I find grafted tomatoes do a lot better in the greenhouse soil than on their own roots. Last year, only 8 plants took out of about 15 I grafted. I think I was too optimistic regarding the germination rate of the rootstock. I sowed seed on the 3rd March but didn't get the first ripe tomatoes till mid July probably and had only 3kg off these 8 by mid August while 9 not grafted in a small greenhouse had yielded 18kg by the same date. So last year it looks like grafting set the plants back about 3 to 4 weeks. One of the 8, an orange banana, didn't do at all well but I lost the bottom 4 trusses to slugs which seem to really like plum tomatoes.

So this year I will probably sow the seeds about the 21st Feb. along with peppers, chillies and aubergines. I'll sow a few peppers, chillies and aubergines tomorrow as they are slower growing than tomatoes and, if I have any rootstocks spare, I'll try grafting some of these onto  tomato rootstocks to see if it helps them as well.

As an experiment, I'll plant some Roma VF where I know tomatoes do not thrive in the greenhouse s they are supposed to have some resistance to soil diseases. If they do OK, I would then try using them as a rootstock.

So one job tomorrow is checking I've still got enough silicone grafting clips. I bought 50 a couple of years ago. Hopefully not too many are lost as not likely available in time due to covid ordering restrictions.

Are there any F1 seeds that you always grow and couldn't manage without? 

I don't buy F1 seeds from choice - but sometimes they appear as a freebie on a magazine or in a job lot of seeds. There seem to be a lot of Cucumbers/Courgettes/Tomatoes that are F1. I've given away all my F1 tomato seeds but need to weed through the rest. 

My aim is to only grow plants from seeds that have been saved by me, from a seed swap or bought from ethical companies like Real Seeds or Franchi and to ignore the "big boys".

Last year I used a large wood burner in the greenhouse but using it took a lot of wood and I felt that it was getting more difficult to provide wood for it, so I removed it, I had intended to use an electric heater, but with the temperatures we have been having over the past several weeks makes it too costly, but I also have a small pot bellied burner, which I could run to make the greenhouse a bit more comfortable to work in, but wondering what others would recommend doing

Evening Folks

After some info as to when people start this, appreciate it will probably differ depending on location.

As you may know I now have two GH.  I grow in the boarder soil and have space for about 5 plants in each of the 4 borders.
My question is:
I am planning to grow tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and chillies ( with the odd cucumber interspersed).  Should I stick to a single plant type  in each border or mix and match.  In previous years in a single GH I've grown toms predominantly with the odd failed experiment with peppers and aubs shoved in which may have resulted in overcrowding.
Alternatively I could choose to grow chillies in pots (MFBs) that can be moved as required as conditions change although never having grown them before I've no idea yet what those conditions might be.

And seen this about a weed called Purslane thought it worth sharing as the poster is using an old book on herbs and weeds etc. for medicinal cures.

   
   

Morning Folks

Looks like I shouldn't have kept these in a closed box!

Am I right in saying I can break these off and let them start again?

   

I have it on good authority that next weekend will feel like a heatwave. Brockway predicting temps upto 15 degrees. Time for me to prep the greenhouse.

As I had a bad chilli year, last year. Mainly because of voles. I was thinking I’d put my chilli pot on top of upside down pots. To make things more difficult for the voles to get to the plants. I was thinking a more narrow pot than the chillies are in. Which would create an over hang to make things very difficult. 
Would it work? Has anyone tried it or something similar?

Found this interesting

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46459714