First produce from the Polytunnel!

Just over a couple of weeks after putting the tunnel up it's beginning to pay dividends. The first harvests today were one cucumber (Miniature White - OK it's only a couple of inches long, but the clue's in the name!) and three gherkins (one Paris Pickling and one Bimbostar, and one unlabeled but it's one of those two! Fortunately Mrs D is a big fan of pickled cucumbers and gherkins, so if anyone has a recipe feel free to share ;>)

 

Paris Pickling

Miniature White

Elsewhere in the tunnel...

First Hungarian Hot Wax chilli forming

First tomato - Costolutu Fiorentino

Is that a decent cage for the brassicas I see?

Yes, I believe it is! For the first time ever I've finally built a cage that is tall enough, pinned down all the way around it and leave room for me to get in and out of it. It is now full of Flower Sprouts and Purple Sprouting Broccoli - although quite which is which is a bit of a mystery due to a bit of a labelling mix up. There's still room at the side of the cage for a few Brussels plants I've got to go in as well.

Harvest Time!
Despite my ongoing battles with the mice, I think I'm getting more than they are at last and am hoping to make some jam from them too. The potatoes (Charlottes) are coming thick and fast, as are the salad leaves (beetroot, Little Gem and Romaine Ballon - I'm just picking off the young leaves rather than picking the whole lettuce, which is a tactic that is working really well). Not getting the variety I'd like but I've got a lot more mixed salad leaves on the go and a couple more types of lettuce, but it'll be a couple of weeks before I start getting anything from them. Finally getting a few broad beans from plot no 2 (always a week or two ahead) but the plants on plot no 1 are looking much healthier with no signs of black fly yet or mouse attacks:

And it won't be long before we're having our first courgettes:

Flowers

No I know this can be a emotive issue, no names mentioned but you know who you are ;>) I however do like to find some room to grow some flowers for a number of reasons: firstly they can't help to attract the pollinators and secondly I can pick them and take them home for the wife, saving me money at the florist and scoring me brownie points to make up for her being locked out whilst I was down on the allotment!

Foxgloves up on plot no 2

Cornflowers just beginning to come out on plot no 2. I have since picked a few to bring home and they do look stunning and went down very well.

More foxgloves and some carnations (hopefully ready soon) down on plot no 1

 

Finally, up in the pond (aka bath at the top of the plot) a frog was basking in the sun. Do frogs bask in the sun?

Oh and I've finally updated some of my blog links on the right hand side - apologies to many of you I've only just got round to adding a link to.

So, what's in the tunnel?

It's surprising how big it is in there, but fortunately I was prepared and grew a few (!) plants in advance. Because it's next to the old tree and there are 'issues' with roots at the top end, I've decided to mainly grow things in pots for now. And because I'm not sure whereabouts in the tunnel I want to grow them, I'm supporting them with canes. I know, I know, it's asking for trouble but I have got plastic bottles or pots on them.

So after potting a dozen French marigolds (from the local garden centre) to attract pollinators and deter nasty things like aphids, the following are currently in the tunnel:

Tomatoes
Gigante Liscio x 2
Costolutu Fiorentino x 11
Roma x 7
Garden Pearl x 4
Japanese Black Truffle x 4
Chocolate Cherry x 6

Some of these are bigger than others though and probably only half of them are in there final (cannabis!) plant pots - for anyone worried about the cannabis connection, see the previous post!


Chillies
Ring of Fire x 5
Hungarian Hot Wax x 5
Jalapeno x 4
Padron x 3
Cayenne x 3
Unknown/unlabelled x 7

I bought a couple of different ones from the school garden open day, only I can't remember what they were and the others are a result of my poor labelling! Could have sworn I'd sown some Joe's Long earlier in the year though...


