This was my first year at growing my own veg in a cheap polytunell. I'd made
all the interior staging and heated propergator from skip dived pallets, and
now I've just tidied up my polytunnel and turned the heating off. I had
Toms,peppers and aubergines grown ring culture style in the one bed. But
what can I grow directly in the soil now and harvest them before next years
toms etc...?

Regards
p.mc

"p.mc" wrote in message
...
This was my first year at growing my own veg in a cheap polytunell. I'd
made all the interior staging and heated propergator from skip dived
pallets, and now I've just tidied up my polytunnel and turned the heating
off. I had Toms,peppers and aubergines grown ring culture style in the one
bed. But what can I grow directly in the soil now and harvest them before
next years toms etc...?

Regards
p.mc


Something we always did when we had our big garden and a couple of
polytunnels, was, on Boxing Day, plant our seed potatoes :-))

Always had a nice crop earlier than anyone else :-))

BUT........ Don't know where you are, we are South Coast Isle of Wight.

Mike


--

....................................

Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive.

....................................

p.mc wrote:
This was my first year at growing my own veg in a cheap polytunell. I'd made
all the interior staging and heated propergator from skip dived pallets, and
now I've just tidied up my polytunnel and turned the heating off. I had
Toms,peppers and aubergines grown ring culture style in the one bed. But
what can I grow directly in the soil now and harvest them before next years
toms etc...?

You could try broad beans and peas - would normally be too laet to plant
now, I think, but the mild autumn could still produce some growth before
spring.

I'm going to grow lettuce + oriental leaf in the unheated greenhouse if I
get a chance. Plus I have potatoes that were growing in pots outside
brought into there now.

Could possibly get some spring cabbage in if you could buy plants from
somewhere? May be a bit late to put them in now.

Whe nare you planning on putting your tomatoes in? Are you putting the min
indoor pots first? My tomatoes don't go into the greenhouse until about
May.

wrote in message
...
p.mc wrote:
This was my first year at growing my own veg in a cheap polytunell. I'd
made
all the interior staging and heated propergator from skip dived pallets,
and
now I've just tidied up my polytunnel and turned the heating off. I had
Toms,peppers and aubergines grown ring culture style in the one bed. But
what can I grow directly in the soil now and harvest them before next
years
toms etc...?

You could try broad beans and peas - would normally be too laet to plant
now, I think, but the mild autumn could still produce some growth before
spring.

I'm going to grow lettuce + oriental leaf in the unheated greenhouse if I
get a chance. Plus I have potatoes that were growing in pots outside
brought into there now.

Could possibly get some spring cabbage in if you could buy plants from
somewhere? May be a bit late to put them in now.

Whe nare you planning on putting your tomatoes in? Are you putting the
min
indoor pots first? My tomatoes don't go into the greenhouse until about
May.

Hi There
Novice grower eager to be educated from Merseyside (not exactly tropical :-)

Well I had my toms etc going early this year (Jan 2011) as I propergated
them from seed in my home made propergator in the heated tunnel. but I
suppose I could leave it a bit longer next year if need be Vicky.

Also, "what seed potatoes would you suggest Mike? This year I grew some
varieties (earlies, main etc) in sacks (can't remeber them now, bought from
Home bargain centre) but I was a bit dissapointed with the crop even though
I'd left them full term, and they where also a bit mushy when boiled. (Maybe
not dried out enough!)

" I'd probably plant them in sacks in the tunnel though. Could I get
anything growing on the staging too?

Please have a browse through my public album, it may give you a better idea
of what is best (space wise) thanks for looking.

http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...el30thNov2011/

p.mc

"p.mc" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
...
p.mc wrote:
This was my first year at growing my own veg in a cheap polytunell. I'd
made
all the interior staging and heated propergator from skip dived pallets,
and
now I've just tidied up my polytunnel and turned the heating off. I had
Toms,peppers and aubergines grown ring culture style in the one bed. But
what can I grow directly in the soil now and harvest them before next
years
toms etc...?

You could try broad beans and peas - would normally be too laet to plant
now, I think, but the mild autumn could still produce some growth before
spring.

I'm going to grow lettuce + oriental leaf in the unheated greenhouse if I
get a chance. Plus I have potatoes that were growing in pots outside
brought into there now.

Could possibly get some spring cabbage in if you could buy plants from
somewhere? May be a bit late to put them in now.

Whe nare you planning on putting your tomatoes in? Are you putting the
min
indoor pots first? My tomatoes don't go into the greenhouse until about
May.

Hi There
Novice grower eager to be educated from Merseyside (not exactly tropical
:-)

Well I had my toms etc going early this year (Jan 2011) as I propergated
them from seed in my home made propergator in the heated tunnel. but I
suppose I could leave it a bit longer next year if need be Vicky.

