When to start planting. ( uk )

[mccolgan1]

ok I'm plaing on growing some cherry tomatoes., cucumber, courgettes, peas, lettices. carrets and some other bits and bobs. not sure when to start in the uk. weather still to cold but can start them indoors. whens best?

[rainbowgardener]

I'm not in the UK and I'm not so familiar with your climate and growing season. I hope some of the many UK folks around the forum will jump in and help out here.

But I can give some general starting tips. It's a bit of a mixed bag there, not even counting the unspecified bits and bobs. The peas, lettuce, carrots, are all cool weather crops, that are usually direct seeded in the ground, outdoors, "as soon as the soil can be worked." That means when the ground is unfrozen and dried out enough so it isn't clumping up.

The tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes (we call them zucchinis over here) can be started indoors. I'm thinking you could start the tomatoes already. Count back 8 weeks from your average last frost date and that's when you can start them. The cucumbers and courgettes are fast growing and don't get planted until the ground is actually warmed up a bit (that's later than the average last frost date). You can plant them indoors a couple weeks ahead of the av last frost date, or some people just plant them in the ground once the soil warms up a bit.

[mccolgan1]

ok apreshiate the tips. thanks very much.

[boggybranch]

Have you tried checking out some of the allotment blogs from over there? They are FULL of helpful info. I have several of the blogs on my desktop as shortcuts.