Seeding time

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Zasso Nouka
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Seeding time

Post by Zasso Nouka »

I might seem a bit early but if you have a warm and sunny window sill then now is a good time to get sweet peppers and nasu going. Both are pretty slow growing so will need plenty of time to get to a reasonable size before planting out in late April (obviously depending on your area)

Looking forward to February it`s time to start tomato seeds off indoors and by the end of the month you can start French or bush beans off under a double tunnel outside, if you don`t have any snow that could collapse said tunnel and you could also start some mini cauliflower seeds if you have a protected outside space. Kohl rabi is another vegetable that can tolerate cold so starting a row off under some minimal protection would work in February. Mâche/Corn salad/Lambs lettuce is another hardy vegetable that is good to start in January/February and with a little protection it can get off to a good start in early spring.

Depending how cold your area is you can also start various pea crops off now, snow & snap peas are pretty cold hardy so could be started under a small tunnel and then grow up a frame later once it`s not so cold. Petit pois are probably best kept in a poly tunnel for now or planted towards the end of February.

Spring daikon will also do well if covered by horticultural fleece while they are young as will chingensai. You can also still plant turnips if you have the right variety but don`t over do it as many spring turnips will bolt quite quickly once temperatures rise in march or april.

Now is also a good time to prepare beds for this year`s potatoes, get plenty of compost dug into the soil and whatever other ingredients you favour and allow any active weeds seeds to sprout so you can hoe or flame them before planting your actual seed potatoes from the end of february onwards.

No doubt there is plenty I`ve missed or forgotten so will add those as I remember them.

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Re: Seeding time

Post by Zasso Nouka »

Carrots, not quite sure how I managed to forget them but just seeded a couple of rows yesterday and they should be ready around May.

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Re: Seeding time

Post by Shizuman »

gday mate
do you do your carrots in your tunnels or do you do the arch tunnels in the field?
Awesome info mate thanks!

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Re: Seeding time

Post by Zasso Nouka »

Hiya man,

We do carrots outside. Seed a couple of rows and leave them uncovered for around a week so they get exposed to some cold conditions then cover with fleece and arch tunnel but we cover the tunnel with a mesh type covering that allows rain to penetrate and doesn't overheat on sunny days like a sheet of vinyl would. Same conditions for turnip at this time of year as it helps stop both from bolting if they get too warm too early. With both carrots and turnip you need varieties suited to spring planting that won't just start flowering as soon as they sprout.

Hope that helps.

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Re: Seeding time

Post by Shizuman »

Thats fantastic mate

Im trying to overwinter some small seedlings of carrots i seeded in october but i think getting fresh ones in the ground might be a better bet so i might give it a go, was going to wait another month. Although got up this morning and there was a thick bit of frost on the ground.
Got my seed order for this year the other day, all set to go!

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Re: Seeding time

Post by Zasso Nouka »

October is right on the point where seeding carrots can go either way, sometimes they are fine and sometimes they bolt as spring warms up. Depends on the variety, growing conditions and amount of growth they can put on before everything shuts down during the Persephone months.

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Re: Seeding time

Post by Zasso Nouka »

Time to start getting ready for potatoes, ground preparation and seed potato ordering.

Most home centres have the usual line up of May Queen, Kita Akari, Danshaku and all the other varieties but if you fancy trying something a bit different Nikko Seed Co has a good range in smaller packs than the 10kg boxes available at most Taneyasan's

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Re: Seeding time

Post by Wolfsong013 »

Zasso Nouka wrote:
Wed Feb 12, 2020 9:16 am
Time to start getting ready for potatoes, ground preparation and seed potato ordering.

Most home centres have the usual line up of May Queen, Kita Akari, Danshaku and all the other varieties but if you fancy trying something a bit different Nikko Seed Co has a good range in smaller packs than the 10kg boxes available at most Taneyasan's
Nikko Seed is great, I've always been happy with my orders from them. What is usually the growing season for potatoes? I did them last year, but I left them in the ground for way too long. I put them outside of my farm space, and completly forgot them. When I dug them up, I had potatoes the size of footballs.

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Re: Seeding time

Post by Zasso Nouka »

I'm also a big fan of Nikko Seeds and have found their own seeds to be fairly high quality.

Here in Chiba (so adjust timing for your area) planting is around the end of February and harvesting is done either just before or at the start of the rainy season but what we've started doing is cutting off all growth above the soil as the rainy season starts to prevent blight getting the tubers and then leaving the potatoes in the ground for a while to mature and the skins to firm up a bit. That way they tend to keep longer. Generally you can leave them in the soil till around early August, much later than that and they will start sprouting for autumn growth but timings for Tochigi may be a little later.

If you want to try autumn growing then August is your planting time and after the frost has killed top growth is when to harvest. We've given up growing in the autumn here as an excessively wet and humid September can bring too many fungal infections that it sets growth back a lot and leads to reduced harvests that aren't worth the effort but you may have better luck in your location.

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Re: Seeding time

Post by Zasso Nouka »

Assuming that this year might be warmer than usual now could also be a good time to start seeding things like zucchini, French/bush beans, Broccolini, Kairan, cauliflower, beetroots, kohl rabi and other spring vegetables.

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