It’s the sign of a new season, the first glimpse of hope that the days are lengthening and it is all beginning again. Perhaps more importantly it is a sign of a happy gardener; I know of many who find a great sense of satisfaction from a windowsill full of seedlings. But what happens if you can’t fill your home with the little darlings?
For the majority of vegetables and hardy annuals, it could be argued that the march you try to steal on time is often futile. Windowsill-raised seedlings are inherently weak, however full of life they look. They are always straining to a light source even if you turn them every day, they grow leggy, they are often too warm and too mollycoddled, so that the hardening off process is a shock and the first taste of real soil too much. All those seedlings that so quickly become slug fodder are harbouring some flaw that is not perceptible to our eyes.
Therefore, growing with the season rather than trying to jump ahead can make a lot of sense. Waiting till the end of March to sow outside can be just as effective. You can sow direct or grow them in plugs. The latter allows your seedlings to get a head start in life, while you can carry on weeding. By the end of April all you’ll have to do is pop the plugs into their final space, water, mulch (to keep weeds at bay) and pray for a long, hot summer.
However, if you know that early spring is going to keep you from tending to tiny things, you can bypass the whole lot and order seedlings in. There are numerous companies now offering mail-order vegetable plugs. Traditionally there’s always been business in offering the tender stuff, such as tomatoes, aubergines, peppers, cucumbers and chillies. Increasingly there are companies offering the full package, too. You can order in your entire veg garden to arrive by post, with repeat and successional sowing options. All you have to do is open your parcel of plugs and plant them out. It’s not cheap, but it is easy.
Sending out strong, healthy mail-order plugs that will survive life in the real world is no easy business. Plugs grown quickly in the easy environment of greenhouse or polytunnel, then packaged up in the dark for a day or two, just don’t make the transition to outdoor life. I’ve too often planted out rows of what looked like lovely plugs to see them munched overnight and feel the pain of a quick purchase burn in my pocket.
Simpsonsseeds.co.uk and seaspringseeds.co.uk are both excellent growers of unusual chillies, peppers and tomatoes. Also, I’ve found rocketgardens.co.uk to offer brilliant packages of vegetables for a variety of different plot sizes: great varieties, excellent compostable packaging and seriously hardy plugs.
I’ve a soft spot for W Robinson and Son, home of the mammoth onion (mammothonion.co.uk) and seller of exhibition-standard plugs. Their alliums are unbeatable and I’ve found their brassicas pretty excellent, too. As with anything perishable in the post, get it out of the packaging as quickly as possible. Give the plugs a drink if you can’t get them into the ground immediately and remember, for the first few weeks until new roots and growth appear, plugs will need regular watering. Seaweed or comfrey feed will help speed bedding in no end.
