24/2/25 - A Growing Job List

The weekend has been busy and we've been away which means there's a bit of a backlog to get through.  But even if we were at home, the weather has been so rubbish, that there wouldn't of been much done anyway.  So today I'm kicking off with a bit of a growing update on the seeds before looking at a bit of a shopping haul before finishing off with news of a quick DIY project.

Seedling Progress

I've got seedlings dotted around in several places, including in the polytunnel at the moment, but as I've not had chance to spend any time on the plot this weekend, this is what's going on at home.  On the Super 7's in the window, things are germinating and growing on well.  Even to the point that they are starting to get a bit leggy.  The Marigold (African and French) trays and Dhalia tray that I sowed only a week ago have germinated well and have shot up.  I'm really going to need to keep an eye on these because it's not going to take long before they will need potting on.

On the tomato front, I have a 1/4 tray of  Red Pear seedlings which have also come on strong.  These need to be potted on in the coming days and put under grow lights.  Next to these in the other 1/4 trays, the various pepper seedlings continue to grow.  Germination on these has been OK and providing they all come through, I should have more than enough for my needs for this year.  Again though, they probably need moving under lights to get stronger.

Meanwhile, in the grow tent and under lights, things are going really well.  The Red Cherry tomato plants which were potted on some weeks ago are looking strong.  It will soon be time to start taking out side shoots and possibly pot them on to a larger pot.

As far as the seedlings go, the Pomodor seedlings are ready to be potted on and not far behind them are the Steak Sandwich tomato seedlings.  The aubergine plants are also looking OK, although two of them are doing slightly better than the other two.  The cauli seeds have also come on and I will be looking at possibly pricking them out in a 2 or 3 weeks time I expect.

Shopping Haul

This weekend gave me a great chance to go and have a rummage around two different chain garden centres that I have never been to before.  First off was a trip to a B&M Garden Centre.  Seen as a budget shop for groceries and household wears, they also have an impressive range of garden and growing hardware.  I'd seen via a YouTube channel I subscribe to that they often have good deals on compost, so that alone was worth a visit.  While this particular trip proved fruitless on the compost front, there was plenty else to be had.  I found a potting tray and some long growbag trays which I have been after for a little while to take up to the allotment.  Also, a water butt kit was on sale so we picked up one of those for home.  And finally, a little gonk may have also found it's way into the shopping trolley too.

After B&M, across the road was a Dobbies garden centre.  That chain seem to be going through some tough times and every week I read about more and more branches being closed across the country.  Thankfully though, this one remains open and it was a good chance to have a look.  I'd never been into one of their stores before.  Having just come from B&M, I couldn't help but notice that if I had bought the potting tray and the grow bag trays from Dobbies, I would have been charged double the amount than what I was at B&M.  Perhaps an indication why for some things at least, they are losing customers.  I did buy some seeds, in particular another packet of Bedfordshire Champion onion seeds, some mixed lettuce seeds and a packet of rocket seeds.  All in all, for only 3 packets of seeds, the total still come to over £8, which is a huge amount more that what I would usually pay.

DIY Evening Project

Before we went away for the weekend, I had a good look at the lighting set up I have in the grow tent.  Last year, I only invested in 4 lighting tubes because I didn't know if they would work and end up being a waste of money.  After using them last season, and them appearing to be doing well this season I decided to get another set to light up both halves of the grow tent.  But bringing the other half of the grow tent into play also meant that I needed another heat mat to aid growing.  Last year I bought a small heat mat which was enough for two half size seed trays.  Using that in conjunction with the heated propagator was fine, but this year, along with the Super 7's, I have also added a 50cm square additional pad that gives heating to the other have of the grow tent too.

Enough of that though, back to the DIY.  In order for the lights to be held in place, I'd made a little wooden rack to attach the 4 original lighting strips to.  But as things grow, I needed more height.  Given I now had twice the number of lighting strips to fit into place, I made a whole new frame out of some spare wood.  I measured up the internal area of the grow tent and made a wooden frame that would fit inside.  Then, I fixed the clips for each light into place so I could arrange for strips over each half of the frame.

Once all clipped into place, it was just a question of linking the lights in pairs with cables and putting some cable ties around the frame so it could be hung up inside the grow tent.

Now I'm already to go for the next wave of potting on and sowing.  Hopefully in the next 4 weeks or so I can start to think about moving some of the more hardy plants out to the polytunnel and keep the production line going.

The Job List

Finally, the ever growing job list.  I'm not sure if I'm going to get a chance to do much of these during the week, but I am planning on being home next weekend, so I should be able to catch up a good deal by then.  On the agenda for the next week:

• Start feeding the Red Cherry tomato plants.
• Pot on 6 of the strongest Pomodoro seedlings.
• Pot on at least 6 of the strongest Steak Sandwich tomato seedlings.
• Pot on 6 of the Red Pear strongest seedlings.
• Move all the pepper seeds under lights and keep them on heat.
• Sow 2 1/4 size seed trays of Bedfordshire Champion onions.  These will replace the sowings affected by the white fungus growing in the polytunnel.
• Prick out the 1/4 seed tray of Ailsa Craig onions into modules.
• Sow an 8" pot of Musselburgh Leeks and keep them on heat.  (The sowing left in the polytunnel look to have failed to germinate.
• Start chitting main crop potato seeds.
• Take the shopping haul up to the allotment.
• Prepare and lay two paving paths into their final place.
• Design and build the trellis to be used for cucumber growing.
• Get more manure!