[Clansman]

I've grown a couple of plants before but nothing seriously.

I set up four raised beds early in 2014 they are 15' x 4' but I was just too busy last year so other than weed them I never got anything planted at all.

i filled them will all sorts of rotting vegetation, grass, compost, manure from the chickens, turkeys, quail and rabbits etc and they've been sitting like that for almost a year now.

Last weekend I spread the old compost heap over them and added a couple of inches of commercial compost on top so fingers crossed we're good to go! 

I dug down into a couple of the beds and they are moving with worms so I assume thats a good sign.

Onions, carrots, parsnips, celery, lettuce, beetroot, turnip, swede, spring onion and radishes are sprouting now and I have a load of potatoes ready to go in  as soon as the weather turns

2nd March and still snowing here!

Roll on the sunshine!

[pgkevet]

I'm slightly confused here... you've got carrots germinating outside in the snow or you trying to grow them from modules?

[Clansman]

No they are all inside still

[pgkevet]

It's unusual to sow root veggies and transplant seedlings .. not impossible but usually unnecessary. Those sown outside will likely catch up and overtake anyway 'specially if you warm the land up first with a cloch or plastic. Greenhouses good for really early stuff - I sow chard, radish, spring onions and courgettes in there for crops before the outside is warm enough and rip them out when the toms, peppers etc are taking over.

[Clansman]

I'm probably just too keen, just felt I had to do something 

I was hoping to have had them outside by now but we keep getting snow and frost!

I've not got a huge amount to plant out, i'm going to try and stagger it a bit so i get a fairly steady supply of everything rather than a boom and bust.

So usually you'd recommend just waiting till the weather improves and plant carrots and other root veg directly in the soil?

[pgkevet]

You could grow carrots in deep pots indoors or in a greenhouse to get an early crop.. but it's usualy a long season crop anyway.. eat the thinnings in salads, watch them get bigger and maincrop carrots and parsnips I leave in the ground rather than trying to store them.. still digging them up as i need right now from last years sowings.. so I've got carrots and parsnips before you anyway  .

Coem spring and summer I'l be wanting a change.. salad stuff: baby leaf to start then lettuce as they get bigger then the broad beans'll be ready before french beans, peas, climbing , runners...and my rhubabrb is already coming up then berries....

[Fleecewife]

<<< Onions, carrots, parsnips, celery, lettuce, beetroot, turnip, swede, spring onion and radishes are sprouting now and I have a load of potatoes ready to go in  as soon as the weather turns

2nd March and still snowing here! >>>

Yes it's pelting with snow here too, but not too cold.

The onions, celery, lettuce, beetroot and spring onions will be fine started off that way.  In fact I start off several batches of beetroot in modules, with about 3 seeds per small module.  Once they have a few true leaves I plant them outside, with protection mainly from nibbling.  They grow in small clumps, but still develop big roots, just space them further apart.
Starting radishes in small pots or trays won't work well, but if they're only just coming through you can prick them out into deeper pots, about 1-2" apart in the pots.  They are frost tender though.  The same technique might work for the carrots and parsnips if they only have their seed leaves, but as pgkevet says, they prefer to be sown where they are to grow.
Prick out the swedes and turnips now, the swedes into at least 3" pots and get them outside as soon as you can, but they are usually sown in May, otherwise they may go to seed.

I so understand your excitement to get stuff in the ground.  Don't worry - we hardened gardeners get carried away too.  Don't worry if all or some of this lot fail - seed isn't expensive, just keep that enthusiasm going 
Celery is best started off in modules, so you're fine there, potting up into 3" pots then planting them out after the frosts.
Onions are fine started off in modules if they're sets, or in deep modules (leeks too) if seeds and the roots can get quite crowded without setting them back.

[Clansman]

Cheers folks 

[cloddopper]

I'm probably just too keen, just felt I had to do something 

I was hoping to have had them outside by now but we keep getting snow and frost!

I've not got a huge amount to plant out, i'm going to try and stagger it a bit so i get a fairly steady supply of everything rather than a boom and bust.

So usually you'd recommend just waiting till the weather improves and plant carrots and other root veg directly in the soil?

 Ha ha .... like it , " Cabin fever strikes & you just have to do something for the garden " .

You'll need to think about about crop rotations , not just for pest control but also for the nutrients available to plants. There are three basic rotations,  a three year, a five year & a seven year rotation which has one bed lying fallow for a year.
 
 Most root crops especially carrots & parsnips  will, grow multiple roots close to the crown / top end  if sown in  fairly newly manured ground  , even if the manure has been hot composted .  Even four year old composted stable muck is " too hot"
 
Pure rabbit droppings,  well turned & watered in the beds seem to be OK however
 
 
 It's best to put nutrient/nitrogen  greedy potatoes & salad stuff in fresh manured ground. The potato foliage helps stunt any emerging weeds that were not killed off in the composting 
 Followed a year later in this now un manured bed by the greens ,  beans , onions celery and leeks .

Then in the third year in the unimproved bed sow your other root crops .

 If you can afford it try and get , " The vegetable expert", by DG Hessayan ,from Amazon as a new or as a second hand book ..it will help you no end in your veg gardening .

[Clansman]

Cheers 

Still not got anything in the ground yet but the seeds are coming through now