Cucumber/Gherkins
Miniature White x 3
Bimbostar x 1
Paris Pickling x 1
Unknown x 1 (but it's going to be one of the above!)

and I planted a couple of pots of basil. Now when I was there this morning the camera gave up on me, but fortunately I went back later in the evening accompanied by my assistant keen to see the new polytunnel:

But it's difficult to capture everything with the lens I have in there, but despite having 70+ plants in there, it's in no way crowded.

Other jobs today...
I'm fighting a battle with squirrels or mice to get the few strawberries that have been ready so far, but I managed to get a couple first thing this morning.

Watered the polytunnel.

Made a frame for the cucumbers/gherkins to grow up.

Planted on some tomatoes and chillies, and the marigolds.

Planted some peas (Telephone). Sadly my dwarf ones have been eaten after I proudly boasted earlier this year that mine always grew without netting them, and then the tall ones I planted either didn't germinate or got eaten.

Planted some radish, lettuce and two types of salad leaves, undercropping the beans and peas.

Then picked up various squash plants to plant out up at plot no. 2, stopping off home for some lunch of home grown salad first.

Plot no. 2  grows weeds exceptionally well, and after the rain at the weekend I was in danger of losing the potatoes yet alone the onions!

This was taken a couple of nights ago, just as the light was fading hence the flash, but it's difficult to see the spuds in there! Fortunately I'm pleased to say it's much better now and you can see both the potatoes and onions. And the potatoes have been earthed up!

I then planted out some courgettes (All Green Bush), pumpkins (Crown Prince) and a squash (Gem Store). Then my time was up and it was time to get the kids from school, but I managed to find another four strawberries to take with me.

Around the plots
At this time of year there is a fair amount going on:

Alium bed, the giant ones going to seed, the others just coming out now

Broad beans, with potatoes behind, comfrey in flower and covered in bees and the entrance to the plot is somewhere behind there!

Blueberries, and if I don't get some netting over them they'll be going the same way as the red currants - i.e the birds are going to eat them.

Foxglove, suffering from a lack of water and only about two foot high.

Gooseberry bush - it does so well, I just wish I liked them!

Lettuce intercropped between the french beans to the left and (hopefully) peas to the right

Self-seeded phacelia

'Cottage Garden' up on plot no 2, with a cosmos in the foreground, with cornflowers behind and some carnations fighting for some space with them, dahlias (going out of shot to the left) and foxgloves and gladioli behind. This is how I always hope the garden at home will look, but it never does!

"Can we build a den?"

Popped out with my youngest this morning to buy some straw to put under the strawberries from the local allotment shop. It seemed silly not to then put it around the strawberries so we stopped off at the allotment too ;>)

Hoed round the strawberries, gave them some water and then put the straw round them together. Did a bit of weeding then ready to go home. "No I don't want too." Well that told me! I finished off the tidying up I started the other day and the plot is looking tidier than it ever has (although still not up to Craig's standard!). Perhaps there is some benefit to being unemployed after all!

An hour or so later, finally showing signs of possibly going home when she comes up to me, puts her arms around me and asks "can we build a den?". Who could say no to that sort of request? Not me.

Fortunately I still have plenty of sticks around from when I originally cut the privet down several years ago and plenty of string. The framework was in place, but by this time I was hungry so I persuade her to come home for lunch with the promise we could finish it after lunch, and maybe bring her Mum and brother to help. And the camera.

Mrs D doesn't do digging, so bought her knitting whilst me and the kids finished off the den. There were some disagreements over style, flooring and who should be doing what but eventually this is what we ended up with:

I left the kids to argue about who could sit where and anything else they could think off, and dug in my caliente mustard. And at that price it had better work! I potted on some of my Costolutu Fiorentino (as grown my Monty on Gardener's World! - mine aren't that far advanced and will be grown in pots though) and a few cucumbers and gherkins (Paris Pickling, Miniature White and Bimbostar).

By which stage Mrs D declared she'd had enough of sitting in full sun so it was time to go home! Oh and can I make a pergola for some shade?! That'll teach me for taking her down to the plot - LOL!