Speaker 1: 0:12

how's it going everybody? And welcome to episode 276 of master, my garden podcast. Now for any irish listeners. Here we're still basking in in sunshine and I was just thinking, before I hit record, how I suppose dramatic the change has been.

Speaker 1: 0:29

I think only two or three weeks ago I was speaking about, you know, poor weather, cold and wet and or kind of bits of shocks. And yeah, all of a sudden then we have this, this spell of really really dry and warm weather and, you know, really weather that's sort of more familiar with later on in the summertime, so lovely and dry and lots of blue skies, and it's certainly welcome, really really welcome, and hopefully, hopefully now it doesn't uh, sort of fizzle out and that we get all of this good weather early and that we do get sort of some continuity. But strangely enough, as regularly happens, we've gone from a situation where we're you're talking about having a lot of rain, a lot of moisture, and then now, very quickly, we're looking at conditions where we actually could do it a little bit of rain. So we're never quite happy, but temperatures are so good now. Temperatures are really warm, everything is growing well, but there is a lot of work in watering at the moment and I suppose that's one of the one of the key jobs at the moment is keep keeping your plants watered, whether that's your, your veg plants, your young, your young seedlings that have gone out, your bare root hedging, or your trees that you've planted, or any new plantings that you've done, maybe your bedding plants, your hanging baskets, your pots, whatever it is. You know, there's a bit of watering at the moment and we'll give you some tips maybe on that in this, this episode, on how maximize that, how to get the most from your watering and how to sort of reduce your watering, if it's at all possible.

Speaker 1: 2:21

Because funny, the other day speaking to two people and they said it's not like doing it. You know, planting or there's no kind of obvious outcome at the end of your hour's work. Say so, you know, if you plant up a bed or you mow your lawn or you do your vegetables, sow your seeds, whatever it is, there's a kind of an obvious outcome at the end. But watering is a bit, there's no end to it. You know it's just there's no obvious end to it. Let's say so. It doesn't doesn't feel like a very I suppose you know a very productive job, but it is an essential job because if you don't do it, especially at, you know, times like this, then you're not going to see the full benefit of what you've sown, what you've grown.

Speaker 1: 3:08

So it is important this week's episode we're going to kind of center mostly around maximizing your greenhouse. So whether that's a polytunnel or a glasshouse, I suppose it's a time where everything is getting planted or is already planted in there. So, like, see your tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, chilies, squash, you know, melons, all those sort of things. A lot of people in various parts of the country will will be well advanced with those. And for me here tomatoes are half in. I started them today. I have more to do tomorrow, hopefully. And yeah, they'll, they'll be in then, still a few weeks ahead of last year.

Speaker 1: 3:53

And for any of you thinking that I am late, I am quite late, you know, versus other parts of the country, but again, where I am here, we had frost in the middle of the middle of last week. So quite a strong frost, actually quite a hard frost. It did some damage on potatoes, did some damage on the likes of beach hedging that had put out that really soft new growth. So it was quite a severe frost and that was only last week, so my tunnel again has open sides. And that was only last week, so my tunnel again has open sides. So you can, you can imagine that you know there was a level of coolness there that you mightn't get in other parts of the country or you wouldn't get in a greenhouse with completely covered up sides. I, you know, opt for that. So that, okay, I'm a little bit later, but tends to just mean that from and we'll talk talk about in a minute from a ventilation perspective, get very little issues. So that's what from, and we'll talk about in a minute. From a ventilation perspective, get very little issues. So that's what we're going to talk about was kind of maximizing and we're going to talk about the main kind of greenhouse crops and giving my tips for success with all of those.

Speaker 1: 4:56

And I suppose no better place to start than tomatoes. This year I have quite a lot of varieties grown. Last year I said I had too, said I had too many plants and definitely going to reduce. That was my famous words to myself, and I think I actually have at least as many again, if not slightly more. I definitely have more varieties anyway and, yeah, some of them are. They're all doing really well and they're a lot more advanced. So I'm probably three or four weeks ahead of last year and if you remember, back to last spring, it was quite you know, quite overcast for a lot of it and definitely temperatures didn't hit anything like what they have over the last week, 10 days, two weeks, and because of that then I'm quite a bit further on here. And but to talk about? I'm going to talk about tomatoes, going to talk about cucumbers, going to talk about courgettes and peppers, and chilies as well fall under that, and you know those, those, those crops, and how to really ensure that you have success in your greenhouse with those. And, as I say, no better place to start than tomatoes. So I have the tomatoes half planted in, as I said, and a couple of tips if you haven't got yours planted in already.

Speaker 1: 6:14

I always, always plant and I always use mycorrhizal fungi under the base of it, and that's my starting point and the reason. The reason I do that is I find that it really really increases that root zone of the plant. It anchors them in really quickly. So when I put my string underneath which is what I do I run the string directly underneath into the bottom of the planting hole, I stick the tomato plant down into it. I see all of these videos online where people are planting them sideways, burying the bits of the stem. They're planting them deep. To be honest, I find all of that a little bit of faff. To be honest, just dig your hole the depth of the plant are slightly deeper Put your mycorrhizal fungi in, put your string right into the bottom of the hole and then put your pot straight down on top of that and then fill it in and give it a good water. I also add a little bit of dried seaweed into the planting hole. I just find that seaweed is very, very good for plant resilience and I'll chat about that a little bit later on. And then I leave that string, plant out all all the tomatoes and then, as soon as I've all the planting done, I tie those strings up to the, to the roof of the tunnel.

Speaker 1: 7:32

Now the string that I use is just a standard builder's twine. I have used jute twine in the past and I find that the jute twine sometimes different ones have different levels. They're all natural. So when you, when you put them onto your plants some of them they have different levels that they break down at, and sometimes you're mid-season, you have all the weight of the tomato on it and it just starts to break down at ground level and then it snaps off. So as a result of that, then I use this synthetic builder's lime. Basically, I hear a lot of people saying that that's too hard for tomatoes. I've never found it to be the case. I'm using it for years now and I just find it a good, strong twine, one that never breaks, and it just, it's just a really simple and good way of doing it. I find the jute twine, as I say, breaks down. So basically, you put your, your string underneath the, underneath the planter, underneath the pot, you plant it in and then you cover over and you water straight away and then, when you've all your planting done, you tie up your, your string, to a crop wire up on top or you tie it up high on top or onto a bamboo cane. If you don't have, you know, if you don't have a way of of tying it up high, you get a bamboo cane, bamboo cane. If you don't have, you know, if you don't have a way of of tying it up high, you get a bamboo cane or something like that something that can carry the weight of that plant as it goes along.

Speaker 1: 8:52

The the key with tomatoes? Uh, there's a couple, a couple of really useful points, and the first one I mentioned is mycorrhizal. The second one is seaweed, and seaweed is I put it into the planting hole. I will also liquid feed with a tomato feed, but a seaweed-based tomato food, and I would do that every two weeks and that's the only watering I do. In between I don't water. So the way I do it is I do what they call a deep water every two weeks, which includes the feed, and then I don't water in between. And I know one of the biggest challenges that people have is they. They talk about tomatoes needing a lot of water, and they do need quite a bit of water, but if you keep watering them every day, every second day, you'll end up with a really shallow root system and a plant that's going to just crave that water all the time. And, of course, as that plant gets bigger, the requirement for water, as it starts to produce fruit, the requirement for water is more and more and more, and then you're just going to be in that cycle of having to do it so often because the root zone is quite shallow. So I it the other way.

Speaker 1: 10:04

I kind of a little bit miserly with the water. I give it enough to keep it surviving and to keep it reasonably vibrant. I do not over water and I force it to put down its roots deep. And that pushing down its roots deeps allows it to access water. You know know under the ground, elsewhere in the tunnel, that you know it's not depending on on me being there every day, every two days, to water. Now, the exception to that is, like I'm doing that in when I'm growing into the ground. If you are in a pot or growing in a grow bag, then that's obviously slightly different because you know the plant doesn't have access. You know it's obviously slightly different because you know the plant doesn't have access. You know it's not able to get out into the ground and access water anywhere else. So that is the exception to that. But just be careful not to over water, that's. That's the first thing. And from my perspective in ground planting, I'm quite miserly with it and I allow those roots to really really go searching for water.

Speaker 1: 11:06

What ends up happening then is you end up with a really solid anchored plant, firstly, but you end up with a more resilient plant as well, because the plant is is, as I say, anchored in well, but it becomes strong. It becomes resilient as as opposed to because it's not pushing out soft growth all the time. It's, it's, it's not under pressure, but it is working hard and that's that's what I find just produces a better plant, a stronger plant, more resilient plant. So every two weeks I'll feed with tomato base or seaweed based tomato feed, but in between I do mist. I mist all the leaves or I spray all the leaves with just a plain seaweed liquid and that's cold pressed seaweed liquid. I do that once a week or sorry in between. So every two weeks I'll do that. So one week I'm doing the feed onto the ground and then the second week I'm misting the leaves with a sprayer.

