Veg under plastic

Hort101

Soil type - Sandy loam
Planting type - flats, small drills
Seeds - D plant Horticulture - Many varieties of carrot, and parsnip
Location - wind swept area located near the sea

Seeds where direct into the soil and the area is fenced off from dogs, rabbits etc.

A planted carrot seeds a good few weeks ago and parsnip seeds but none of them got up after many weeks, these had no plastic until after a week, did the birds take all then seeds??? so after another 2 weeks there was nothing but weeds there. . I dug the area again and re sowed it. the parsnips got up this time and i grew a few seeds in trays and planted them into the soil when they where big enough.

i sowed carrot seeds a few weeks later and none of these have got up ye.. 2 weeks today.. is it just impatience?? ha.. these are now covered in plastic. and there are also newly sown parsnips and swede turnips under plastic, i dont want these to be dug up again.. :P i also didnt put slug pellets down, should i do this?? theres no fertilizer gone down with these ether.. some advice please?? thank you very much for reading. im looking to start growing large amount of veg.

also, most of the spuds came up the side of the drills ??

Technophobe

Carrots and parsnips can be notoriously slow to germinate...they may still yet...

With parsnip seed, always best to use new seed, it doesnt keep well..!

Hort101

Would the plastic laying on top of them have an effect??

Technophobe

If they haven't germinated yet, then no, it shouldn't..In fact, it should do the reverse in that it would be heating the ground underneath...

Might be no harm to lift and use the spray/shower like setting on a hose and wet the area and then replace the plastic covering...As I said, patience..I sowed carrot seeds on 29th April and they only appeared just around a week ago....

Once they appear, keep an eye out for slugs then..

Hort101

Could i leave the plastic on and let the stems and leaves push the plastic up or would it be strong enough??

Technophobe

It depends on heavy grade the plastic is; ideally fleece or enviromesh would be used...