HELP- Is it TOO LATE to grow Green Veg seeds indoors? (With a 3 month delay!)??

Hello gardeners


I am going to start growing fruit and veg, starting with indoor sowing seeds
kept indoors. Then after they have grown, move them outside.

This is about Growing in the UK, Midlands. - Growing Outdoors - NOT In a greenhouse, but outdoors in the garden

( I am on about mainly growing green veg cucumbers, cabbage, celery, apples, broccoli etc)

- which ALL are supposed to have been grown between March- April.


It is the first time I am planting ever.


A Delay problem has occurred, so have some questions:

Here goes
Some of these veg have been advised to be grown in MARCH - APRIL 3 months ago)
It is now June, and I haven't started anything yet.

I have the seeds arriving in days, and have trays, so can start.

so basically I am 3 months delayed, and still want to sow/grow then inside in indoor plant trays
and then move them outside in months. - Growing Outdoors - NOT In a greenhouse, but outdoors in the garden.


-The main question is, will this 2-3 month delay cause problems (in 6 months time) to the harvested veg,
which will be harvested in 6+ months, and could the delay affect their quality?
(compared to if they were grown in March - April?


a) Is it too late to plant them indoors 2-3 months later then planned?
(given our uk weather is poor)

b) What are the potential problems that could occur, if they are planted
2-3 months late?
-delays moving them outdoors? - what other problems would this occur?

c) Could this delay (planting in and outdoors) - effect the quality of the crops?

d) Have you done this before - grow something 3 months later than advised?
what problems did you find, or was it fine?

e) Some seeds, have 1000 seeds in the packet. If many are not used this year
and they are kept in the packet, then can they be preserved to be used next year? or they will go bad

f) With this delay of 3 months, will the 3 months of forward weather delay cause any potential problems, to the crops?
-because the weather will be 3months shifted towards autumn/winter.

g) If I do plant these veg seeds indoors, 3 months late then what additional advise and guidelines would you advise to make sure they grow efficiently?
(besides get in a time machine and go back 3 months lol)

Can you answer in a) b) c) d) e) f) g) format,

Thank you very much

a) Try planting them - outdoors - they are only seeds

b)           "

c)           "


d)           "
e)           "
f)           "

g)          "

flamingate

from Kelejan


To be honest. flamingate, I do not know, but hopefully someone will be along to give you some genuine help.  I do believe though that the seeds should be planted straight in the ground because if you grow them indoors then they will still have to be transplanted and that always sets a plant back.  Why not get transplants straight away and save your seeds for next season and you will be able to catch up with transplants.  You can still try sowing some seeds and see what happens; that is part of the fun in gardening.

Also, you can store your seeds in ziplock bags in the refrigerator, for up to five years.

What is your weather like currently?  I agree that it might be best to direct-sow outdoors now.  Of the seed varieties you've chosen, what is the estimated time to harvest?  It seems to me that if it's 90 days or less (+ germination time), you should have an excellent chance of a harvest--barring unusually early frost (before early September).

Hello flamingate,

Welcome to the forum. We will all try to help, but you have asked questions that are really too broad for us to answer very well. 

In general, each vegetable has a preferred "season" - and doesn't grow well in outside of it's season.  For example, tomatoes, eggplants and peppers prefer the summer - cold weather will kill them. 

Vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, cucumber, kale, spinach, lettuce, mache, etc.  are best grown in cool weather.  When the temperature starts to go up, they "bolt" or go to seed without producing any usable crop. 

You can usually push the season a little - a week or two - but three months may be too much.  There won't be enough time for the vegetables to mature before the temperature gets too hot.  

Regarding your apples - they are trees that are usually planted very early in spring.  It takes a year or two for apples to become established and produce fruit.  You can probably plant potted trees if you can find them, but I would avoid bare-root stock this late because it won't have time to become established before summer.

Hope this helps,
Gloria

Flamingate, Welcome to the Forum from California, US.

I hope someone from the UK will see your post. Is this your first year gardening? Starting seeds indoors and then transplanting is just a way to get a jump on getting started. The seedlings can't go into the garden until the weather is right. So, sow those seeds and see what happens.