Speaker 1: 12:08

And what I find that seaweed does and we talked about seaweed in relation to other crops as well I find that seaweed basically creates a plant that is really, really resilient. So you end up with darker leaves and it's very noticeable. Actually, you know if you are, if you have a few tomato plants, it's worth doing a little trial on it. So spray the leaves of one or two of them and leave one or two not sprayed and just leave it for a couple of days and you will see an unbelievable difference in leaf color. But there's also a kind of toughness that the leaf produces off the back of this seaweed and that's what I feel is really beneficial in terms of pest control. It's also really beneficial in terms of disease control. So you just end up with a tougher plant. So there's two things you're allowing it, you're forcing it to search for water and you're spraying it kind of once every two weeks on the leaves, foliar feed of seaweed and you're getting a really, really resilient plant.

Speaker 1: 13:08

Then the, the spacing is quite important. So I'll put two foot or thereabouts between the, the tomato plants, allow them to go up the string, and then I'm making sure that I always put them right down the center between the two doors, so I'll open the doors on either end. I also mentioned I have net sides on the tunnel lot, so that's open all the time. So I'm looking for the maximum airflow and there's a couple of reasons for that. So with with tomatoes, the, the kind of diseases that you can get, mildew is one. Then you're looking at blight. That's quite a big one and it's particularly prevalent if people are over watering and you end up with a really humid house, especially in smaller greenhouses or on ventilated greenhouses. So once you get your tomatoes growing, it's so important to ventilate. We need airflow through that house. So opening a door just on one end is probably not enough. What we really need is airflow. So, whether you've louver vents or two doors, you know, whatever, whatever option you have, if you have a way of getting airflow through that house in one side or in one end and out the other, that's what you're looking for, because that airflow is is really important in terms of disease prevention.

Speaker 1: 14:22

The other thing, obviously, is to, you know, pruning lower leaves that are not, that are no longer beneficial to the plant. Now I don't go, you know, I don't go too harsh on the pruning early days. I allow that plant to build up its energy, to build up its resilience, and then, as it starts to fill out its trusses, its fruit trusses, then I will take away lower leaves once they've served their purpose, and their purpose is to draw in energy into that plant up to the point where it forms its fruit just above it, and then that leaf has done its job and I'll take that off. That allows for the plant to have, you know, those leaves to have done its job, as I say, but then it allows that airflow through the plant and that's really important. So you're spacing and then pruning as you go up along center center it. If you can, between vents and doors, allow again that airflow through, then obviously you're I'm sure you're all aware of it.

Speaker 1: 15:19

But the the side, taking off the side trusses, that's quite important. It's also useful as well. I do it every year just on one or two of them. I don't take off, I leave on quite a few of those and I just train them off in this different directions, just as a kind of a just to see how. So we all, we all take off the side shoots, we wrap it around the string and you know that's widely regarded as the best way of of growing tomatoes and the most productive way of growing tomatoes. But every year I, as I say I will allow, maybe two or three of those from lower on the plant become full, full tomato plants. So you'll end up with three or four strings on one plant going in different directions and it's just interesting to see. It's quite productive. I generally find it's quite productive.

Speaker 1: 16:12

It is a little bit messy in that you know you're bringing a couple of stems in each direction, so you might need a lot of space. But if you're in a really small greenhouse you could do this with one or two plants and have, you know, direct them onto, you know, along the sides or over, up and over onto a roof, and you could get, you know, a lot of tomatoes from a couple of plants. So you'll save your space in some ways. You'll bring trusses from from different directions. So there's a few ways of doing it. I do that every year, as I say, as a bit of a trial. I can't say it's any more productive or any less productive. It's a little bit messier in that it takes a, you know, a bit more space for me in the way I do it, because you're not in your line. But if you were in a bit more space for me in the way I do it, because you're not in your line, but if you were in a small greenhouse, you could put one in the corner and bring a side shoot in each direction sideways and then bring a couple up as well. So there's, you know there's benefits in it and, as I say, I do that on probably one or two plants every year, just as a kind of trial.

Speaker 1: 17:12

If you're doing it the standard way, I do that on probably one or two plants every year, just as a kind of trial. If you're doing it the standard way, you know, keep that spacing correct. Then wrap them around, taking off your side shoots as you go up along and once the leaves have served their function, take those off. Make sure you're feeding every two weeks. Whether you're feeding or watering, you're doing that onto the ground, onto the soil or onto the. You know the growing media. If you're in a, if you're in a pot or a grow bag, it's really important that you're trying not to get any splash. So you want that watering to be just really localized around the root zone of the plant with no splash back up on the leaves, because if you can keep all of the growth up top dry, then that really means that you're not getting any build-up disease.

