26/2/25 - Polytunnel Watering and Emergency Sowing
Only a couple of days ago I was facing a pretty impressive job list, but with a bit of time after work in the evenings, I've managed to start tackling the smaller jobs so that by the weekend when I have more time, I should only have a handful of the bigger tasks to concentrate on. It's also been a little while since I have had chance to go to the allotment. Mindful that occasionally, it would have been quite warm in the tunnel, I made some time to go and do some watering and have a check upon progress.
Polytunnel - The Good
On the staging, it was a nice surprise that after a number of weeks, the first sowing of Spring Onions have germinated in their trough. Like the strawberries, they also had got a bit dry so had a good dowsing. Now they have germinated, hopefully they will crack on and put some good growth on.
Meanwhile, out in the mini hooped tunnel, the Broccoli and Cauli plants I transplanted out there to just see if they would take seem to be doing pretty well. It's been a couple of months since the digestate was laid down, and the soil has dried up quite a bit since then, so those plants also had a healthy drink of water too.
Polytunnel - The Bad and The Ugly
It's looking increasingly likely that the white fungus I have encountered on the peat based compost and that which I've used to sow my Bedfordshire Champion onions and also prick out the Ailsa Craig onions has indeed caused issues. The first set of Ailsa Craig seedlings that have been transplanted into cells seem OK in themselves, but haven't really developed any more. I think I will leave them in place for now as they're not deteriorating, and it might just be my impatience.
The other set of pricked out seedlings though aren't fairing so well. Where I would have expected them to perk back up within a day or so of being transplanted on, they haven't done much, and some of them have actually died off. I've given them a good watering, but if there isn't much movement by the weekend, I'll probably bin them. Equally as disappointing, there also hasn't been any movement on the Bedfordshire Champion sowings that I made. The fungus has taken over well and truly. I've watered them but again, if there is no sign of improvement by the weekend, I'll bin those too.
And finally for the bad and ugly, the leek sowings have yet to germinate. Fortunately though, I used a different compost for those which hasn't got fungus all over the surface, so I'll keep those in place and keep watering them.
Emergency Mode Engaged
With some failures in the pipeline, I needed to act quick to make sure I still caught the window of opportunity to sow onions and grow from seed. I still have a 1/4 sized seed tray of Ailsa Craig, so I can prick those out and pot them on into other compost. Then, if the first tray does pull through, I should be OK for Ailsa Craig. The Bedfordshire Champion onions are at a loss at the moment though. But, what I have done is sown two more 1/4 seed trays of those. This time, I have put them on heat mats at home, and will be keeping them under lights for a much better chance of germination and with the different compost, hopefully eliminate the white fungus issue.
Just in case, I have also sown another pot of Musselburgh leeks, and again will be keeping these ones at home to improve chances. Still at home, it's been a busy time with the seedlings in the grow house. I've pricked out some of the tomato seedlings which have been growing so well under lights and have just started developing their second leaves.
- 6 strong Tomato Pomodoro Roma seedlings potted on (4 needed to succeed).
- 6 strong Tomato Red Pear seedlings potted on (4 needed to succeed).
- The peppers have been brought off the windowsill and put on heat under lights too.
Polytunnel Temps
I expect it will be the weekend before anything else now gets done, but we're in a good place which is nice. Plenty still to do and look forward to.
