It’s not a good idea to plant brassicas in a polytunnel. Not
when you leave the door open all of the time like I do. Every morning for weeks I have found myself
removing cabbage white butterflies and then checking the broccoli and kale
leaves for the small yellow eggs the butterflies lay under the leaves. I
thought I was keeping up with them but have just realised that I hardly have
any leaves left on the plants!
The pests are a trapped audience when they arrive in the
tunnel and it never occurred to me to shut the door to stop them coming in. The
top of the door has green netting on it so there would still be an air
flow. The caterpillars doing the damage
fall like confetti when I shake the stems and I have had more than one of them
crawling down my back when I come in for my tea. The plants outside are fine so
I have learned another lesson this year what to grow (and not to grow)undercover.
Ripening Tomatoes
The tomatoes are ripening well and my initial fear that they
would never go red was unfounded. I have
a lot of the small salad types growing bushy and the fruit is sprawling itself
along the tunnel floor. Because of this I am putting down trays for them to sit
on. Not because the damp ground is damaging them, but because there seems to be
a rogue snail in there that only munches on the tomatoes on the ground. Lazy,
that’s what I call it. I’m making them work for their food.
Word is Spreading
I have fans of the tomato crop spreading from Ballymena to
Dublin as I am taking a bag of these and also runner beans and broad beans all
wrapped up with a few delicately scented sweet peas to relatives. It’s getting
to the stage where they are expecting veggies now. I have even been asked what
the problem is if I turn up without a goody bag full of home grown produce,
maybe it’s because I can’t keep up on the demand.
Third Sowing
The third sowing of lettuce has just gone into the tunnel. I
grew the seedlings in small multi cell modules until they were big enough to
look after themselves. I think this might be the last sowing as it’s getting on
in the season, but you never know, I might be able to stretch out a few more
sowings if I can keep the frost away. I have been looking to get some form of
protection and might go rooting around some furniture shops to see if I can
find old bubble wrap. I might as well be
reusing it and keeping it out of the landfill for a few more years.
Deadheading the summer bedding this year has really paid
dividends. It didn’t stop there either as I have been chopping off the old
flowers of roses or any perennial I see.
I am observing second flushes of quite a few plants now. The nasturtiums
didn’t play ball though as they were too busy forming seeds and I couldn’t keep
up with them.
Last Minute Bargains
I got a few packets of dahlia corms in the spring and they
have proved to be very prolific. I waited until the last minute and bought them
from a bargain shop for 10 cent each. It really can pay dividends if you wait
for the last minute bargains. It isn’t just plants that you can pick up cheaply
either. At the end of the season you will find a lot of things reduced to sell
other than plants as garden centres clear spaces to make room for their
winter/Christmas stock. Some products,
especially wooden structures will age over the winter and take some looking
after so the shops are happy to see them go.
Plant Pots
I’ve had a great response from people about my vintage
terracotta plant pots that have been hand made at the Carley’s Bridge Potteries
in County Wexford. They are particularly well received in the US via my
Facebook and newly set up gardening.ie page, where old Irish items evoke images
of days gone by. I still haven’t thought
what to do with all 900 of them but I have planted a few up with summer bedding
and they look wonderful. I’m thinking I might stick a couple of hundred up on
the front room wall and call it an art installation. No-one seems very
enthusiastic about it and think I have gone a bit (dare I say it) “potty” But
that what they say about all free thinking artists -isn’t it?
