THE NEED FOR SEED

VEGETABLES are relatively hardy and the seeds can be sown either in the greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill, and once germinated they can be pricked out into small pots or seed trays.

They cannot be put outside until they have been hardened off.

Spring onions are an examples of what you can grow, good for salads.

Lettuce is good too, but sow only a few seeds at a time otherwise you will have a glut of lettuce maturing all at the one time and it will not store well.

The same applies to tomato seeds, sow seeds of different varieties such as cherry-sized, beefsteak and yellow, as you will be limited on how many full-sized plants you can get in the averaged-sized greenhouse.

Onion sets can be planted outdoors in early April as can garlic bulbs and main crop leeks can also be sown indoors.

Carrot seeds can be planted either in the ground or in large containers.

Seeds of summer brassicas can be planted any time now and allowed to germinate before planting into seed trays or small pots peppers and chillies should be kept in the greenhouse as they are quite slow growing.

Bear in mind that the hotter the chilli is the longer it will take to ripen.

Seeds of herbs can also be planted in readiness for planting out in a few months from now, but do take care if planting mint it must be grown in a container otherwise it will spread all over the garden and maybe even beyond.

Parsley, finally, has a long germination time.

Old folklore often said that parsley went to hell before it germinated but there are ways in which the process can be hastened.

Parsley is good to grow as a border in the vegetable patch.