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10 day forecast - looks like frost to continue

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  • 10-03-2011 12:28am
    #1
    Nutri Eire
    Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭


    Was just looking at the forecast for the next 10 days and an anticyclone is due to move in giving settled days but frosty nights. Do your recon it is wise to hold off on planting out the likes of onion sets, seed potatoes, cabbage etc... during this period?


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    #2
    Corsendonk
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,871 ✭✭✭Corsendonk


    Nutri Eire wrote: »
    Was just looking at the forecast for the next 10 days and an anticyclone is due to move in giving settled days but frosty nights. Do your recon it is wise to hold off on planting out the likes of onion sets, seed potatoes, cabbage etc... during this period?

    Did you harden off your plants? Seed potatoes should be fine, really the main harm happens when they sprout above the ground. You could cover at night anything you plant out with a fleece or plastic(just drill holes in it) or the old favourite straw.


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    #3
    Nutri Eire
    Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭Nutri Eire


    I put down the earlier that I had chitting on Saturday, will get my onion sets down this week.

    As for hardening of plants . . . I have cabbage and parsnips set in individual cell seed trays, cabbage are up 3 weeks now and parsnips about 2 weeks, I plan to let them grow until maybe 1-2 week of before planting out. What way should I harden them ? At present I leave door of glasshouse open during the day.


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    #4
    Corsendonk
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,871 ✭✭✭Corsendonk


    Nutri Eire wrote: »
    I put down the earlier that I had chitting on Saturday, will get my onion sets down this week.

    As for hardening of plants . . . I have cabbage and parsnips set in individual cell seed trays, cabbage are up 3 weeks now and parsnips about 2 weeks, I plan to let them grow until maybe 1-2 week of before planting out. What way should I harden them ? At present I leave door of glasshouse open during the day.

    Thats fine, just make sure the plants are big enough before planting out and the root has developed well, sometimes people make the mistake of planting before the plant has developed sufficient root growth and the plant stops and has to recover so growth slows down or they make the opposite mistake of keeping them too long in plugs and they become root bound. No harm popping the odd one out of a cell to just check on the root development in a week or 2 time.

    Monty Don had a good tip on starting off shallots/onions last week in seed cells, might be a good idea to try out with some of your onion sets to see if you can get an earlier crop. Just fill up some small pots with compost and sit the bulb on top, water frequently and keep in the green house for 2-3 weeks. You should get nicely sprouting bulbs with a nice root system to plant out and they should come in earlier than the bulbs sow direct in the ground.

    To harden off I usually put them outside during the day 3-4 days before planting and then leave out overnight on a mild night. Just watch for slugs and snails. You shouldn't have a problem with pigeons this time of year.


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    #5
    Nutri Eire
    Closed Accounts Posts: 71 ✭✭Nutri Eire


    Thanks for the reply. I don't know if the individual cells I have the cabbage and parsnip seedlings in are big enough but I will see what shape they are in in a couple of weeks.

    Intersting point you made about the onion sets, I put mine in a flat carboard box filled with compost a couple of weeks ago inside my greenhouse to see if I could bring them on faster as per chiting seed potatoes. They have pretty good root systems already (1"). I had planned to plant them out this week but will do as you suggest to harden them off. I think that doing them this way may speed up the process but I recon that I will have to be careful not to damage the roots when putting them down.


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