Speaker 1: 18:02

So your ventilation, dry plants I know I said I I spray with with seaweed every second week and that's really important. I do that, I'll always do that in the morning time because that gives the plant a chance to dry off during the sunlight of the day and then it goes into the nighttime and it's completely dry. The other thing that I do and I think again it's important, especially if you're in a smaller house is do any of your side shooting in the morning time. So again, that gives the the wound where you break off that side shoot. It gives that a chance to callus up during the day. So again you're taking a dry plant into the night time and then you have less access or less buildup of diseases in a scenario like that. So that's kind of tomatoes and you know they should be grown really well.

Speaker 1: 18:54

Now mine are flying in the pots. They're going to fly. Once they hit the ground they always take a little bit of a check straight away, just for a week or so. They kind of you know they're feeling out their surroundings and then they go. But the plants are strong going in this year. So I'm hoping that I'm going to have tomatoes quite a bit earlier this year. So tomatoes, brilliant one. I do plant some basil in between them. I'll also stick a few marigolds in here and there. Through them it can help with white fly and green fly and things like that.

Speaker 1: 19:27

The other thing that I do is definitely have flowers planted on the mouth of the tunnel, so basically on the outside of the tunnel and on the entrance to the tunnel. That's going to draw in beneficial insects, so they're going to come in. As I say, you're giving them something outside, something to attract them outside the door, the tunnels are being kept open as much as possible and then you're getting those flowers planted just inside the front of the tunnel and those beneficial insects are going to get drawn in through a sort of a for what of a better word a corridor of flowers, take them into the tunnel, something to draw them up into the tunnel, and then they're going to be available to pollinate these plants and also to help with. You know, the beneficial insects are going to be there to help with pest control in the in the polytunnel, and that's that's really important. I have nettles, a couple of nettles, in a pot. The reason for that is they do attract ladybirds and they're going to be inside in the tunnel and so the ladybirds are there. I actually haven't seen any recently, but they are there, I know they're there somewhere. And then what's going to happen? At some point in time, you know, a few green fly will come in a few aphids or whatever, and then all of a sudden, your green flies are there, ready to go, ready to take action and help you out. So that's a really important.

Speaker 1: 20:43

It's also really important from a pollination perspective to, you know, have have these benefits coming through your greenhouse. If you can, then just in relation to tomatoes and pollination as well, a really useful thing is to, if you have a lot of tomatoes and you have them stringed up and they're starting to grow strong, as they've put out their flowers, as they're getting flowers, just walk along and just tap the strings, and that tapping of the strings will just will help pollinate them as well. And again, that's something that is really worthwhile doing. The beneficial insects will be there, obviously, and they'll help. But if you don't have that, just make sure that you're giving that and it really will help with the pollination. So then that's kind of your tomatoes, keep on top of it and set your watch, set your calendar on your phone or whatever it is, and do that feeding sort of every second friday or whatever it is, and then your spray of seaweed, and that will really you, you will have really, really good tomatoes this year.

Speaker 1: 21:47

So then on to the next one that I grow in the polytone, and a bit of a love-hate relationship with it is courgettes. Like them a little bit, don't love them, so I'll only grow one plant, and one plant for most people is probably plenty sufficient. They grow huge. Number one if you are growing a few of them you're going to have to give them a big spacing. You know, roughly speaking a meter, a meter in both directions spacing. But for me I'll just grow, grow as I say, grow one of them, and that's definitely enough. I'll like them for a while, then I'll get fed up of them. The hens will love them. I'll allow some of them go to marrow and the hens will get those.

Speaker 1: 22:27

But the the key with those, a couple of keys with it, again, a lot of the same principles that you know spoke about with the tomato, with the tomatoes. So these are going to be quite thirsty, quite hungry, so I would give them a deep watering on a weekly basis. So I'm doing a deep water on the tomatoes on a fortnightly basis. I'll do deep watering on these on a weekly basis. So give them one good watering and then make them work after that for for the rest of the rest of the week. In the initial stages I'll just keep an eye and if I feel that they're struggling a little bit, they'll get a little bit more. But generally speaking, I make them work.

Speaker 1: 23:04

A couple of things that can happen is pollination can be a big issue. Here and again, you're talking about getting your insects through the tunnel and they will help with pollination. If not, then you can hand pollinate and you will just look it up, you will see distinctly there's male flowers and female flowers and they're very, very different, and you will. You will know them by the look. If you're not sure, just google them and you'll see which is which. But what you need to do is you need to pollinate one to the other and that can can be done with a little. You know, little kids paintbrush, tiny little paintbrush. You rub the male flower and then you rub it onto the female flower and that that will do. You can also break off the male flower and, you know, tip it off two or three of the of the female ones and that's. You know, that's how you get the pollination.

