This week on Plot 37:
I have been Potting up Tomatoes:
This morning i’m potting up the first lot of the tomato seedlings. They were sown on the 13th of March so pretty much one month ago. They have been on a heat matt to germinate and under lights from that point onwards.
I am potting them up into 7cm square pots because they fit really well into my trays and reduce wasted space. At this time of year when there are so many plants being kept indoors, space is at a premium!
The compost mix:
I’m using a mixture of peat-free compost and vermiculite. About 1/3rd vermiculite to compost mix which is quite a lot. I find that with peat-free compost, even with really good mixes like the Melcourt that i use – if they really dry out, it can be quite hard to get the soil to take up the water again. the peat is the part of the mix that sucks up the water and keeps the moisture levels high in the compost and without that it can be difficult. I find that by adding a good amount of vermiculite you stop the compost compacting and because the vermiculite holds water it can play the part of the peat and take up the moisture instead of it draining straight through.
I will be potting them up deeply because tomatoes will happily grow roots all the way up their stems. They will be going into the pots as deep as i can get them.
The tomatoes that i’m potting up today are:
- Sundrop
- Galina
- Indigo Apple
- Crushed Heart
- Brads Atomic Grape
- Tigerella
- Black Krim
- Pink plum
- Black Icicle
- Black Beauty
Friday: Going to the Indian Super Market
Friday morning sees us heading out to Hounslow Quality foods with my friend Suki. I buy Ginger, garlic, turnips, a kohl rabi, 4 kilos of onions and some cypress potatoes. also have a look and the wonder selection of dried herbs and spices, many of which i don’t know. which is always exciting!
I also buy a good quantity of instant noodles for emergency shed lunches!
Up to the Allotment!
The mains water has been turned on at the allotment site which means its time to unravel the hose!
On our site, the council turns off the mains water supply over winter to protect it from freezing and so we rely on water butts and saved water over the cold months. And everything is done with watering cans. But today is hose day!
We don’t have to roll up our hose every time we use it, it will stay out now until winter and so i spend a bit of time strimming and mowing the main centre path of the allotment before we unravel it!
Mum is still going with the potatoes:
The last of the first earlies that are growing in bags are going in this morning. thats Sagitta and Casablanca. the Red Duke potatoes are in pots in the greenhouse but we have loads of them left over!
Mulching the Beds:
Because we operate in a mostly no-dig fashion we do a lot of mulching! Mainly with well rotted horse manure and leaf mould and our own homemade compost. i am mulching the top raised bed on the north side of our plot where we will be direct sowing parsnips and putting in beetroot and Pink Panther onion sets.
We are also mulching the new asparagus bed. We have a well established asparagus bed but decided to start up a second because they take so long to establish. Once planted you shouldn’t harvest any asparagus spears from the plants for around 4 years minimum so that they can become well established in the ground which is why we have started this one off long before we need it.
The wild-life pond:
I made a surprise discovery of Tadpoles! masses of them!
I am thinking that they must be newt tadpoles rather than frog or toad because we have seen no spawn. Frog spawn is laid in huge clumps and toad spawn in log strings but i’ve seen neither and news lay their eggs individually hidden under leaves and debris in the pond so are much harder to spot!
Nine Star Broccoli update:
The beautiful nine start broccoli has started to produce heads!
This is officially incredibly exciting and i can’t wait to try them for the first time when we get to harvest these ones!
Sunday: Mushrooms!
We have decided to have a go at growing some mushrooms at home!
The two types we are trying are white Oyster and Lions Mane. I have grown mushrooms before but not for a while and so this will be really interesting. The company we have [picked them up from is called marvellous Mushrooms and they are based in Angus in Scotland.
Starting with the White Oyster: very simple. Cut the bag along the drawn line and put them on a tray, in the light under the provided humidity tent!
The Lions Mane requires a bit of scraping off the mycelia around the pot of the bag and top of the substrate (saw dust) and then folding over the bag to push out the air. 3 little crosses on the top, under the humidity tent again and then off!
I am growing them in our sitting room (lucky mum) on top of the shelving unit where i have our grow lights set up.
The chickens:
Back up to the allotment after the mushroom excitement for a chat with the hens. Mills is always game for a cuddle but Roob thinks that means she’s getting treats and throws a fit. 😀
Planting potatoes in the ground:
We have decided that we are going to put the excess of our Red duke of York potatoes into the top bed. The bed we are using is the one that had the failed green manure crop in from the autumn and the bed itself could really do with a bit of help. Nothing has grown that well in it for a few years and so we are going to try a thick mulch and some potatoes to liven it up!
These Red dukes were given to us by Sutton seeds for being included on their blog last year and we ended up up with a whole kilo of them.
Buying Seed potatoes by the kilo vs loose:
We normally by our seed potatoes from Chapmans in twickenham because he sells the loose. when you buy them loose firstly you get to choose the best ones but also you know how many you’re getting. buying by the kilo could mean 5 very large ones or 20 pretty small and that can be very difficult when planning your space because big or large, they need the same amount of space when planted out.
Another advantage to buying loose is that you can buy in smaller quantities and have more varieties for a limited space. we are growing 7 varieties this year where as we would only really have space for 2 if we picked up two 1kg bags. If you have people to exchange with that can sort this problem though; everyone buys one type and then they can be shared around!
Dismantling the brassica cage:
Our brassicas from last year are coming to an end now. the Cavolo Nero has all gone to seed. We have been picking and eating the covolo nero flower heads as they come because the are delicious but they have got away from us! so we are going to take down the netting cage that is around this bed, strip back anything thats worth eating on the plants and then leave them to flower for the bees and hoverflies.
Same goes for the old kohl rabi and kalettes that are in this bed too.
Polytunnel Update:
Everything is looking fantastically lush in the poly tunnel right now. and now the hose is on i am able to give it a huge soak!
Temperatures are fluctuating wildly in here at the moment from 42º down to -1º in a 24hr period and this has lead to the Pak Choi bolting!
Such a shame because it was looking fab but it is still perfectly edible like this. when they first bolt and rocket up they are still tender and delicious but the race is now on to eat them because they will quickly become tough and gnarly up the centre stem and then its a waste. So Pak Choi is going to be high on the menu for the next few days!
And that is about it for this week chaps!
Hope you have a wonderful week and see you next time!
Jessie.xxx
