Let's see inside 2021/22/23/24

Thats so neat and tidy!!

My tunnel is now officially full. I planted my tomato today (in the white bucket).

         

Greenhouse fully planted up now, except for maybe a few small cosmos or gem marigolds to interplant in order to attract predatory insects.

On the left - 8 tomatoes, 9 chillies/peppers with some purple kohlrabi and overwintered onions hiding at the back near the glass. On the right - 18 peppers and some gem marigolds. At the back - 2 cucumbers and 2 peppers. Under the bit of staging - 2 melons which I am training up to the right side rafters.

Growing in the soil means I don't have to make 500 L of potting mix, a job which I used to dread, or spend a lot on bagged compost. This is the first time I've grown cucumbers in the ground.

Tree roots from next door's big weeping silver birch have come under the wall, under the concrete greenhouse footing and all the way (3 metres!) to the front of the greenhouse. I dug them up and hammered some metal law edging in to the soil all the way across the back of the greenhouse, hopefully this stops them spreading so quickly and sucking all the moisture out of the greenhouse borders.

Wow - that's a lot of plants! Looks fabulous

Greenhouse No1...This was last week. A fee more things have been pricked out and potted on. Havibg to balance things on upturned pots to stop the mice eating the lot.     

Greenhouse No1...This was last week. A fee more things have been pricked out and potted on. Havibg to balance things on upturned pots to stop the mice eating the lot. 

Impressive Scarlet. Both my gh's are empty of anything growing, I'm ashamed to say.

Greenhouse No1...This was last week. A fee more things have been pricked out and potted on. Havibg to balance things on upturned pots to stop the mice eating the lot. 

Impressive Scarlet. Both my gh's are empty of anything growing, I'm ashamed to say.

I can go one better than that.................I haven't even received or built the greenhouse yet!  Very impressed with Scarlet's though!

Current state of the greenhouse. Left side - lettuce, chard, claytonia, spinach. Back - spinach, parsley. Right side - kale, mibuna, komatsuna, mizuna, coriander, tatsoi. There's garlic interplanted at the back edges of each side but most of it hasn't popped up yet. 

About 6 lettuces have conked out so far, they're very susceptible to stem rot in winter. Lost a few of the brassicas to cabbage root fly. Growth of everything will start to explode soon now we're getting more light.

Current state of the greenhouse. Left side - lettuce, chard, claytonia, spinach. Back - spinach, parsley. Right side - kale, mibuna, komatsuna, mizuna, coriander, tatsoi. There's garlic interplanted at the back edges of each side but most of it hasn't popped up yet. 

About 6 lettuces have conked out so far, they're very susceptible to stem rot in winter. Lost a few of the brassicas to cabbage root fly. Growth of everything will start to explode soon now we're getting more light.

All these lovely pictures make me feel inadequate in my efforts. TMTT do all those get pulled up when the room is needed for seedlings of summer stuff?

The brassicas usually start going to seed in February, depending how sunny it is, probably all gone by April. The lettuce, chard and spinach (it's mostly Mikado, a bolt-resistant Asian variety) can last much longer but they'll all likely be out by May. The parsley and coriander I will hack down and freeze whenever they start going to seed. The garlic should be ready early/mid June, but because it's at the back of the borders I can plant stuff in front of it no problem.

There's some big staging which spans the whole of one side that I usually put back in sometime in February, but it's a real faff to attach and then remove again before peppers go in, so I'm looking to buy something foldable. There is a decent sized shelf high on the left hand side and a narrow shelf at the back, both not in the photo, which can hold quite a module trays.

I mostly need more space when the tomatoes and peppers are being ferried in and out until it's warm enough for them to stay in the greenhouse overnight. If I keep the borders mostly empty then they can just go on the ground. I will likely try to get a quick crop of radish and turnips before it gets too hot.