February sowing, what, where and when.

Peter, to be honest I have never grown seedlings and put them in a cold frame so I can't say. Our polytunnel will be kept at 12/13c. Cineraria and Antis I find are very tollerant of cold and probably would not suffer in a frame, just grow more slowly.

I have never grown plants at home (I have never owned a greenhouse) which is why I stated 'at work' in case some folk didn't realise and thought I was growing all this from home.
One day (a couple of years) when I stop work I hope to have a greenhouse of my own (and a proper garden) and I will be asking others how to grow in a 'domestic' one as it is entirely different.

 

Again thanks, Strongy. The key point is the temperature of 12C. I suspected that you wouldn't be growing them cold, as you have specific objectives to meet and can't afford failures.

However you have prompted me to try growing some stuff in a cold frames. Actually, I have got too. My summerhouse and greenhouse are full of overwintering plants, and my house is already full of seedlings, and I haven't even started my proper sowing which starts on March 1st. I am going to grow a number of hardy plants as biennials, Lupins, Foxgloves, Hesperis, Salvia sclarea, Lychnis coronaria etc. As they are all hardy, I feel they should be OK in a coldframe, and as they are biennials, there isn't a rush to get them ready early.

 

Peter unheated polytunnels are no warmer than a cold frame they keep the rain and wind off your plants and maximise the heat from the u/v rays in the day the temperature at night is the same as the outside temperature.In my g/house over winter the optimum temperature I aim for to keep things growing is 10c I find most things will keep moving albeit slowly, this winter due to rising costs in heating I have dropped my minimum temperature in the g/house to 6-7 c even at this temperature brug cuttings continue to make progress as well as fuchsias and indeed manage to throw out the odd flower I would think this is the absolute minimum you could keep things moving at.

 

Heating to even 6 - 7C at night sound quite expensive during cold periods. I appreciate that in a long cold spell a greenhouse may be no warmer than outside, but I recon that most nights my greenhouse is on average 3 - 4C warmer at night than outside. In fact at the moment its at the 6 - 7C minimum mark without any heat. The problem with cold frames is that they are so small, and heat retention is a function of size. That's my reason for not going on a diet. :D

Whilst I keep a close eye on the temperatures outside and in my greenhouse and summerhouse with an array of thermomiters, I have never put one in my coldframe. I must try that.

By the way some of your Brugs have germinated in my light box and are loving it. I have never grown them before, so I was amused to see them grow a complete inch overnight - now standing at 3 inches. As my box is inside the house they get the light and also the heat - about 75 to 80F.

 

Peter agree about the greenhouse but with the cold frame it's much easier to throw some insulation over that than it is to try and insulate a polytunnel, good news with the brugs they do grow quickly and rapidly need potting on.:thumb: