I have put my name down for an allotment and I am dreaming about growing tomatoes and chillis. My mother in law grows these in her greenhouse with the help of an electric propagator but my allotment won't have electricity - is that normal? Is it worth me looking around for allotments that do have electrcity?
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The electric route is not really practical due to the high cost, I don't know any sites which have facilities available to individual plots. However a normal unheated greenhouse will give you excellent results, and it is also possible to grow tomatoes outside, I have grown chillies in a cold frame with no problem.
Good luck.
You can grow tomatoes outdoors, but watch out for blight. In an unheated greenhouse they'll crop over a longer period. chilies will crop happily in an unheated house, I don't know whether they can be grown successfully out of doors. The ones I tried last year never grew at all after they were planted out, but for their size (about six inches high) produced a good crop, half a dozen ripe red peppers per plant. I'm trying again this year.
Thanks for that Curry and Robert. I'll have a go in the greenhouse as suggested. As you can probably tell I'm a complete novice so I'm not sure that the toms and chillis will be amazing but any that I do get I will savour because they will be mine and I'm really excited about eating something that I've grown - perhaps I better stop getting so excited - I haven't even offically been handed the allotment over yet!!!
Emielou, if you have space at home you could use a propagator at home until the seedlings are big enough for planting out into your unheated greenhouse at the allotment. None of our allotments have electricity, I don't know of any that do have. If you need electricity for other things like tools (strimmer, hedge trimmer, mower etc.) look into buying a generator, there's a thread somewhere about generators.
A lot of people (me included) grow tomatoes and chillies very successfully outside, by starting them off at home.
That reminds me of a coversation I had with a colleague on the plots.
His plan is to build his greenhouse on stilts, throw farm yard manure beneath it,and use the heat generated to heat the greenhouse.
I would guess he is going to use some sort of slatted flooring or vents.
I think there might be times when it will get a bit 'pongy' but the theory is good.
Then he is going to get a solar panel, connect it to a car battery to generate electical power and run a propagator.
I await with baited breath!!!
If it goes ahead I will keep you informed.
We have electricity for the site hut, and hope to extend it to the school and visitor centre soon, the toilet block has light fittings and switches already but not yet on the power.... we also have a substation for 2/3rds of the city on our site, it blew one of its walls out a couple of years back!
The elec propagator is best kept at home and when they are through and potted up take them to the Lottie, they grow fine in Polytunnels too!
;D
I started my tender veg off in the cupboard by the hot water tank, then put them on the windowsill once they'd germinated. I now have thriving great toms six inches high, without any fancy gear at all.
I have grown chillis in an unheated greenhouse with great success. They cropped from July to October. From three plants (70p each at B+Q) I had about 300 chillis. Don't know the name but they were the small fruits about 4cms long. I had them in a huge string in the kitchen. I used loads but ended up chucking them away when they had gathered too much dust!
I dry them in the oven at about 70C. Takes about two hours. You need to turn them a couple of times.
Good luck,
Stork
you can also buy parrafin heaters for greenhouses.
You don't need a heated greenhouse to grow chillis or tomatoes. Both will grow well in an unheated greenhouse. With regards to tomatoes, some varieties should be grown in a greenhouse and others outside. Many can be grown either way, but you should get a bigger crop if grown in a greenhouse. Read the seed packet carefully to see if it is a greenhouse variety.
I grew chillis outside in my back garden last year and had 30 to 50 good sized chillis per plant. They do have a long growing season, so I start them off from seed in my conservatory at the end of February. They currently stand about 9 inches tall and are being hardened off outside and brought in again at night. Will plant out permanently when all risk of frost has passed. They do appear to need a sunny position though. I planted a couple in a fairly shaded position and they hardly grew.
Yep, with plants from the sub tropics light intensity is almost more important than absolute temp, once above 5C of course, so give them the sunniest spot you can!
;D