Hi Flamingate.  Welcome from Atlanta, GA, US!

Gotta agree - go ahead & plant at least the warm weather plants to see what happens.  And save the rest of the seeds for next year.

+1 to all the advice above.  If your time until your first frost is longer than the 'days to maturity' time specified on your seed packet, stick those babies in the ground outside and let them do their 'thang'!  They are only seeds!  (the rousing cheer from all gardeners).

flamingate wrote:
-The main question is, will this 2-3 month delay cause problems (in 6 months time) to the harvested veg,
which will be harvested in 6+ months, and could the delay affect their quality?
(compared to if they were grown in March - April?


a) Is it too late to plant them indoors 2-3 months later then planned?
(given our uk weather is poor)

It depends on your weather. If you're growing in Hawaii, for instance, you have a lot of leeway. Every season is a good season. I don't know what poor weather in England means, so maybe some of our Brits can give you more specific feedback. But basically, if you have a crop that produces once -- like say a cabbage -- then if your frost dates come before the expected maturity date of the plant, then you may get very little, or perhaps nothing.

Cabbage might be a bad example, though, as cabbage can do quite well in cold weather and actually prefers cool(ish) weather ... at least it prevents it from cracking and throwing up a seed stalk. You can actually cover a cabbage plant and have it keep growing, or at least not die off, all through winter.

b) What are the potential problems that could occur, if they are planted
2-3 months late?
-delays moving them outdoors? - what other problems would this occur?

You could reduce a plant that has many flushes of fruit to a single flush. For instance, some tomatoes, whether bush or vine, tend to produce most heavily in bursts over time. If you give them less of a season in which to renew themselves and start again, you will get fewer crops.

For some crops, like cabbage or onions, if you plant them late, they may react to the hot weather by bolting -- throwing up a seed stalk. That may ruin the plant's flavor, prevent it from developing properly, turn its flavor bitter, or even split the plant in half or otherwise dramatically change its texture and appeal.

c) Could this delay (planting in and outdoors) - effect the quality of the crops?

You bet.

d) Have you done this before - grow something 3 months later than advised?
what problems did you find, or was it fine?

I've planted tomatoes late and done fine, since our summers are so hot that the flowers often drop off the plants for extended periods of time anyway. So since the plant was doing nothing, my late planting of it lost me no fruit.

I've also planted squash late and got just a few squash. Cutting my season short meant less fruit.

e) Some seeds, have 1000 seeds in the packet. If many are not used this year
and they are kept in the packet, then can they be preserved to be used next year? or they will go bad

Seeds can be saved, but you need to thoroughly research how to do this and read specific recommendation for each seed. Generally, you can save seeds in the fridge for a year without much worry, but if you want to save them longer and still have high germination rates, you'll want to freeze them. To do this without causing cells in the seed to burst, you will want to carefully dehydrate them by adding moisture-absorbing silica gel to a plastic bag you put them in. Taking them out of the freezer again will be a careful process you do in stages. Do you have to go to the trouble? No. You could still do fine doing things another way. But for maximum fertility, some ways are better than others. In short, if you only want to save seeds for a year or so, don't worry about it. Longer ... read up.

f) With this delay of 3 months, will the 3 months of forward weather delay cause any potential problems, to the crops?
-because the weather will be 3months shifted towards autumn/winter.

Yup. Certain plants need certain weather and that's inescapable. Not if you just want a plant to live, necessarily ... but if you want it to produce maximum yields(or any yield) or if you want it to settle in and establish vigorous growth rather than get stunted.

g) If I do plant these veg seeds indoors, 3 months late then what additional advise and guidelines would you advise to make sure they grow efficiently?
(besides get in a time machine and go back 3 months lol)

Mimic the preferred conditions of the plant as best you can.

Example: I was able to grow peas well into our scorching summer because I grew them in an area that got only partial sun. Peas don't dislike sun, but they prefer cool weather. Given good soil and adequate water, they were willing to compromise.

Marc, what a lovely, long and detailed  answer you have given. Thanks for taking the time to go though every question.

Thanks also to all who gave answers to flamingate with such grace.