Little Green Space
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Little Green Space |
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May 2010 May 20, 2010 Planting out With the weather hotting up, and the risk of frost diminishing, it's time to start thinking about all those tender veg which will need to be planted out soon. I'm talking courgettes, pumpkins, squash, beans and sweetcorn - all of which we have growing in pots in the greenhouse. Here in the East Midlands we're usually past our last frost by the beginning of June - athough given the recent weather peculiarities (snow in May!) anything's possible. However I have begun to "harden off" all my tender plants. The greenhouse door has been opened up each day for a few weeks now, and closed again at night to keep a bit of warmth in and protect against frosts. There's a spell of warmer weather forecast for the next few days, so today I have taken everything out of the greenhouse, to give it a chance to acclimatise to outside conditions. Other tactics for hardening off include planting veg into their final growing positions and covering individual plants with an empty plastic bottle with the bottom cut off. Some people also move all their plants in and out of the greenhouse (out during the day, back in at night) but I don't have time for this! One thing I will do, though, is plant out early in the day, to give the plants a full day of warmth to settle into their new homes, before the temperatures drop during the night. May 9, 2010 Potatoes I've spent the afternoon earthing up the potatoes. The first lot of spuds is due to be harvested in a fortnight, going by the recommendation of thirteen weeks for first earlies, from planting to harvest. This first lot went in very early, back in Februaury, in a pot in a greenhouse. And they certainly look as though they could be ready to harvest in a week - they have grown really well - although there's no sign of any flowers yet. Once that fist lot of potatoes comes into the kitchen I'm hoping there'll be a steady stream of spuds until the autumn - unless, of course, we succumb to blight again this year. Here's hoping we have a hot, dry summer! |