They made it over night, under a fleece. Even had to evict two slugs that found themselves stuck in the builders sand placed around the base of the plants.
What I have done is used some broken hoops to cover them a little differently. I’m a bit worried that the aubergines here will get a bit too warm and damp; inviting more slimers. Now it is rented for ventilation.
Same has been done with the sweet peppers and Nigel.
I went this morning with the intention of planting more gladiolus. I actually ended up planting things in the poly tunnel.
Aunty tish has shared some sweet potatoes. So these are the very things ever to be planted in the poly tunnel.
There was also some aubergines and sweet peppers sat in a box.
They were looking a bit sad, but reasonably sized.
And have now been sunk directly into the ground. We have black beauty, dancer, diamond and tres hative de barbentane aubergines. As well as California wonder sweet pepper and Nigel the outdoor chilli. Have been watered in, and around the base I have put sand and the little blue pellets of doom. All of which were then covered with fleece.
There is hot patio sizzle, hot thai, and pretty purple in pots still in another transparent box. These are heavily slug damaged at the moment; and I’m going to wait til they get a bit more leafier again.
After watching the allotment challenge, I got a little defensive about my own little creatures. So I had to go take a look to see if they were still there.
Yes, they are slug damaged; but they are still alive! And fuzzy and green too. Currently sat beneath a duvet of fleece inside a plastic box. They are small, yes. I am wait them to get a wiggle on. The plan would be to stick them into the ground in the poly tunnel.
I know they are difficult, fickle and temperamental. Wouldn’t be nice to get something out of this experiment.
Have taken an epic risk.
The tomatoes are already out in the 4TB, nestled in fleece but at the moment uncovered. Have gone a bit purple stemmed; but have not keeled over.
Since they look greens and leafy; I have transferred some of the chillies and aubergines to the Wendy house. These are sat in tented fleece as it is all a bit precarious still. They look reasonably robust; and will all be going into the polytunnel anyway in about a month to six weeks.
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These are the nine other ones that’s remain. These are significantly smaller, with the two nagas, and two types of scotch bonnet.
There is growth in the four tier blowaway. The danver carrots are starting to break through and become seedlings. Have yet to see any autumn king carrots. I have never had any success in germinating and propogating parsnips, and as you can see we have a handful of babies making an appearance. In comparison to the carrots, these have taken quite a while to come through. Not uncommon to the experiences of other people. Golden self blanching celery is also coming through. I appreciate that there are lots of seedlings in the pots. Alas, sowing them seed by seed is somewhat fiddly.
The chillies, bells and superhots are taking great strides. There is of course a variation across all of these given when they were all sown. Nigel, Pretty Purple, seranno, patio sizzle and hot thai are reasonable stout. Whereas as others, the hots and superhots, are actually quite slow growing. Early Jalapeño, Nigel, hot patio sizzle are starting to flower, which could actually be a sign of stress. All of these, are very, very thirsty. I observed that last year with the pretty purple rainbow chilli. Need a litre every other day, otherwise it would shed its leaves and flowers.
Arise of the triffids, the first batch! These are of course the aubergines. Early long failed to make it. So we have tres hative de barbentane, diamond, dancer and black beauty. Very, very leaf, and velveteen. Suggests that they are quite delicate at the moment. The aim, is to have them planted into the poly tunnel with the chillies and bells at the end of May. Prior hardening off will be required.
In other news, marketmore, femspot and crystal lemon cucumbers are germinating both in the four tier blowaway and the window sill. Hoping to sow runner beans and sunfloo’ers at some point. There will have to be rotation amongst the wendy house and four tier blowaway.No cabbages and brassicas yet. Though we did harvest some purple sprouting broccoli.
A heaving gallery of pictures for you today. Today’s session started with mama h and I sinking corden trees. These Victoria plum, conference pear and falstaff apple had been in pots for nearly two years. However these were proving to be too small. So these are now sunk into open ground. Hopefully this will contribute to them doing better. Also tidied up the inside of the poly tunnel. It has been up to
30 degrees Celsius in there, with my glasses steaming up as I go in.
The next task was to pot up tomatoes. These were starting to become tall and gangly beyond their baby leaves. Some of their foliage is now quite frilly.
