Topic: 2019 Progress Report

[Tee Gee]

Well as most of you will know I gave up my allotments at the end of last year and have been quite busy this last few months altering my garden at home to make it a "bit more edible"

I can't get on as well as I would like with the outdoor aspects of the garden until such times as my spring bulbs die back when I can then move a few bulbs to incorporate the veg I plan to grow, so I will put that down to " work in progress" for now!

I have made a start on the 8x6 Greenhouse which I brought up from the allotment last year.

Last year was a bit of a learning curve due to the exceptionally hot weather we had!

I found out my stuff was drying out too rapidly causing blossom end rot on my tomatoes and vine weevil & whitefly on my peppers. I put this partially down to the paved floor I had in place as you can see in Pic 0.

To counteract that I have formed a kerbed area and filled this with timber chippings which I hope once dampened will create a higher humidity in the greenhouse as you can see in Pic1.

In Pic 1 I have laid out 19 number 10" diam x 8" high rings!

In Pic 2 I have placed a 1" deep drainage layer at the bottom of the rings, this layer consists of the lumpy pieces of compost I found after riddling the new and old compost I prepared for the remainder of the filling.

In Pic 3 You can see that I have placed approximately 3"-4" of homemade compost to save on cost!.

The mixture consists of a mixture of well-rotted horse manure and compost from the various containers I used last season. To this, I added 4oz of FB&B + 2oz Hydrated Lime + 2oz Slow release fertiliser pellets to 2 gallons (10 litres) of mixed compost.

In Pic 4 I have topped up the rings with new multi-purpose compost to which I have added half the quantity of fertiliser as used with my own mixed compost (Pic3)

I also inserted a bottomless vending cup into the compost to facilitate watering & liquid feeding.

Pic 5 shows all the rings prepared and ready for planting up!

In Pic 6 is an added feature I might try and that is to use additional pots to perhaps grow some quick growing salad crops or similar!

Pic 7 shows the inside of my heated 10' x 8' greenhouse jammed to the rafters with stuff awaiting planting out.


In the past, I would normally plant out my tomatoes sometime during the last two weeks in May but I am toying with the idea of perhaps planting out within the next couple of days as I need the space in my 10' x 8'.

My thoughts are; now that my planting area is so close to the house I will be at hand to cover stuff up if frost is forecast, where before I would have had to travel, around 4miles to my allotment to do this!

To do this I am thinking of just tying up my plants to short supports rather than the eventual long ones I will use, meaning I can throw a 'fleece' covering over the plants after tea and remove it again after breakfast! Then when all fear of frost is passed I will replace the short supports with long one!

What do you think?

[caroline7758]

Super-organised as ever, TG! Something for us all to aspire to (and fail, in my case!)

[Jeannine]

Wow, that is very impressive, although I am not surprised.

If you fancy a trip to Canada I have a greenhouse here that could use your special touch. The best I could do was plant in huge Rubbermaid containers  but you will get ten times the harvest I will and my greenhouse is bigger LOL

As always it is a pleasure to see and read your posts

XX jeannine

[woodypecks]

Hello Tee Gee , I love to see inside other people's greenhouses ! Yours looks like it's earning it's keep for sure . You,ve done a great job there .What variety Tomato have you grown to go outside ?    Debbie

[johhnyco15]

looks great my old mate you will have loads of produce even without the allotments well done you ive been doing a little weeding today only can mamage a couple of hours a day  at the mo

[johhnyco15]

green houses stuffed full

[johhnyco15]

my elephant garlic is coming along nicely

[ancellsfarmer]

my elephant garlic is coming along nicely

Will you mulch that soon?, if so ,with what?

[johhnyco15]

my elephant garlic is coming along nicely

Will you mulch that soon?, if so ,with what?

no ill leave that as they will be out by june then ill top dress with my own compost then leaf mould and plant dwarf beans in there place been a bit chilli here so had to cover my first tomatoes up for a day or two or should i say night