jade
- Bean – Majestic Butter
*Although my understanding is that bok and pak choi are basically the same plant these are the names on the respective seed packets I used. Thanks to Nina for the pak choi seed.
So far all the brassicas have germinated along with a couple of dill seeds. The aliums and lettuce have yet to appear. The beans, which were the only ones sown direct – in the ground – have also started to appear. I really must get more organised with my labelling though as although I will be able to tell them apart once they produce beans at this point I’m not sure which ones are up and which aren’t.
I’m sure I have forgotten some crops – radishes spring to mind, so I would love to know what you are sowing at the moment.
Well done, that is a nicely rounded list. I have been meaning to sow some brassicas for winter crops for the last couple of weeks, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. Likely this weekend it will happen. A few weeks ago I re-sowed some bean, cucumber, corn and beetroot, but nothing over the crazy hotness of last week. Surprisingly pretty much all of those seedlings survived the heat, which just goes to show seedlings can be tougher than you think.
I hope you had a good break. You’re a bit ahead of me with the winter crops, but I did sow some this afternoon. I put in a particularly large portion of leeks – I’m determined to grow them successfully this year.
I like leeks and I sow them frequently but I just get so frustrated with how long they take. I’m not really sure why I bothered putting them in but I have – the eternal optimist I guess.
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This week I’m going to get to sow my first seeds of the year. The onions take a long time to get big enough for transplants. It might be nice to do it tomorrow as we are getting a huge snow storm come in.
I do like a nice indoor activity – particularly one that reminds you that the weather wont always be cold.
It’s time for me to do a post about what I’m planning to grow this year. I’ve started my spring sowing earlier than usual because of the unusually warm weather here. The spinaches, chards, and beets have germinated, as well as the pak choi and rapini. I’m waiting for the mache, arugulas, and lettuces to pop up. Wheat is well on its way, yu choy may be too old to germinate, and the fennel was just sown yesterday. Oh, I can’t forget to mention the snow pea shoots, many but not all have germinated. I still need to sow snap and snow peas and carrots.
How exciting! I am going to start soon too. I am very ready to start seeing some little seedlings grow!
It is exciting and something I never get tired of no matter how many seeds I sow.
We do try to succession sow but it is something that each year we plan to do better.
Ah the best laid plans….. I have an excellent track record in planning….
Wow Liz- as usual it seems like you are very organised with your garden planning. I am thinking about it but because the tomatoes etc have only just got started I am not sure where I would put things once they had grown.
With regards to Bok Choi vs Pak Choi- I always thought that with Bok Choi the stem is uniform colour with the leaves where-as Pak Choi has a white stem and darker green leaves. I used to have both but Chinese veg have all cross pollinated and are now just a mix of everything so suspect there’s not much practical difference.
That’s interesting vis a vis the difference between pak and bok choi. I have sown both if the pak has a white stem and the bok a green one then it will echo your theory.
Nothing like following another blog to keep on track (maybe I should join in too) its been so hot and dry here I don’t think anything would come up even if I did plant some seeds. I have a few lettuce plants which have just gone to seed so it will be interesting to see if any pop up as we did have some rain overnight.
I do hope you get some decent rain soon. It has been really dry so far this year hasn’t it?
You are very organized… 🙂
Hi Liz,
I’m curious to know what medium you use to germinate your seeds in. Do you use a combo of mediums? Your photo shows not just the yellow slow release particles but curious white particles and small stone like particles.
So far I’ve just used a seed raising mix that has the texture of coir and its very fine. It seems to germinate seeds quite well. However I feel my mix doesn’t have enough nutrients as most of the seedlings are very slow to develop and really grow to a point where I think they need to be potted on or transplanted into the garden.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Cheers and thanks for your great posts.
Sophie
Hi Sophie, I usually use a combination of potting mix (without fertiliser), perlite, and sand which I add slow release fertiliser to. I find the perlite and sand help prevent waterlogging and the slow release fertiliser usually gets the seedlings through to potting up/planting out stage. I do occasionally water the seedlings with fish emulsion (Powerfeed and Seasol or similar) if they look like they aren’t getting enough nutrients and I’m not ready to pot them up.
Hi Liz,
Thanks for your information.
I have been adding to our balcony plant and herb collection and thought I’d try and grow some Dill from seed (I read that Dill grows better from seed as opposed to transplanting?). Is October a suitable time do so in Melbourne? If so, what sort of conditions is it best to grow in?
Sorry about the ridiculously slow response. October would have been fine, as will November and December – I don’t tend to plant after that but that’s more that I run out of room that anything else.