Also, "what seed potatoes would you suggest Mike? This year I grew some
varieties (earlies, main etc) in sacks (can't remeber them now, bought
from Home bargain centre) but I was a bit dissapointed with the crop even
though I'd left them full term, and they where also a bit mushy when
boiled. (Maybe not dried out enough!)

" I'd probably plant them in sacks in the tunnel though. Could I get
anything growing on the staging too?

Please have a browse through my public album, it may give you a better
idea of what is best (space wise) thanks for looking.

http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...el30thNov2011/

p.mc


Can't remember which seed spuds now. Would have been an early though. This
was in the 70's and the 80's, rather a bit of a test on the memory.

We had a massive garden then, toooooooooooooooo big :-((

Mike



--

....................................

Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive.

....................................

p.mc wrote:
Novice grower eager to be educated from Merseyside (not exactly tropical :-)

My homeland. :-)
(currently exported to Essex)

Well I had my toms etc going early this year (Jan 2011) as I propergated
them from seed in my home made propergator in the heated tunnel. but I
suppose I could leave it a bit longer next year if need be Vicky.

Personally I've never had any luck with tomatoes sown before March. I've
heard people starting them off as early as boxing day, but they've always
been weak and weedy for me.

Also, "what seed potatoes would you suggest Mike? This year I grew some
varieties (earlies, main etc) in sacks (can't remeber them now, bought from
Home bargain centre)

Ooh, now I saw them, if only I could remember what they stocked. Were they
white? Iirc, they had Kestrel (which are white-purple), Rocket and ..
Markies? Something like that. Any of them sound familiar?

but I was a bit dissapointed with the crop even though
I'd left them full term, and they where also a bit mushy when boiled. (Maybe
not dried out enough!)

That'll be the variety, rather than anything to do with how you grew them.
There's a huge variety of potatoes, each with different properties - there's
the obvious floury/waxy textured ones (which is where you get your mushy or
solid when cooked from), different skin and flesh colours, better or worse
resistance to blight/eelworm/slugs, and vastly different size and yield.
And on top of that, they all taste different. :-)
Usually we take a trip to the Hampshire potato day in January (do a google
for potato days, there's may be one close to you that you could visit) with
the intention of getting 3 or 4 varieties, and almost always end up bringing
home 12+ varieties! Our favourite is kestrel, but there is a poster here
(sorry, can't remember who it is now!) who hates kestrel. All a bit hit and
miss, trial and error!

" I'd probably plant them in sacks in the tunnel though. Could I get
anything growing on the staging too?

I normally start things off on the staging, then move them to ground height
when moving them on into bigger pots.

Sorry I can't remember the potato variaties now (stupid mistake!)

My toms were ok. The 2 double strip lights in my pictures are sited on the
roof, but they start off over the staging nice and close to the plants and
are lifted gradually as they grow. Maybe that stops them bolting and going
weedy as you say!

Thanks for the info and tips Vicky.

--


Regards
p.mc

wrote in message
...
p.mc wrote:
Novice grower eager to be educated from Merseyside (not exactly tropical
:-)

My homeland. :-)
(currently exported to Essex)

Well I had my toms etc going early this year (Jan 2011) as I propergated
them from seed in my home made propergator in the heated tunnel. but I
suppose I could leave it a bit longer next year if need be Vicky.

Personally I've never had any luck with tomatoes sown before March. I've
heard people starting them off as early as boxing day, but they've always
been weak and weedy for me.

Also, "what seed potatoes would you suggest Mike? This year I grew some
varieties (earlies, main etc) in sacks (can't remeber them now, bought
from
Home bargain centre)

Ooh, now I saw them, if only I could remember what they stocked. Were
they
white? Iirc, they had Kestrel (which are white-purple), Rocket and ..
Markies? Something like that. Any of them sound familiar?

but I was a bit dissapointed with the crop even though
I'd left them full term, and they where also a bit mushy when boiled.
(Maybe
not dried out enough!)

That'll be the variety, rather than anything to do with how you grew them.
There's a huge variety of potatoes, each with different properties -
there's
the obvious floury/waxy textured ones (which is where you get your mushy
or
solid when cooked from), different skin and flesh colours, better or worse
resistance to blight/eelworm/slugs, and vastly different size and yield.
And on top of that, they all taste different. :-)
Usually we take a trip to the Hampshire potato day in January (do a google
for potato days, there's may be one close to you that you could visit)
with
the intention of getting 3 or 4 varieties, and almost always end up
bringing
home 12+ varieties! Our favourite is kestrel, but there is a poster here
(sorry, can't remember who it is now!) who hates kestrel. All a bit hit
and
miss, trial and error!

" I'd probably plant them in sacks in the tunnel though. Could I get
anything growing on the staging too?

I normally start things off on the staging, then move them to ground
height
when moving them on into bigger pots.