13/4/25 - Polytunnel Has Been Peppered

It's been a long week away with work, so I wasn't able to go to the plot last week.  It was time for a bit of catchup and the start of the transformation of the polytunnel into main season growing mode.  We have had such a dry couple of months, with virtually no rain at all.  Watering visits to the allotment have been happening every few days, and for those plot holders who have left bear soil with no sort of mulch over the winter are faces with very dry and dusty soil conditions and cracks starting to appear in the ground.  Thankfully (for us growers anyway) the weather forecast for the coming week is due to put a stop to the dry conditions as we are eventually forecast rain.  Yippee!

Beer Traps, Slugs and Sprouts

Looking at my job list for the month of April, I can see that I was due to transplant out two Brussels Sprouts plants in their bed in front of the polytunnel.  The fact is though that I had 5 good and strong plants in the tunnel, and it would seem a shame to only plant out 2 of them.  So, 4 have gone into the bed, and one was left on the allotment sharing bench.

I've been looking at better way of keeping on top of the slug population too.  While it's been dry, there has been very little in the way of slug action, but to prepare for the coming rain this week, I've invested in some slug beer traps.  With two in the bed, it will be interesting to see if the slugs make an appearance when the wet weather finally comes.

Onions

As the polytunnel starts it's transformation away from sowing mode into growing mode, It's been time to transplant the New Brunswick onions into their beds.  After a panicky start with one failed tray of seedlings, I more than made up for them, and again, I've ended up leaving around 20 seedlings on the sharing bench and tipped out another full tray.  Though I got rid of all those, I still managed to fill the other half the intended bed where I have already planted out Ailsa Craig onions and also planted out onions around the Kale and Brussels Sprouts beds.

Peppers and Aubergines Out

This is where I've been a bit torn.  The plants themselves have been doing OK in the polytunnel since they were taken up there a few weeks ago, I guess, but they are slow growing.  They look healthy enough though.  These last few weeks, they've had exposure to a wide range of temperatures, but that range is going to decrease in the coming couple of weeks.  Is it too soon to plant them on.  Will they be happier in bigger pots?

A few weeks ago, I planted out two tomato plants that were originally intended to go outside, but they come on so well, that they outgrew their pots and really needed to be moved on.  But, outside night time temperatures were hovering just above freezing so really not ideal for putting tomatoes outside.  To address that, I put them into two quad grow pots which I had spare.

Two Aubergine plants now have taken up residence in two more pots, and I also put together another pair of quad grow reservoirs which are now home to 4 pepper plants.  I'm still a little unsure about the generally cooler temperatures that are forecast for the coming week or two, so I have also put them under cloches too.

Polytunnel Temps and Strawberries

Another clear and warm week has given us a wide range of temperatures, with them soaring during the clear day and diving at night.  This week we have seen over 47 degrees indoor maximum and 3.6 minimum.

Herefordshire is well renown for it's soft fruit farms.  Everything from black currents, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries are all grown within 5 minutes walk of the allotment.  In fact, some of them are grown the other side of the allotment site hedge.  Strawberries are grown across the county in miles and miles of polytunnels, and it's good to see that as they are starting to look at their first harvests of early varieties, so are my own plants starting to develop their fruits.