2/4/25 - Onions and Tomatoes

Time for a quick hump day update.  Having moved into BST, there's now chance to spend a reasonable amount of time on the plot after work.  Which is a good job really, as the work load seems to go up and up.

Tomatoes away

Initially, I thought I had gone 'too soon' on the tomato front.  That might still prove to be the case if we have a sudden cold snap, but the forecast for the next week to 10 days is still dry, bright and as long as you stay out the wind, quite warm.  The outcome is that I have a load of tomatoes that are bursting to get out and get their feet in the ground.  My original plan was to have 4 Steak Sandwich plants in the tunnel, and around 8 more outside.  That is still the case, but the ones that are destined to go outside are ready to go now, but I just don't trust the weather enough quite yet.  So, it's been a case of pot them on into bigger pots and keep them undercover.

This evenings trip up to the plot has allowed us to move the 4 Steak Sandwich plants into their final quad grow homes in the tunnel.  They have been in the tunnel for a couple of weeks now, so it just made sense to get them into their quad grows.

We also took with us all the large pots we had left, and so we have now potted on as many of the other tomato plants as possible.  It will possible be another 3 or 4 weeks before I'll be happy to get them outside into their final beds.  In the meantime, they can continue growing in larger pots.

Onions twice removed

Yesterday, I transplanted the first tray of Ailsa Craig onions from their root trainers.  Each of the plants were around the thickness of a pencil, so really did need putting into their final bed.  Or so I thought.  I diligently put the onions in place, but only on the way home did I get a hunch that they went into the wrong place.  It bugged me all day today until we returned to the allotment and I was finally be able to confirm that yes, dopey had put them in the wrong bed.

This evening was a first.  We dug up the transplanted onions again and moved them into the correct bed.  The correct bed is larger than the first bed, but it has still taken up half the bed for just one tray of onions.  I have another 3 and a bit trays to find homes for!

The other half of the bed will probably go to a tray of Bedfordshire Champion onions, but they are a way off needing to be transplanted yet.  When this bed is full, I've identified one, maybe two other beds that will be able to accommodate more onions, so I won't be wasting any if I can at all help it.