Taking my seedlings into greenhouse

Ok then, Im now officially struggling for space on my side table in the dining room. Which of the following would you think would be suitable to take into the greenhouse to free up some space indoors?

- Pelargoniums*
- Basil*
- Coleus*
- Leeks
- Alpine Strawberry
- Chilli Pepper and Sweet Pepper

* have been pricked out into individual 3" pots.

The greenhouse has a paraffin heater to keep the frost off, and I cover all plants in there late afternoon with a layer of horti fleece, and remove it in the morning. I also have a layer of bubblewrap on the roof panels only.

Thanks in advance.

 

Leeks & alpine strawbs will be fine, had mine in unheated greenhouse for a few weeks now.
Would hold on with the chilis & basil, not sure about the flowers.

 

The Peppers needs a minimum temperature of 10C - frost-proof heater won't be enough.

Pelargoniums will overwinter in frost free conditions, just about, but that's probably not a good idea for seedlings or recently rooted cuttings.

 

Hi Luke .
I would keep the Peppers , Pelegoniums and definitely the Coleus indoors for some time yet ..
Dave

 

I think it all depends on the temperature in your greenhouse , Lukenotts, including the overnight temperature.
Do you have a Max - Min thermometer in there ? If not, it would be a good investment so that you can keep track of what is going on.

Sometimes frost free is just not enough. Plants which are perfectly hardy in their mature state might not do well in the cold as seedlings. The minimum growing temperature for most plants is 5 or 6 degrees. Below that they stop growing - checked with the cold. It can take them weeks to recover and grow on if they get checked and sometimes they never do it. They sit there looking fine but don't grow.

If you have to put something out I would go for the leeks and alpine strawberries but I would hold on to the rest til you're sure about the temperature in the greenhouse.
Basil and coleus are quite tender and chillies and peppers like it hot.

Hope your plants get on well. If you have to keep them in I'm sure you'll find a space for them in the house somewhere :D

 

ziggy, kristen, davy, alice thanks to you all for that, very much appreciated, as always.

I did invest in a min/max digital thermometer, and have noticed that with the heater on, the minimum temp has not dropped below 3 celcius, which, considering you said:

I'm now confident that they will be better off indoors for a while yet.

I will be putting the tray of leeks in the greenhouse tomorrow with the alpine strawbs.

I've already thought of somewhere with plenty of light :D

I'm really regretting sowing the coleus this early. I went a bit coleus mad and have 8 types on the go right now... Have big plans, but no patience :DOH: I'm hoping to try my hand at crossing a couple of coleus, so they would be kept indoors anyhow. Im also hoping to try my hand at training a coleus as a standard, but we shall see... might be trying to run before I can walk.

Thanks again to all, I've taken your advice onboard

 

Our pleasure, as always

My leeks & onions have just been sitting there, untill the sun of a few days past, they really responded to that well.

Most of last seasons chillies & peppers are just sitting there, very little new growth. Except for one Chilli, loads of new bushy growth & several flowers. Been polinating with an artists paint brush, looks like one has set already.

 

With my new toy (new greenhouse :WINK1: ) I'm hoping to overwinter a couple of chilli plants this coming winter, providing my current seedlings have a successful year.

In the greenhouse right now, i have some leafy types of veg, lettuce, spinach, pak choi, kale, rocket, land cress and pea shoots... all seems to be doing really well... Slow, but healthy. I have to agree that a sunny day at this time of year seems to give everything in there a real boost.

Just to clarify, am I doing the right thing by slightly underwatering at this time of year to prevent fungal disease?

 

I too have a new toy(greenhouse) albeit secondhand which I acquired over the winter and
bubble wrapped from head to foot as I have no artificial heating. I have sown leeks in home made paper pots as well carrots and radish in pots, salad onions, sweet peas, 3 varieties of lettuce and I have just planted some rocket early potatoes in some horse manure bags. The leeks and carrots started to show with the few days of sun recently but now look all but withered despite covering them up overnight. Lettuce doing ok but needless to say everything else is very slow but encouraging!

 

Hi Luke .
Having a greenhouse does open a lot of new options to growing ,enjoy .
If you try growing a Standard Coleus they need plenty of heat and never let them get pot bound or they will want to flower rather than keep growing upward . I have grown them from cuttings of named varieties but never tried it with seedling coleus ?
I have a few Standard fuchsias and variagated geraniums,which I have had for a number of years .

Dave

 

Now now... dont tempt me to try this too!

I have read that coleus from seed tend to send out flower spikes more often, however, i'm hoping to nip them out the very second that they appear. Im hoping to grow Coleus Palisanda as a standard... i think it will be trial and error (with a bit of guidance along the way :WINK1: )