Tomato Planting.

Today the head gardener and I have been planting the first lot of Tomato plants. We will be planting another lot later outside.

The ones planted below are in the greenhouse border and will obviously stay there for the rest of their time.

I have moved away from having the greenhouse full of Tomato plants all summer mainly because of whitefly problems. Instead I now plant most of them in containers and sit them outside in the potting shed yard which catches lots of sunshine and are protected by high walls. In the picture below are some I have planted in potato growing bags. I will keep adding more compost to the bags through the summer as the plants progress.

Below is the same as above except here I am using pots. I do prefer the bags actually but I only have three of those. The plants in the containers are being put out during the day and brought back in to the greenhouse at night as we are still getting a few cold nights ate the moment.

We finished up with a couple of plants left over so not wanting to throw them away and with nothing to lose I planted them in the open garden and covered them with these two cloches that I am restoring. I have another lot of plants coming on behind these which I will be planting in the open garden which will be for later in the year.

Why Pull Up The Foxgloves?

Today turned out a bit nasty so I spend all afternoon in the potting shed and greenhouses sorting out plants to make room for some Busy Lizzies that needed potting on in to six packs. I do basic greenhouse tasks after checking over the sheep but I like to get done with the greenhouse work by break time so at this time of year there is usually plenty waiting my attention indoors if the weather turns nasty.

Emily has asked me why I pulled up the Foxgloves the other day. Basically it was because they were in the wrong place. Its hard to see from the picture I posted but the Marigolds grow in a small raised bed and so the Foxglove would have been to big and over powering so they just have English Marigolds and a Red leaved Formium in the mild for a bit of height. The foxgloves had set themselves there anyway. She also asked about the veg and why I plant the amount I do. Well I like to grow a good variety and I hate half rows so I usually plant a row of each. There were eight plants in each row.

Tonight we will take another look in the greenhouse as there is quite a bit going on in there at the moment. First up we have the Orchids which are now coming in to flower.

Last time we had a look round I pointed out the cabbages growing in the border, well as you can see one of them is ready for eating.
Last week I potted up some of the Tomato plants for the last time, they will live in these pots now. I have three more plants but of a different variety and then there are another lots that will come on later.
And under the staging are the Polyanthus seeds that are just starting to germinate. If you wondering why the tray is on a bowl its to keep the slugs from getting in the seed tray. I think they would have trouble getting in with the sheet of glass on the top but I wasn't taking any chances with them.