This week in the Polytunnel.

It would be great to hear what other folk are up to under plastic each week. This is my first attempt at growing under cover.Planted my early potatoes, Rocket, from Wilkinsons.also beans onions and garlic. We eat massive amounts of garlic.
Kenco

 

Not much doing yet. Broad beans sown in December are moving a bit faster. Garlic is looking good.Winter lettuce is almost ready. I've just planted up a couple of big pots with strawberries - these will be moved outside when the fruit starts to form. Potatoes will go in into containers early next month (still under the GH staging chitting)and will be moved out when I start to plant toms, cucs, melons and peppers.

 

hi

im chitting me spuds at the mo i will start potting them up in a couple of weeks

started some toms , cucumber , chillis & peppers off middle of jan they have just been re-potted getting nice and big now

i also started some peas off last week which are now showing ,

today im going to sow some melons im a little early it says april on the packet but think they should be ok to start now ,

i want to try get all my veg done before i have thousands of plants knocking about when i start my flowers in april :D

last yr i had a 6 ft dinning table covered in seed trays 30 ft of window sill covered and 2 big walkin greenhouses in the conservatory not to mention the floor which was full of spuds & peas & toms ect :D

 

Cor Blimey cattwoman, you supplying the local tesco,LOL. The wife says if I take any more window sills up for seed trays she will leave ,HMMMM room for thought there, Mind she was a very unhappy bunny when our cat jumped up to sit in the sun and burried the fresh washing basket in a ton of fresh planted tomato seedlings
and compost.

 

LOL polytunnel i too have a problem with my cats as one of them likes to sleep on the radiator which from feb onwards is covered in chillis and peppers and the odd tom if i can fit it in :D and i came in the other day and she had her head in them

i do get a little carried away but its such good fun growing things from seed ,

i don't supply tesco but do give lots away to peeps at work LOL .

your so lucky LOL i might try filling more window sills see if my worst half naffs off
i won't have to listen to his constant moaning then and my and my plants can live happily ever after

 

yes cattwoman,
i have had to put up a big chicken wire gate across the door of my polytunnel,because half the neighbourhoods cats have decided that my fresh beds of peat and soil freshly planted with beans peas and garlic make a lovely toilet. they are not satisfied with digging a small hole and doing the bizz, they have to rake in ten yards of my best veg patch into a mountainous pile of devistation,just to add pain to insult.
I do like cats really.......

 

:D sorry to laugh ploytunnel but i know cats can be a pain in the bottom

all i can say which does'nt help is at least they dig the ones round here seem to just drop a log on the lawn and naff off :rolleyes:

im just doing a front garden make over at the mo due to this problem next doors moved in with 2 of the fattest cats you have ever seen and they continue to take a dump on my front lawn

now i make a soil bed from my own cats but i disagree to others using it and its horrible that they just do it on my lawn

so............................. i am currently removing all the bushes and having a fence put in also removing the lawn and putting slate or pebbles down not decided yet on which

heres the link below if you get chance to look

http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=000152

all the laural and conifers have gone now my fence goes in on thursday so next doors will have to walk round to take a dump instead of nipping through the bushes

then im going to make a raised bed in the middle and 4 more coming off each corner of the middle one to grow veg and plants in ,

hubby does'nt know about the beds he thinks im putting plants in them lol he will be horrified when he knows theres veg in there

i so look forward to sending him out to fetch me a colly

:D

 

Well i think you are very brave to take on all that work cattwoman. I got my tomato plants in to my raised beds today,also my second type of pea called snap, thought the tunnel was going to take off,65mile an hour winds outside and not a puff of wind inside great way to garden.
a lady from down the road popped in out of the wind and smiled as she said, you know you could live in here and what a lovely smell of veg growing. You know i have not noticed before but it really does smell nice when you walk in from outside.No eggs from my chucks today either they were upset at the wind or something.

