Having sown eighteen different types of seeds in the greenhouse last weekend, the race was on to see which of them came up first. My money (not really) was on the rocket and salad and in fact I wasn’t far out.
The first two pots that showed any sign of life, and after only a couple of days were the mixed mustard seeds and the Leek Megatron. I don’t know why but was surprised by the leeks; they were relay quick to sprout. Now a few others have started to show signs of life, including the rocket, some corn salad and some other leafy veg.
I didn’t put any of them in a heated propagator, partly because I wanted to see what came up without the additional heat, but also because it’s warm and sunny in the greenhouse at the moment, despite the cold nights and it should be warm enough for most of them to grow.
I don’t want to mollycoddle them and I don’t want them to grow tall and leggy, the lack of basal heat may make them slower to germinate but that’s a fair exchange for tougher, healthier plants that will be better adjusted to the greenhouse environment and better able to withstand fluctuations in temperature.
