Time to start sowing tomatoes, at least it is where I am, as I will this year concentrate on growing my tomatoes only in an unheated greenhouse.
Timing sounds as though it should be down to the nearest hour but it is not essential.
A week or two late is better than a week too early. A late frost is always lurking near to any tomato plant!
I am aiming to plant my tomatoes in the third week of April, this is mainly due to going away on holiday for the first part of the month.
So as I will be sowing the seeds indoors around this time next week, I need to organise myself.
Generally I find a space in the airing cupboard and let the seeds chip, then once the roots have got above half an inch long (1cm) I start potting them up in 3” pots.
My chipping method is to place the seeds onto paper tissues that have been moistened with warm water and then I put the ‘pack’ into a polythene bag.
They stay indoors until the plants have formed their first set of leaves then get moved on to a windowsill. When the roots start poking out through the bottom of the pot it is time to move them into the greenhouse, which we will talk about nearer the time.
20 Feb 2007
7 Feb 2007
New ways of watering tomatoes
New ways of watering tomatoes
In my part of England the water company has just lifted its hosepipe ban, it has been in force for about 20 months.
Has global warming been the cause or is it too many houses using too much water or just seasonal variation? Time will tell.
For the garden and for plants like tomatoes then the reason is less important than the effect. Tomatoes are full of water and nobody wants a shrivelled up tomato.
I have installed a selection of water saving devices. My greenhouse tomato plants are fed by a timed micro jet system that delivers water in micro amounts to the base of the tomato plants.
For outside tomato plants I have installed porous tubing, this allows water to seep out around the tomato and other plants keeping the areas by the tomatoes moist without wasting too much water elsewhere.
Wherever you live this and the water butt are all worth investigating and if you want to get some ideas on cost and availability then the web links to the left on this page will be a good starting point.
In my part of England the water company has just lifted its hosepipe ban, it has been in force for about 20 months.
Has global warming been the cause or is it too many houses using too much water or just seasonal variation? Time will tell.
For the garden and for plants like tomatoes then the reason is less important than the effect. Tomatoes are full of water and nobody wants a shrivelled up tomato.
I have installed a selection of water saving devices. My greenhouse tomato plants are fed by a timed micro jet system that delivers water in micro amounts to the base of the tomato plants.
For outside tomato plants I have installed porous tubing, this allows water to seep out around the tomato and other plants keeping the areas by the tomatoes moist without wasting too much water elsewhere.
Wherever you live this and the water butt are all worth investigating and if you want to get some ideas on cost and availability then the web links to the left on this page will be a good starting point.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