Taking a quick look at the peppers and aubergines. Had to some emergency potting up these week, with both of them as they have an accelerated growth spurt with the spring sunshine. There are quite a few aubergines, I know. Mama h quite likes them, so it will be interesting to see if they fruit. All being well, chillies and bells will be in the poly tunnel. Dorset and bengle nagas are small, but growing. Pretty purple rainbow chilli is romping ahead with its purple tinged leaves, with early jalepeno hot on its heels.
The Superhots are coming along. The challenging Jamaican jerk has made an appearance, as well as orange habanero. Hot scotch is also present. We are still waiting on yellow scotch bonnet, but I am not holding my breath for that one. The California sweet pepper isn’t doing too badly either. >
Have realised that the windowsill babies are getting on a bit. Some of the seedlings have started to grow past their baby leaves, albeit a little slowly. The aubergines have been growing quite quickly compared to the chillies. Thought I might as well pot everything on.
Seedlings are still a little small; but it is still very early. Perhaps won’t have more accelerated growth til later. I have for the moment removed the foodbag cloches. Just hope things don’t got pair shaped!
Finally, the cover for the 4TB has arrived. A little bigger than expected, but that is a lot better than smaller. I had purchased one that did turn out to be smaller, and of no use. This may be bigger, but it is also made of the same reinforced material as the wendy house and the poly tunnel. I am hoping, therein, that it lasts a while. That said, the cover that was replaced is in fact five years old. Apparently, the shop that made the 4TB has changed the dimensions, so I couldn’t an appropriate replacement. That said, to their credit, the company was very good about making amends. In the poly tunnel yesterday, it was a rather balmy twenty degrees. The best thing, that it was still there, and hadn’t floated off. The wendy house was there also, for which we are also thankful. The lyon prizewinner leeks are still there and quite snug too.
Tomatoes aren’t doing too badly at the moment. The vast majority of the seeds that were modularised have come through. The module was sat on the not very warm window sill, and so they did take their time. The babies were also a little leggy, which resulted in them having to be demodularised and then potted up. No mean feat, as I am not very good at pricking out and potting up. Which is why, I only sank singular seeds to begin with. In essence, at the moment, we have the same number of tomato plants as we did last year. It remains to be seen, if these will all achieve maturity.
On the next window sill, we have the the aubergines. Dancer, diamond, tres hative de barbentane and black beauty have all come through. I am still waiting for early long purple to germinate. There was a pleasant surprise in how quickly the aubergine seeds have come up.
Of the chillies and superhots, I have yet to see any of yellow scotch bonnet and orange habanero. Fire has been temporarily written off in failing to come off entirely. The dorset naga looked a bit precarious, having caught a cold; it looked as though it was going to keel over. I checked this afternoon, and it did appear to have rallied. I’m not hedging my bets. I would like it to survive, one has a dorset naga chilli challenge to try! Have resown some california wonder, as i had somewhat neglected to re-sow a sweet pepper. All those hot chillies, and no sweetness. One is thinking of all the possible chilli jam to be made.
I have kept all the babies in foodbag cloches. Mainly, as they are on window sills that don’t always stay warm. With some heat and light trapped, the cloche offers something of a security blanket. I am conscious that a sudden drop in temperature could wipe everything out. I would like to place the tomato babies in the 4TB, under a fleece. Just not sure if they would survive, would be a tragedy for them to be annihilated after being pampered for so long.
It has been a year or two since I last dabbled with growing aubergines, This would be the third attempt. My growing adventures started with growing early long purple 2, and failed with kevin the moody aubergine falling to greenfly and eventually the elements. A second attempt failed also with plants producing pretty purple flowers, but not a lot else.
Now, one has the polytunnel on Project othello, and this lends itself to once more entering the breech. Today, I looked at the seed packets and realised that it was February. The date to sow as indicated on the packets, and I had been meaning to sow them. I took this as a sign, even if it is blowing a hanging gale outside. Now, seemed a good a time as any to sow them.
From only having one variety, the early long purple 2, there are four additional varieties that I have collected.
The runners and riders this year are:
Tres hative barbentane is allegedly a variety that doesn’t mind cooler temperatures, so this is a possible test. I think when I was researching aubergines, these were the varieties that fell into the most pragmatic to grown, given the British Climate. There are of course, many different varieties available. Three seeds of each have been sunk into labelled yoghurt pots and placed into the heated prop. The same method used as the chillies. They may take just as long as chillies to germinate. If the window sills were a little warmer and there was a but more light, I would have put them on the window sill.
The aim of this experiment remains the same. To get a single solitary fruit, from any of the different varieties. Firstly, the things have to germinate.
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