Seed sowing 2024

Annnnnd we're off...

Sown my Shiney Hybrid Chillis,Nagas..Sweet Peppers and some witch Grass that I got in a bunch of flowers last year..saved and dried the seed and looking forward to seeing if they come up...

Not Just yet ..but will be sowing my Tomatoes,cues,Luffas ..salad stuff and no doubt lots more seeds that I said I wouldn't

 

Much the same here as well!

 

These are in the unheated greenhouse in the allotment. Radish, cabbage, cauliflower, kohl rabi, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, dill, rather leggy coriander that I left a day too long in the cupboard, broad beans. I'll thin most of them down to one per module

 

Looks good @Hanglow .

Don't mean to be rude but your greenhouse looks as tidy as mine.

 

Yeah that's after I tidied it up

 

I have been sowing lots of seeds. Most of my chillies were sown in December however I did some more this month to replace non starters.

Sown are
Cleome
Begonia
Sweet peas
Lobelia
Columbine
Cleome
Lantana
Salvia
Petunia
Cleome
Canna
Lavaterra
Nasturtium
Lantana
Cleome

And no, I did not repeat myself, just the sowing

 

A question for all you experts using self-built propagators, please. Just to clarify, my propagator is an alu/polycarbonate (Two Wests & Elliot) box 1m x 60cm x 55cm high. It had a layer of polystyrene, thick plastic sheet, then heating cable topped with 2" of sand/perlite mix. Thermostat set to 25°C. The cable had melted the plastic and created deep grooves in the polystyrene
Has anyone used pure vermiculite or perlite to insulate round a cable? T'internet says that neither is flammable and I really have to reduce the weight which is ridiculous when using damp sand + all the seed trays, but also reduce fire risk as it's in the house. Any advice welcome

 

We don't have heat cables here for propagation, at least I've never seen them. The only heating cables I have heard of over here are for gutters to keep water from freezing in them.

I have heat mats and use an ink bird thermostat/controller to maintain a constant temperature. I then lay felt cloth on that to absorb water and feed the potted seedlings. If I put sown soil blocks in there, they are on a tray.

 

I can only say what I read all those years ago when I made my propagation box.

The instructions with the cable was to cover with damp sand and not to use insulation type materials in contact with the cable as it can cause overheating or hot spots.
The idea is to spread the heat from the cable, vermiculite will insulate the cable, especially if dry, which is the opposite to what you want.

 

That's why I used sand originally but it obviously didn't work !

I think that's the make of mine, too. I'll confirm when I find it again This whole thing started because I found some cables in the GC's sales one year......

 

It didn't work, though. Unless the sand dried out, which I doubt. As vermiculite holds water better than perlite, I was hoping that damp vermiculite would work . Mind you, at €8 for a tiny bag in the local GC, it's going to make for rather expensive plants