Sowing seeds - wrong time of year?

I'm keen to have a bash at growing seedlings in our consveratory ready to pop in pots and ground when the garden is actually ready and suitable for them after all the work i'm doing on it, i know some people are doing sweetpeas now, but can prety much anything be sown early?

I have a selection of seeds which have taken my fancy, most of them say sow in January, should i stick to that or is there any harm in having a go at sowing now seeing as i'm growing them inside?

 

Hi Whiley - by all means have a go and sow a bit if you like now. But really its better to wait. Germination is not the problem, its what you do with them after they have grown a couple of inches.

Plants like to have heat and light in balance. ie they can put up with cold and low light levels. They just tell themselves it is still winter and not to bother to get out of bed yet. They also like warmth and high light levels - it time to be active. But warmth and low light levels confuses them. The warmth tells them it is time to become active, so they search for the light. they think they must be underneath leaves of another plant so they try to grow taller and taller trying to find the light. What this means is that when it is warm and the light levels are low plants grow very weak and spindley.

But the essence of gardening is trial and error. So why not sow a bit of seed now, but still leave most of the packet for later on.

The other thing to remember is that the fuel that makes plants grow is light. In March the light levels could be three or four times as high as in January or February. So something sown in January or February does not actually have much of a head start over something sown in March.

 

I think i'll play it safe and get a good load of sweetpeas on the go, see how many different varieties i can get going!

Thank you for your help, your explanation cleared it all up for me!

 

I was interested to read PeterS' comments about this topic as I've been looking at my seed packets and wondering if there is any advantage for those who,like myself, don't have a heated greenhouse and rely on a kitchen windowsill when sowing seeds such as petunia in January as the directions on the packet indicate.
I understand that geranium (pelargonium) seeds SHOULD be sown by February at the latest as they need the head start of the early sowing, but are there any other exceptions to the principle of a later, rather than earlier, sowing being preferable?

 

Jack at the moment i'm just experimenting, i'm very new to gardening, my conseratory to old, rickety and pretty damn chilly, but my sweet peas went mental growing over the winter, so i have faith that other varieties will too. I'll let you know as i'm doing my petunias this weekend, and slowly easing into the January and February sowers.

 

Hi Jack. I always want to start early, but I have read some of Christopher Lloyd's books, and he says wait till early March, so I keep having to hold myself back. For some half hardy annuals such as Cleome, Nicotiana and Tithonia he even says don't sow till early May. I sowed my Cleome well before that last year and they never recovered from the cold weather and totally failed.

As I said above, I think the key is the light level. Our eyes and brain automatically adjust to the light level and we don't realise how much the absolute level increases in the early months. Pelargoniums are more sensitive to light than to temperature. If you have a light windowsill its always worth having a go. As an example of the importance of light, I sowed some Salvia pratensis (amongst other) seeds in mid November in a light box (artificial light) and the resultant plant's foliage is now a foot across. There is utterly no way that could have happened with the low light levels in the house at the same temperature.

There are certainly some exceptions, but generally rather specialised. I sowed some Allium seeds outside a month ago and they now germinating well, but I don't know of many similar.

 

I agree Peter. I had a g.house some years ago and tended to think that I could grow anything anytime. It didn't work. I then spent a few years not really bothered about gardening and had no g.house or even cold frame. Now I'm back 'under glass' there is a temptation to want to plant everything very early which I am resisting based on advice and experience. Seriously considering some grow-lights next year though, certainly a light box, which we have discussed on another thread.

 

Whiley, I would hold back on sowing Petunia seed for a month, you will not benefit by sowing them now, it would only bring on problems of damping off (rot) and the temperature fluctuations this time of year may cause irregular growth. They could also become to etiolated through lack of light (leggy).
I will be growing around 8,000 of them this year for the Parks and although in a commercial size polytunnel I will not be sowing any before march. Don't be too impatient, I know it is tempting but it would be wiser to wait a while(y) .

 

Hehe thanks Strongy!
I'll hold off for a bit then :D

 

Whiley I can see you are keen to get going and you have been given some good advice but why not try a couple of seeds out of each packet make a note of what you do and how you fare it will add a bit of interest until the planting season starts proper.