Some photos from 1st June
Bluebells have died down along the hedge. Peas are nearly ready to harvest. Supports are up for the beans and climbing french beans have been planted around the nearer one.
A new hotbed has been made ready for melons and is currently covered in plastic to keep the heat and moisture in. The strawberries have been taken out of the growhouse - they have been badly attacked by aphids and although there is some fruit several plants appear to be dying. Leeks and marigolds are in there waiting to be planted (I planted out the summer leeks today).
The hotbed cover has been replaced by a net to keep the cat off and the spinach is bolting. The remaining few lettuces are going the same way. Some of the beetroot has been eaten as baby beet and it is growing rapidly. Behind, under the green net, the onions are growing and there are 3 cauliflowes which will hopefully start to produce heads soon.
The nearest bed is still waiting for courgettes, which are late this year as I have had dreadful trouble getting them to germinate (new packet of seed). The potatoes are doing nicely and the Desiree in the 4 nearer buckets are starting to flower.
More cauliflowers - these are slightly behind the ones near the onions as they get a bit less sun here. Parsnips and beetroot under the white net are growing well. The experiment with planks of wood wasn't great. No slugs appeared under the planks and some of the beetroot germinated but none of the lettuce. However the plank over the lettuce was not long enough to cover the whole row, and lettuces did germinate in the uncovered bit, so I mark this down as a fail. To add insult to injury, after about a week all of the lettuce seedlings that did germinate disappeared over night, presumably due to slugs.
I tried a variation of this technique in my greenhouse at home with some pak choi seed, covering the tray with cardboard instead of wood. Apart from the cardboard blowing off on a windy day, this worked very well and kept the modules damp on top so I didn't need to water. I left 2 of the 6 modules uncovered as a control, and these both germinated 1 day later than the 4 that were covered, which was interesting. So, yes to covering with cardboard in the greenhouse, no to a plank of wood on the ground!
Bluebells have died down along the hedge. Peas are nearly ready to harvest. Supports are up for the beans and climbing french beans have been planted around the nearer one.
A new hotbed has been made ready for melons and is currently covered in plastic to keep the heat and moisture in. The strawberries have been taken out of the growhouse - they have been badly attacked by aphids and although there is some fruit several plants appear to be dying. Leeks and marigolds are in there waiting to be planted (I planted out the summer leeks today).
The hotbed cover has been replaced by a net to keep the cat off and the spinach is bolting. The remaining few lettuces are going the same way. Some of the beetroot has been eaten as baby beet and it is growing rapidly. Behind, under the green net, the onions are growing and there are 3 cauliflowes which will hopefully start to produce heads soon.
The nearest bed is still waiting for courgettes, which are late this year as I have had dreadful trouble getting them to germinate (new packet of seed). The potatoes are doing nicely and the Desiree in the 4 nearer buckets are starting to flower.
More cauliflowers - these are slightly behind the ones near the onions as they get a bit less sun here. Parsnips and beetroot under the white net are growing well. The experiment with planks of wood wasn't great. No slugs appeared under the planks and some of the beetroot germinated but none of the lettuce. However the plank over the lettuce was not long enough to cover the whole row, and lettuces did germinate in the uncovered bit, so I mark this down as a fail. To add insult to injury, after about a week all of the lettuce seedlings that did germinate disappeared over night, presumably due to slugs.
I tried a variation of this technique in my greenhouse at home with some pak choi seed, covering the tray with cardboard instead of wood. Apart from the cardboard blowing off on a windy day, this worked very well and kept the modules damp on top so I didn't need to water. I left 2 of the 6 modules uncovered as a control, and these both germinated 1 day later than the 4 that were covered, which was interesting. So, yes to covering with cardboard in the greenhouse, no to a plank of wood on the ground!
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