Raised Beds

Lettuce seeds have germinated and the strawberries are in flower...

Greenhouse Mid May

The tomatoes and peppers seem to be doing well, some flowers visible

Mid May 2016

The gooseberries and redcurrants have set...

As have the blackcurrant...

Greenhouse Planted

All planted up... 18 tomato plants, 15 chillies and an Orange Plant (William)...

Chilli Plants

At the end of last year's growing season, I took my pot grown chillies into the conservatory... After all, that's what 'conserve'atories are for!

I trimmed them back to their bare bones and kept them just moist.... Probably watering them a little 6 times throughout the winter (October to now)....

Before putting back in the greenhouse this week, I took them out of their pots and ruffled the lower root level before putting them back in their pot with a two inch base of fresh, well rotted manure.

Here they are with three new plants to replace the ones that sadly didn't make it through the winter.... Hoping the over winter ones pick up quickly over the next few weeks... It will be interesting to see how they compare with the new plants...

Easter Holiday 2016 Greenhouse

Last year's tomato harvest was the best ever.  By cutting the bottom out of the grow bags and allowing the plant tap root to reach further into the soil; along with 'earthing up' the stem using a grow ring, really made a difference to the quantity and quantity of the tomatoes.

I'm doing the same this year, but adding three tomato plants to each bag as I noticed a lot of last year's grow bag was root free in between plants... 

The tomatoes are in their places... When they have grown above the collars I will trim off lower leaves and fill with compost/manure.... This will allow more roots to grow from the hairs on the stem... These roots will take up the nutrients from liquid feed later when first fruits set.

August 2015

The tomato plants have grown amazingly this year... The new method of planting two plants in a growbag with a large hole on the growbag base and using grow rings to 'earth up' the roots has really made a huge improvement to yield. The plants are dripping with large toms. Harvesting began in mid June but I am now picking around 300g daily.

Outdoor tomatoes have just about caught up with the greenhouse ones... These are a different variety of smaller ones. Just starting to ripen, so the greenhouse gave about 6 weeks head start I would guess.

I pinched out side shoots and deliberately left a few to get large. Put them in a pot of water to root and then potted them up into pots and kept them in the shade until established... I'm experimenting... For the past three years in Spring, I've cleared my greenhouse and found that the previous year's tomatoes have been still alive! They seem to have grown slowly through winter with no watering! I suspect had I have watered a little... They would have sprung into growth... I might put these into large pots in the greenhouse over the Winter this year... Just keeping them damp but not wet... Placing a large tub of water might stop overnight frost (if the water freezes it gives off enough heat to stop frost damage - a truck used in cellars to store fruit over winter)