Runner beans and cut and come again salad leaves - when to start the seeds off?

[Twotwentytwo]

First time gardener wouid like to grow beans and lettuce leaves in trough planters.
I understand I’ll need to grow the seeds on first in a propagator - when should I start this process? Is it too early? I’m not sure how long they need bringing on for and I don’t want to be too early or too late for when it’s time to plant out (I’m assuming this would be April / May once the frosts have gone?)

Thanks!

I grow climbing French beans [the round, smooth pods rather than the flatter runner beans] called 'Cobra' as they are reliable, seem less prone to blackfly and are stringless. I should knock on wood as I say this, but they have never failed me. They do need supports/canes though.
You can start them off indoors from April and plant them out in May, or outdoors once frosts have passed.

For salad leaves there are loads of different varieties, some can be sown early or will even overwinter. Have a browse of the seed packets.
In my seed stash I currently have 'Salad Bowl' which you can sow from March and some Italian mixed leaves which don't go in until April.

April is a bit early to be thinking “no frost”. I’ve seen frosts as late as early June. So aim to plant out runner beans mid June, which means sowing early May indoors. French beans are a bit hardier, I usually sow late March, early April

Actually, probably early April rather than late March. I’m in Yorkshire

You need to find out when the last frost is likely to be for your area and work backwards from that. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/mar/10/predicting-the-last-frost-is-tricky-so-start-your-seeds-off-under-cover I tend to sow most seeds inside the house, then move to the greenhouse until its warm enough to plant them outside.

I'm in southern England and have a greenhouse so I've started a few salad leaves already but it's a complete gamble. Salads don't need a propagator it will be too warm for them just use a windowsill. If you want to get going sow some salad now and eat it as a microgreen. You can leave a few to get bigger and if the weather is favourable harden them off to go out but save most of the sowing till later

Beans late April - save some toilet roll tubes as they need a long deep root run to get going

You don’t need to bother with a propagator, especially not for the cut and come again salads.

Sow directly onto the compost of the trough, probably around late April if you’re in a sheltered spot, May if not.

Sow another salad trough every fortnight should keep you in salad from late May to October. You’ll end up with 3 troughs on the go - one recently sown, one nearly ready, one you’re using.

I know it’s SO tempting to get started early, but resist it. Sow too soon and there’s a good chance you’ll get spindly seedlings which aren’t as robust as their later-sown neighbours. The late ones will catch up, I promise.

Thanks all! My garden troughs have arrived for the planting out, I had ones 55cm wide for only £6.49 on Amazon - bargain.
Thanks for the tips. The beans and salad seeds have also arrived, I’ll hold off sowing for another month or so, I’m excited to get started!

You can sow the salad seeds now.

Can they go straight outside at the moment? Do they need to be just lightly sprinkled over the soil?

Reading with intrigue

Lettuce doesn't like being too warm so just sow in a pot not a propagator. Try a pinch of seeds now and some more in 3/4 weeks,
Beans will catch up if you sow late. Don't bother sowing them yet until at least early May

I wish I felt confident enough to try this.

Try it! Seed is cheap, especially in places like Lidl and Wilko.
Compost a bit more expensive but not very. You could have a good go for a fiver, or for £10 if you need to buy a pot!

There are usually thousands of lettuce seeds in a pack. You can fill one trough with compost, sow lettuce seeds over the top, a pinch of seeds every few cm, sprinkle fine compost on top and water in. They will come up fairly soon.

Some great advice on here. (We gardeners are a lovely friends lot,) I've got salad bowl and cut and come again. I've got 2 trays going with them in the conservatory. You can grow outside direct sow, but I'm not giving the slugs a party. They will go into the green house. They can be grown,/sown indoors most of the year....quid packet of seeds. You can grow them in a window sill. I also grow Cobra,and Annabelle the dwarf french, good yeald from both
They will be sown April,go out beginning of June,and I am in the SE, CORNER UK 10 minutes from the sea.

I have lettuce in the poly tunnel all winter.

My parents always said the 12th May to plant runner beans. Preluded by digging in manure the week before.

No idea if this is actual gardening law but it was certainly law in our garden.