The greenhouse that time forgot

It feels as if nothing is really growing but I have just looked at some photographs taken a month ago and there has been some movement…but not nearly as much as there should have been. It is as if time has stopped.

I should have my tomato plants in growbags by now. I am only growing three varieties this year, moneymaker, red cherry and sungold. These are the ones I always have most success with.

I was having a bit of blogger banter with fellow gardening blogger Adam Leone (see Carrot Tops Allotment http://carrottopsallotment.com/) about the tastiest cherry tomato. He reckoned Gardeners Delight is the best variety but I think sungold is just that bit better. Put it this way, last year very few of our sungold tomatoes made it as far as the kitchen. In fact, very few made it out of the greenhouse. They were so sweet we ate them like sweeties.

So I set Adam a challenge. Grow both varieties and then do a blind tasting to see which one he prefers. He has even gone as far as mention my challenge in his last podcast and he has planted his sungold seeds - so the challenge is on! All we need now is some sunshine!

This week I managed to plant swedes and Florence fennel outside. The beetroot and peas I planted outside a couple of weeks ago have germinated which is good news.

I have potted on some zinnias, cosmos and diascia. The flowers and brassicas are all hardening off nicely. It has certainly been the perfect hardening off weather!

The brassicas could really do with being planted out now but we dug over the plot two weeks ago and normally we would have expected the clods of earth to have dried enough to crumble when stamped on. However, it has never stopped raining long enough and so I am unable to get the patch prepared for planting!

: The brassica patch is not quite ready!

My sweet peas have been ready to go out for weeks and they have become really straggly and unsightly…so I sowed some more.

My gran’s magnolia tree is about to flower but we have had to cover it with fleece a few nights when frost was forecast.

: Casper the friendly ghost!

I lost a melon and courgette plant, so only have one of each left. I have planted some more seeds just in case.

The good news is the peas, livingstone daisies, sunflowers, potatoes, blueberry, carrots and pak choi are thriving in the greenhouse and the strawberry plants outside have started to flower! My 4 okra plants seem to be in the land that time forgot.

: 24 April 2012

: 18 May 2012 - spot the difference!

I have not been able to sow any seeds for cut flowers outside, something new I wanted to try this year. So I have just planted up some large pots and left them in the greenhouse until things warm up.

The forecast for the weekend is sunny spells with a high temperature of…FIVE DEGREES! Never mind, it’s nearly June......

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Comment by elaine rickett on May 20, 2012 at 14:24: I think we all know what you are going through - if only the temperature would rise things would soon take off. Fingers crossed we wont have to wait much longer.

Comment by Debbie on May 20, 2012 at 19:49: Be careful what you wish for. The temperature has risen here (Plymouth) and the grass and weeds have taken over. AAAAaaaaaarrrrgh

Comment by elaine rickett on May 20, 2012 at 20:08: I suppose you can't have one thing without the other - I'd rather have the weeds and warm weather at the moment.

Comment by Fiona MacDonald on May 20, 2012 at 23:07: I have just seen the weather forecast for the week ahead and things are looking good. I might even be brave enough to plant some stuff outside!

Comment by elaine rickett on May 21, 2012 at 8:21: I'm trying to get everything planted out that has been hardening off in the mini-greenhouse - broad beans this morning - yesterday Romanesco Cauliflowers - I shall be running out of planting space soon - I always seem to grow more than I have room for - due to my over-enthusiasm - guess I'll never learn.

Comment by Fiona MacDonald on May 21, 2012 at 9:58: It is really misty here this morning but the sun is starting to break through - hooray. I know what you mean about always having too much. I am the world's worst for thining out and discarding weaker seedlings. I have some friends who just don't bother buying tomato plants any more. They just wait to see what excess plants I have. I can't throw anything away. This year I tried to be strict with my brassicas and only kept so many of each. Then I lost most of them to the frost in April and had to start again! You can't win.

Comment by Catherine on May 21, 2012 at 17:58: We all seem to be in the same boat, but things are warming up and some seedlings I re-potted a few days ago have put on a spurt of growth. Weather looks promising for the coming week :))))