Is it too early to sow seeds in a greenhouse in Feb?

gilla.walmsley

I've just recently had installed my first ever greenhouse, and I'm beside myself with excitement! I'm planning to grow a few things this year: cucumbers, peppers, chilli, spinach - all of which say on the packet I can start sowing from Feb. However I wasn't sure if that meant indoors, or whether I would get away with sowing them in a greenhouse under a propagator. Would I need a heater in order to do that in February, or an electric propagator?

ColinA

Too cold wait until April

AnniD

You would need a propagator, but your problems start once the seeds have germinated. Once they've done that and you've pricked them out/potted them on, you'd need to keep the ambient temperature pretty high overnight, well above freezing. You could cover them with fleece, but l'm not sure how successful this would be in a sustained period of cold weather.
If your greenhouse is well insulated with bubble wrap for instance, you'd then have to watch the humidity levels.
Remember, the Beast from the East was in March and that lasted for a few weeks.

The peppers and chillis need an earlyish start , (not sure about the rest tbh).
If you have the room to keep them indoors (the house) until at least the end of March, you could sow a few and see how you get on. Staggered sowing might be worth a try.
I know how you feel, we all get itching to start sowing as soon as the days begin to lengthen , but hold your horses 

Fairygirl

I agree with @AnniD - it's what happens afterwards that matters.
If you have the funds to keep heating a greenhouse for several months [which is what you'd need to do here] and it's big enough to accommodate all the plants, then it doesn't matter so much.

Posy

Yes, and not just frost-free, either. It would need to be pretty warm in there. 

Chris-P-Bacon

gilla.walmsley said:

I've just recently had installed my first ever greenhouse, and I'm beside myself with excitement! I'm planning to grow a few things this year: cucumbers, peppers, chilli, spinach - all of which say on the packet I can start sowing from Feb. However I wasn't sure if that meant indoors, or whether I would get away with sowing them in a greenhouse under a propagator. Would I need a heater in order to do that in February, or an electric propagator?

It depends alot on where you live but you could give Spinach a go. Try the variety called Medania. 

tui34

Yes.  For the common summer vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers etc. because they will germinate and be ready to plant out too early.  I am itching too, and live in a warmer clime - but would only be taking too much of a risk if I planted out end of April. I got my fingers burnt last Spring as it was an unusually cool one.   Patience!!  

Allotment Boy

I know it's very tempting,  and others have given the answer ( & I agree). Many of us have been there, got carried away with enthusiasm, and regretted it.  It's important to be able to keep plants moving on from seedlings,  to small pots, bigger pots till planting out time.  A later sowing,  well managed will outperform an early one that you have had to hold back because you can't plant out. 

Obelixx

You can sow tomatoes and chillies now but they need some bottom heat so I used a temperature controlled propagation box till it died and then got a heat mat I can use under seed trays.  I keep them indoors in trays, then individual pots until late March/mid April when I can move them to the polytunnel because it's usually warm enough here by then.

Once they are thru and need pricking on is, as others have said, when your problems start because they need space and light and constant warmth and moisture levels or they will be checked.

Other seeds are better sown later in March and April when natural heat and light levels are better.  They'll soon catch up with anything sown now and then needing expensive and time consuming cossetting.

Take your time now to make sure you have the staging you need, somewhere to keep the tools you'll always need in there - mini trowel; a table fork for pricking out; a compost shovel and sowing bench; stacks of seed trays and small pots; canes, string and scissors for tying and staking; plant labels and a pencil..........

JennyJ

I'm tempted to sow just a few chillies in my windowsill propagator in February, because they seem to take a long time to get to fruiting stage. Tomatoes maybe end of March or early April (no greenhouse, and they can't really go outside here until mid-May at the earliest and some years not until early June). Outdoor cucumbers and courgettes later than that - they seem to get very big very quickly. With an unheated greenhouse you can probably be a couple of weeks earlier, and if you heat it, a bit earlier still, but you still need to take into account day length. It's still pretty much dark from 5pm to 7am here.

tui34

Yes, @Obelixx and our seasons seem to be changing and we are experiencing warmer Septembers and mild Octobers.