A little worried regarding seeds

Yes you did send the cardiocrinum seeds.. will do.. yes I just remembered about the refredgeration thing.. could be useful at the moment!

 

That's the attitude - get the food out of the fridge and put it to better use!

 

Optimism...that's the route to go it works for me....more nurturing but survival of the fittest....yes there are disapointments but go for it

 

In extremis you could consider buying plug plants. I know you want to have a go at seed sowing, but most seeds will keep efficacy for a year or two at least (sealed airtight in fridge, not freezer, is best), and this season is definitely exceptional, so you don't need to beat yourself up about having to buy-in plug-plants. A plug plant is going to gain you 4 to 6 weeks over seed sown, so you could order those for delivery 4 - 6 weeks after your ideal seed sowing date.

When you say indoors is not an option do you have space for a lighting rig? I have a 2' square rig over a table in my home-office. That will happily take the seeds to pricking out (it will take them beyond that, but once pricked out they need a LOT more space, and 2' square of lighting is not enough. That should gain you 3 or 4 weeks I would think, so would allow you to sow seeds now and then when they germinate give you 3 weeks or so before you will be forced to prick them out. Obviously seeds that generate larger seedlings (Ricinus, Beans, and the like) will only manage for a short time in the confines of a lighting rig, but things with minute seedlings, like Lobellia, Petunias and the like [probably a fair guess to say that "anything with seed like dust" !!] will be several weeks before they are big enough to prick out.

 

Just over 300 miles actually. Longer days......twenty minutes to half an hour tops, I don't think that's going to make a lot of difference Pete.

 

Ok Sheal no problem, not sure its as much as 300 miles though.

Just pointing out people are actually managing to grow plants further north than you are and your mild maritime climate although cooler than mine in summer tends to be warmer in winter, especially when we get an easterly for a month in March/ April

 

A greenhouse heater works wonders - if you can afford the running costs

 

Your right, generally my area is warmer during the winter months but this year has been an exception with plants having to be kept inside. Just a fortnight ago my village was cut off by snow and we still have banks of snow around that are twenty feet high.

When I drive down to the Southend area in Essex to visit my family, it's almost exactly three hundred miles door to door from Liverpool.

 

Diagonally.

 

I think it is fundamental human right to grow seeds indoors.

If windowsills are not an option, how about fixing (temporary) shelves in front of windows? Or standing a storage shelving unit or cheapie bookshelves in front?

Or... oh well, you got me going now ... hanging a see-through organiser in place of curtains might work. Something like this: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/the-many-lives-114749

If everything else fails, clear plastic toy boxes with lids are an easy alternative to a proper cold frame.

My seedlings are getting a bit leggy as well, I'm going to put them out in my toy boxes as soon as the temperature gets to double figures, or in June. Whichever happens first.

Please can we have some spring soon?

 

How about: just like the movies:

"There is trouble ahead, take the kids and stay with your sister for a few weeks"