 

hi poly

i hope your tunnels ok this morning i have got up to bits of my greenhouse windows and plastic all over the garden :(

the wind has done a great job

my car which is only 18 months old has decided to pack in and when we did get it started the motor in the windows has gone

my conservatory has decided to leak and has gone all over my pc software

the bloke who was doing my fence never returned yesterday and it should of been finished

and one of my fishes is ill and doing a great job of looking like a deflaited beach ball

i feel like topping myself this morning but no one would take care of my plants :D

sorry to go but it never rains but it pours eh !

hope you get some eggs off your chucks bet they are divine fresh like that .

 

hi cattwoman,
you should take out some serious insurance with a cover for unhappy occasions LOL.
yes I was away for the day when the worst of the storm hit. my next door neighbour tells me that the tunnel looked like it might take to the sky like a zepplin airship at one stage in the afternoon. He need not have worried I have it tied down with a fair bit of concrete on each leg.
It did manage to take out the door from its channels though.I gave up worrying about my fish after a recent visit from our local heron family.
just got into the garden to see them swallowing the last of my collection of prize fishfrom my pond.
I finally got chicken wire attached to the rear door of the tunnel to keep out those feline poo machines, can you believe they all actually sat looking daggers at me as I did it and my next door neighbour said to one " never mind puss, I know where there is a small hole you can get through" yes and I know a small hole that will feel my gardening boot if it does I thought !!!
I have just finished putting back my onions after the last invasion of my raiseds beds.
lovely pussy cats,hmmmmm

 

hi poly

glad alls well these winds are wicked i did'nt dare look out the window this morning incase my greenhouse had settled in next doors :rolleyes:

but alls well and its still there intact too :D

hubby fixed the panels for me yesterday so i was a happy bunny

even my fish stopped floating and started to swim i don't have a pond only a fish tank in the living room so no heron trouble here just my lovely puddy cats swinging off it every now and then :rolleyes:

i take it your poo machines are you neighbours ?

if so when they point out the small hole grab the parcel they leave and lob it over

see how they like it

you will have to post some pics of your tunnel as it will give me some ideas on when i get my raised veg beds in what to grow ect

i have to grow everything in pots we have extended the bungalow and had a conservatory which took a good 35ft off so im left with a postage stamp as it was a good size before :(

thats why im making over my front garden to give me a bit more room on the veg front i bet its fantastic having a tunnel with everything in

i potted up some carrots and spring onions yesterday and 4 pots of spuds i have some shallots do you think i could get away with growing them in pots ?

 

Hi Cattwoman,
yep i would like to post some pics of the tunnel, must see if I can do it as I am new to all this internet stuff.Great fun though.growing in pots is fine and can be fun, just got to make sure they dont dry out as a hot day can play havock.Shallots dont like to dry out but would be fine if you keep an eye on them, they tend to get a bit tough if they dry out or even run to seed early.Yes my missus was very kind to buy me a tunnel,even said it had to be a big one so in i went.I even grow in pots in the tunnel as you have the benefit of moving plants to a better climate if it gets too hot.

 

tunnel starting to warm up nicely and a good sign is that weeds are starting to grow. i am impressed with the broad beans, they seem to be happily heading skyward.looking down the tunnel I am starting to plan more carefully as it would fill up very quickly. Good tip from the web today, plant cucumber next to sweet corn and it uses the corn for support and shade at the same time. I like that one.Been down to the local sawmill to get ten bags of wood chippings/bark for the walkway down the tunnel, cant believe the wonderful smell this morning when I opened the doors.

 

Oh well....
every gardeners joy.A BIG frost last night and plastic is no insulation against minus five. Lost a fair few plants that had not hardened off properly. You live and learn in this game. luckily i have a few seeds left to sow.Its forcast cold so i will put every thing to bed each night, cover with news paper, nearly had an angina attack when i saw the price of fleece, is that what they mean by being fleeced ??
chickens are laying at full stretch now, just made a free range eggs for sale sign as i am burried in eggs.

 

Learning the hard way p/tunnel,consider building a smaller tunnel inside your main tunnel,I have built a 2"x2"x6ft wooden structure covered it in heavy polythene, inside there's a small bench with a 2ft tube heater underneath it stays 5 or 6deg warmer than the rest of the tunnel,if you lined it with with bubble wrap you would probably get a bigger differential,enough to save your early starts.