Monday 24 May 2021

Polytunnel Planted Up (nearly)

 This year I'm trying to go for lower effort in the veg garden. I want a year to get on top of the weeds, they're really taking hold in some beds and having imported bindweed (unwittingly) I need to do something to stop their advance. So I've sheeted over a few outside beds and will sow some green manure on others. 


I'll still grow loads of beans, peas, sweet corn and squash, but might not go to my usual levels this year. 

The same is true in the polytunnel.

 Last year I enjoyed having loads of different crops in there, but we've gone for easy productivity this year. I've covered the beds in black plastic, to keep the weeds at bay and to help retain moisture. The plastic in the rest of my garden has been in use for years now and is still looking good. I didn't buy any more in, just used what I have. 

I've gone for just a few crops in there, all with similar spacings. Tomatoes down both sides, 51 plants in total, then some melons, about 16 cucumber/gherkin plants and about 10 ground cherry plants. So not the sheer number of different plants this year, but with the automatic watering, easy weed control and a good trellis system that I've wired up I'm hoping the hardest bit will be deciding what to do with all the tomatoes! 

There's about 20 types in there as well as some grafted ones I bought in. I'm really pleased with the plants I grew from seed and love their root system. I have also got 5 "storage" type tomatoes that are supposed to harvest on the vine and eat as they ripen up to Christmas. 

I think the two greenhouses will have a year without tomatoes because of the sheer number of them in the polytunnel, I plan to fill this with cucamelons, and maybe try to grow some strawberries in there - or at least get some plants strong enough to grow well next year (I never do well with strawberries). 

Anyone else go their undercover growing sorted in this terrible spring we're having?

12 comments:

  1. Hi Kev, tomatoes growing strongly , most with flowers (only 28 plants for us) peppers also growing away, tops pinched out, to make them bush. french beans and broad beans all starting to set fruit, sbap peas,first few ready to pick. one courgette fruit set nicely.first dozen squash planted in the tunnel today,with sweet corn in between (trying red this time.) lots of green leafy things coming on. I am not usually this organized.
    Kathy

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    1. I'm so far behind this year, it's taken me ages to get into the swing of things. My french beans are just coming up though and I need to sow some more. I don't think I'd wan the tomatoes further on than they are - even tonight I'm worried about temperature - such a frost pocket here! Only a few chillies this year - I still have a freezer full and dried ones on the shelf - I'm the only one that likes really spicy peppers. I did keep my pepper plants alive over winter though so I have three with chillies on already.
      yours is sounding great - wish mine were at those stages - I hope my stuff catches up!

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  2. Growing things is always one step forward and one step backwards Kev. It's your enthusiasm to grow what's important.

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    1. I keep that - although it's been a bit slower to kick in this year. I've been out until 10 most nights the last week or so if it's not raining!

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  3. Kev, I just got my watering system in last week and we have now had 10 days non-stop of rain so it put a halt on planting. The things I have in - a tomato, a pepper, and sprouting potatoes and sweet potatoes from last year - are doing well, but nothing else planted. We are supposed to have a break after Wednesday, so hopefully this weekend we can get more in the ground.

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    1. I still have more to plant, but have really held back on somethings. With the sheer size of my garden it means I can rest some beds to give myself chance to catch up, which is just what I need this year.

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  4. Hi Kev, I have climbing beans (might be runners)about a metre high. They have over wintered in the ground. Not managed to krrp my peppers over winter yet. I grow mainly sweet peppers. This year also trying paprika peppers for drying. Lot of frost here too as we are near the bottom of a hill.
    Kathy

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    1. That's way ahead of mine! Still I'm sure we;ll be sick of beans before I know it!

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  5. About a decade ago bindweed got a hold in my garden, and I didn't know what it was and left it to grow out along the edges of the property. Big mistake, I'm still fighting a war with it. Mulching in black plastic really knocked it back, but I gave up on that because it limited my garden's productivity. I didn't have the time to continuously water by hand in the holes in the plastic, or the funds to set up a drip irrigation system for everything I had planted. I think a good four or five years of it would take care of it all, if I could find the patience to not have a garden that long!

    The last few years I have heavily mulched which slows it down and makes it easy to pull when it does pop up, and now I'm trying to crowd it out with spreading annuals. We'll see if it works

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    1. It's such horrible stuff isn't it! I'm going to sheet over the beds that have it bad. I'm lucky as I have about 50 beds at times so loosing a few like that isn't the end of the world for me, but won't be able to leave it more than a year. Hopefully it'll weaken it and I'll be able to dig out some roots if I find the time at different points. be nice to press a button and have it go from the garden (along with the voles).

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  6. It's been a very odd spring. I'm about 5 weeks late with everything

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    1. I'd say that's where I am as well! Even germination has been poor and some things I've had to completely resow

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