Calling SMB veg growers

  • Thread starter Deleted member 5265
  • Start date
Not greenhouse but a polytunnel... Tomatoes and cucumber as well as chillis do really well in it.
It's all about ventilation with greenhouses though
Very handy for growing herbs over winter too.
Cats sleep in mine mostly as it's warm and dry.

Ventilation over heat? I have an autovent that opens and does not usually let it get above 32 degrees but it can be pretty humid in there.

Do you think I'd be better making sure I open the doors or side vents on hot days to keep the air warm but dry?

I can't say I'm interested in growing cats though ;)
 


Ventilation over heat? I have an autovent that opens and does not usually let it get above 32 degrees but it can be pretty humid in there.

Do you think I'd be better making sure I open the doors or side vents on hot days to keep the air warm but dry?

I can't say I'm interested in growing cats though ;)

it's the humidity rather than the temp which is the main problem certainly with the tunnel - a lot of stuff prone to mildew, so yes to opening the doors/vents if possible
 
Will they live ? This is the North, you know...

They'll be fine unless there's actual frost. I keep mine in planters for that reason (the plants are perennials, so you can keep them year after year). They're absolute insect magnets if kept inside, so I try to minimize that. You literally have to go over the leaves individually to sweep the bugs off if you keep them inside too long.
 
They'll be fine unless there's actual frost. I keep mine in planters for that reason (the plants are perennials, so you can keep them year after year). They're absolute insect magnets if kept inside, so I try to minimize that. You literally have to go over the leaves individually to sweep the bugs off if you keep them inside too long.
So do you wheel them indoors for the winter months ? Or do you wrap them in fleece ?
 
So do you wheel them indoors for the winter months ? Or do you wrap them in fleece ?

I bring them indoors. They don't have enormous root systems generally, so they're not big enough to need to be wheeled in. No other choice; we had 2 feet of snow two weekends ago, so the ground is still well-covered.
 
I grow autumn planted onions over winter, just for a bit of interest, in long troughs on the wall and the garage roof. Japanese whites last year did really well. Redskins this year. Doin them in pots keeps the garden free for spring planting.
 
Do you start them from seed? That might be worth doing in my greenhouse.

Anyone grow winter cabbages? What time of year do you start them off?

My veg patch is pretty much done by late October and little gets planted out before April, so anything that gives a decent yield would be good to keep it going all year. I did do some lettuce in the greenhouse one year, which give us a canny salad in early spring, but it really attracted the greenfly which then infested the new seedlings.
 
I grew spring cabbage in the tunnel one year, planned from seed around July/August...worked pretty well,

Never had much success with brassicas outside here though, except kale. Nice variety called Red Russian which stands up to all weathers and is tasty and tender
 
I grow autumn planted onions over winter, just for a bit of interest, in long troughs on the wall and the garage roof. Japanese whites last year did really well. Redskins this year. Doin them in pots keeps the garden free for spring planting.
Grown from sets- some bolt, but mostly good.
 
Do you start them from seed? That might be worth doing in my greenhouse.

Anyone grow winter cabbages? What time of year do you start them off?

My veg patch is pretty much done by late October and little gets planted out before April, so anything that gives a decent yield would be good to keep it going all year. I did do some lettuce in the greenhouse one year, which give us a canny salad in early spring, but it really attracted the greenfly which then infested the new seedlings.
Leeks, sprouts all good in winter and purple sprouting broc is just gorgeous, the first veg of Spring, miles nicer than asparagus IMHO.
 
I got really pissed off with sprouts as the slugs and caterpillars got to them no matter what I did.
That and the fact that Lidl were knocking out Irish grown sprouts in the run up to Christmas for 29c a bag suddenly made it not worth growing them :confused:
(For me anyway)
 
Got my leek seedlings going on the windowsill, so I feel like I have properly started for the year. Not much else to do for the next month though.

Does anyone else grow leeks from seed in pots then plant out? Do yours thicken at all? I find that in 2 weeks, mine appear quickly like thin blades of grass but then do not grow any further until I plant them out. I grow them in modular pots, probably about 1" square. The books I have read say plant them out when pencil thick, but after a couple of months they remain little more than wispy grass.
 
Got my leek seedlings going on the windowsill, so I feel like I have properly started for the year. Not much else to do for the next month though.

Does anyone else grow leeks from seed in pots then plant out? Do yours thicken at all? I find that in 2 weeks, mine appear quickly like thin blades of grass but then do not grow any further until I plant them out. I grow them in modular pots, probably about 1" square. The books I have read say plant them out when pencil thick, but after a couple of months they remain little more than wispy grass.
I've planted mine out at the wispy grass stage before and they've been fine.
 
Got my leek seedlings going on the windowsill, so I feel like I have properly started for the year. Not much else to do for the next month though.

Does anyone else grow leeks from seed in pots then plant out? Do yours thicken at all? I find that in 2 weeks, mine appear quickly like thin blades of grass but then do not grow any further until I plant them out. I grow them in modular pots, probably about 1" square. The books I have read say plant them out when pencil thick, but after a couple of months they remain little more than wispy grass.


Arlreet Dave, just started mine off the other day. Musslebrough variety.
I grow mine in a big planter, 8" deep and 10" square and use about 1/2 a packet of seeds, then put a sheet of glass over the top to help keep the warmth in.
After they germinate I take the glass off and just keep them in the porch until the end of May (or until the risk of frost has past.)
I then take them out of the planter, by then they are almost pencil thickness, and then put them in a bucket of water to separate them out.
The leeks then get "puddled" into the soil. Add some blood & bone around them, and that's about it. Keep them watered in dry periods and weed free.
Harvest around October throughout the winter.

I am still using the leeks I sown from last year by the way.:lol:
Lusharoony;)
 
Cheers. Good tip about soaking in water to separate. One reason I use the modular pots is to stop the roots tangling together.
 
yep, I admit I use modules too - I plant mine a lot later in the year though and let them overwinter to use in Jan & Feb, the "hungry gap"
usually don't plant out till the salad potatoes are lifted and then the ground's nice and dug over - bit of fertiliser (chicken dung) and good to go.

Still done feck-all in my garden / tunnel as the weather's been appalling with yet more storms. Also I don't prep the tunnel soil too early or the cats crap in it
 
Still done feck-all in my garden / tunnel as the weather's been appalling with yet more storms. Also I don't prep the tunnel soil too early or the cats crap in it

Same here. Anything I do dig over I cover with fleece, partly because it warms the soil and mostly to keep other peoples cats off it. I tend to start of my parsnips in a fleece tunnel, which lets me start them a few weeks earlier than I would. I never get anything out in February so I'm not that bothered I've not been out. Listening to the wind, my only concern is that my greenhouse will still be there in the morning!
 

Back
Top