Page 29 - ALG Issue 3 2024

THE KINGS PLOT
was so wet and my greenhouses were bursting at the seams, so I decided to plant my tomatoes and peppers in the polytunnel at the allotment.This is a bit earlier than normal, but I needed the space, and it
is surprising how much warmer it is in a polytunnel even on cold days and nights. I also planted my hanging basket tomatoes ‘Cherry Falls’ and placed these in the tunnel to grow on until safe to hang outside at the end of May.
The rhubarb ‘Fulton’s Strawberry Surprise’ is shooting a little earlier this year, as this is normally a late maturing variety, but worth growing for its deep red stems and sweeter flavour.
Once I get all the planting done, I will start sowing my courgettes, squashes
and cucumbers into individual pots in the greenhouse. When sowing these, I always half fill a pot with seed sowing compost, insert the seeds on their edge so they don’t rot and lightly cover the seeds.These are then placed in a heated propagator, and once they germinate and the seed leaves
reach the top of the pot, I carefully fill in the rest of the pot with compost to encourage more roots around the stems and a sturdier plant.These plants won’t be planted out until the end of May once all risk of night frosts have passed.
Another item to sow will be sweetcorn, always making sure the compost is just moist and not too wet to avoid the seed rotting.
Towards the middle of May will be my first sowings of runner and French Beans, ready for planting out at the end of May. There is no point sowing too early and
risking it, because if this crop gets cold or knocked about in a cold wind, it will set them back and take them a long time to recover.
Well, the sun is forecast for a few more days so I’d better get on with some of my planting out.
Fingers crossed the weather settles down and we all have a good growing season, and don’t forget that if any NAS member has a seed problem and needs some free advice, the team at Kings Seeds are always at the end of a phone to help.
Happy Gardening!
Allotment and Leisure Gardener | Issue 3 2024 | 29