6/4/25 - April Sowings and Transplants Start
At with many if not most posts, I can't begin without mentioning the weather. It's been over 4 weeks since we've had any meaningful rain here in Herefordshire. With it, most of that time has also been spent under clear blue sky. It's all a bit surreal because many allotment society members are having to make daily trips to their plots for watering alone. Not only that, but some members have even needed to water the ground before that have been able to dig it in preparation for sowing and planting. The old Facebook Memories give me a daily reminder of years gone by, and only a week or so ago, it reminded me of an occasion around 15 years ago that I drove to Scotland for work, and the entire of the country was covered in a blanket of snow. Yet, here we are now with daytime temperatures of anything between 17 and 20 degrees. Don't get me wrong, it's rather nice after a long winter, but it's really messed up! Anyway, let's get stuck into it.
Sowings
Something that can probably withstand some lower temperatures at the moment are potatoes. This is the first year I have grown potatoes in the ground. Buried in their trench and then mounded will give them adequate protection if we do have any frosts. They should take 3 weeks or so before they break the surface, by which time, hopefully we'll be at around our last frost date.
Space is really becoming a premium inside the polytunnel at the moment, so it's all a bit of a juggling act. To create a bit more space, I transplanted out another tray of Ailsa Craig onions, but this time, not into the main onion bed for this year, but around the perimeter of two other beds. One of those beds is primarily being kept for Brussels Sprouts, and the other for Kale. Not only will the onions use up valuable growing space around those plants, but it is also thought that the smell of the onions nearby will deter pests who like to munch upon brassicas. We will see how that theory plays out as the year goes on!
Another new sowing for 2025 are Climbing French Beans. On the planting plan, I need around 36 plants for the bed, so 40 cells between two trays have been sown. I still have some spare seed, so if germination is poor, I still have the option of direct sowing in another month or so. The second tray is only part given to beans. In the remaining cells of that tray, I've sown some other seed varieties which I am trying for the first time this year.
4 Waltham Butternut Squash plants have been sown. I only need 2, so as long as 2 of them make it, that's fine. Left over from last year's seed, I have sown two more Uchiki Kuri Squash. They were reasonably successful last year, but didn't keep amazingly well. I need one plant for the purposes of the plan, so two cells sown.
Water Melon Jubilee is another new one, and it will eventually be grown in the mini polytunnel. In the plan, I need two plants, but they di grow quite big as far as I can understand. So, I have only sown two cells, but if only one germinates and reaches maturity, that I will only grow one.
To round the tray off, I've also grown 4 more cells of All Year Round Cauliflower, with the anticipation of these being the right size to transplant once the broad beans have been harvested and cleared out and 4 cells of Cosmos Candyfloss mix. We've grown cosmos for home for a number of years now. It does well for us and the bees, and keeps kicking out new flowers all summer long.
Movers
Other things that have been moved to either facilitate the taking down of the grow tent and lights at home, or to create a bit more space in the main polytunnel are my pepper plants. I'm still a little bit apprehensive about them being up the tunnel, but they tray of plants has been in the tunnel for a good few days now. I think the natural light is doing them good and they even seem to have put some new growth on. I expect that if this warm weather stays with us for another week or two, they'll end up going into their final quad grows.
I think it's time to admit that this year, I have way too many onions! After last years poor performance growing from sets, I've somewhat over-compensated 😂. I still have two trays of Bedfordshire Champion onion to transfer out. I need to wait for them to come on a bit more before that, but nevertheless, I will grow on all the seedlings until I run out of room. The rest will probably be up for grabs after that. Also in amongst the 4 trays of plants moved into the mini tunnel are the Brussels Sprouts plants, Pak Choi and Kale. Out of all those, the sprouts will be destined to be moved into their final bed soon. Perhaps next weekend. The rest will take a bit more growing on before I can put those out. There's plenty of time though!
Polytunnel Temps
The temperature range is pretty brutal at the moment. This week, the recorded high as been 49.3 degrees, with a low of 1.8 degrees. That's just bonkers! All the plants in the tunnels have endure that temperature swing every 24 hours, but some of them seem to completely thrive on it. I fully expect as summer gets underway, that the temperature inside the polytunnel will reach even higher figures, but the overnight lows should be substantially higher than they are at the moment.
Setting the Benchmark
