Hello and welcome to another quick look inside the engine room of plot #59 – our 8’x10′ greenhouse.
Since the last update Jo and I have been as busy as I thought we’d be; sowing seeds, pricking out seedlings, and potting up young plants to grow on to planting-out size before taking them down to the plot.
Here’s what’s on the go at the moment:

Down at floor level, the large plastic tray is awaiting the tomatoes which will be growing away in mid-size pots before too long (see below). In the meantime it’s hosting a cucumber in the long-tom pot, and a couple of ginger plants that I started off earlier in the year. Next door are three Chilli plants – all ‘Aji Lemon’, which is about as hot as either of us can stand – in the Chilligrow planter.

Next up, a stack of shelving with (top to bottom) newly germinated squash plants, potted-up courgettes – the ones on the left will be going in at the alloment at the weekend by the looks of them – and then my parsnips-in-root-trainers experiment (hmmm…) and some rather pathetic leeks and onions, which I’m not sure will be worth planting out. Maybe after it rains.

A quick interlude to show off the carnivore collection, which is really getting into its stride. I really must remember to relocate a few of them once the tomatoes are in flower though; I’m pretty sure a dearth of pollinators due to the over-zealous work of the Sarracenia mob was one reason why I didn’t get as many tom fruits as I was hoping for last year.

Back to the crops, and here we have newly-sprouted beans (which, since I took this pic a couple of days ago, have grown at least another two or three inches) and a few ‘San Marzano’ tomato plants. Then we have potato onions, peas grown for pea-shoots and a tray of assorted flower seedlings. Underneath that we have potted-up Hungarian rice beans and Jo’s sweet peas, which have been pinched out and will hopefully be bushing up a bit before planting out in a week or maybe two.

Here we have a tray of lettuce and a tray of radish, with a seed tray of scurvy grass (one of my experimental edibles for this year) and a few of this year’s tomatoes; I think those are ‘Maghrebi’. Next shelf down we have some pots of chervil, potted-up red kale and a tray of leaf beet (a.k.a. perpetual spinach, which goes nicely in a salad or finely-shredded as an omlette filling alongside fried onion and mushroom). At the bottom is our newly potten-up sweetcorn; twelve plants of ‘Sweet Nugget’, which I think should be plenty for us this year. I’ll be growing them on for a couple of weeks – and moving them to a higher shelf once they get a bit taller – before they head down to the plot.

Finally we come to the bulk of the tomatoes – ‘Tigerella’ and ‘Ildi F1’, with a couple of English Thyme seedlings hitching a ride in the trays. Alongside those are a tray of sunflower seedlings – next on the potting-up list – and underneath those a tray of Calendula (marigold) seedlings – to be used as companion plants for the tomatoes – and a few potted up yellow Agastache plants and a couple off Rudbeckia seedlings. At the bottom is a tray of heritage beetroot seedlings which don’t seem to have done anything since they germinated in April, and a few potted-up cucamelons.
So that’s what our greenhouse looks like at the moment. Almost full, I reckon – I really need to start planting out some of the larger plants to make room for more potting-up, as well as a few more trays of sown seeds. No rest for the grower.
If you’re interested in more info about the crops we’re growing this year then you can view our sowing & growing records. And of course, please do feel free to hit us up with any questions, queries or suggestions, via the comments.
2 replies on “Greenhouse Update, early June 2020”
Whoa, that is a full greenhouse. Your plants look very healthy and happy. My greenhouse is about the same size as yours, I’m going to have to think about adding shelving units to it.
Thank you Phuong! Yes, apart from the onions and leeks they do seem to be doing well. We’ve had a lot of hot weather recently and I’ve been making sure they’re well watered and they seem to be responding well.
The shelving is great, but it does cast a bit of shade on the lower shelves so plants do tend to lean a bit towards the light. I just have to remember to turn them and move them around every so often.