Speaker 1: 23:52

And when you see, when you see, sometimes you'll see courgettes that are forming and then, as they're starting to form, you get this rot on the end of them. That can be a pollination issue. There's also some other factors as well, but typically that can be a pollination issue and so that's why it's really important to do that. You have to do that. Give the pollination a need, basically. But again, the beneficial insects, if you have them through your tunnel, will be will be really helpful. Again, feeding quite important.

Speaker 1: 24:22

So every time you're feeding your tomatoes, I would feed your courgette as well, that's. You know they're. They're so such vigorous growers they're going to need food. They're going to need a good bit of food to sustain them. And once you see leaves that are starting to turn, so again, a little bit like the tomato plants, the the stem will grow out. They'll carry along the ground or, if you are training them up, along something, once they have, once those leaves have served their function, they'll discolor, they'll start to go a little bit yellow and they'll start to drop down. Get them off the plant, because they're only just going to, they're going to inhibit airflow and they're going to possibly cause a little bit of rot if you allow them to rot down and it just allows the plant to continue to produce a lot. More. So for me one courgette plant, feeding it every every week or so or watering it every week, feeding it every time I feed the tomatoes, taking off those leaves and ensuring that I'm getting that pollination. And if I need to help, I'm doing a little bit of pollination with a paintbrush or by breaking off the male flowers.

Speaker 1: 25:28

Next one is cucumbers, and cucumbers are, you know, again very similar to courgettes and tomatoes. The kind of care that we're going to do again with the courgettes and again with the with the cucumber, I am putting micro micro-isol underneath them as I plant them, I'm also putting dried seaweed underneath them and straight away I'm training that cucumber. Same same things apply. So I give it a really good water after I plant it and then I try not to water it again for about a week or so, so again forcing it to work a little bit harder. Now the.

Speaker 1: 26:12

The slight variant between it and tomatoes is that tomatoes, their leaves are better to be dry nearly all the time. Cucumbers, they like a little bit of a mist and a little bit of a mist regularly. You know they. They will benefit from that. They like a small bit of humidity. Now you're, you're not going to be able to have both. You know you'll either have a house that's humid and not suitable for your tomatoes, or you'll have a house that's dry and not overly suitable for your cucumbers. So the best way for me to do it is I'll make sure I'm dry, growing the tomatoes really dry, have an airy house, but I will mist those cucumbers a bit more regular. So I'll give it the seaweed spray every time I'm doing the tomatoes, but in between as well, I might give it just a mist on the leaves. Again the same. Once leaves have served their function and they start to discolor or die off, I'll take off those leaves. I will feed at the same regularity that I'm feeding, say, the tomatoes. So every two weeks I'm going to give that a really good feed. I use the same feed. It's seaweed-based tomato food and as the plant goes up along, we're training it and again we're watching out for pollination and so on. And yeah, again, one cucumber plant is going to be loads for most families. That's all I'll be planting is one, and they're going to give you two crops that are going to give you a nice steady harvest of cucumbers and courgettes.

Speaker 1: 27:45

Tomatoes, as I say say, have too many of. But the beauty with tomatoes. Is that you can, you can do. Doesn't do so much and create your sauces. Just freeze them whole as well actually, only used the last of of last year's beef tomatoes just frozen whole, just drop them into a stew. Uh, even at this stage they're perfect. They're, you know, brilliant. So you just pull them off the plant, stick them into a stew. Even at this stage they're perfect, they're brilliant. So you just pull them off the plant, stick them into a freezer bag and into the freezer and that's it. And so it's easier to, I suppose, maximize your crops there.

Speaker 1: 28:15

And then peppers. So peppers are one that they really want that warm temperature, but they have it now. Sometimes it's airy-ish for peppers, but now, given that it's so warm at the moment, get them in Again. You won't need a lot of plants. So, for example, chilies one plant is going to be loads. You'll get loads of chilies off a good plant, good, strong plant.

Speaker 1: 28:41

All the same things apply.

Speaker 1: 28:43

They like to be as dry as possible, again the leaves, as dry as possible. Feed them once, once every two weeks. Give them a good feed every two weeks, but don't over water them. They again, they. You. I grow them slightly dry, and now not not bone dry, but slightly dry. So allow them to allow them harder. Again, I'm saying this, but the exception to that is if you're in a pot or in a grow bag. You have to make sure that you're keeping adequate water in there then, but for me, in the open ground, I allow them to work a little bit harder.

Speaker 1: 29:16

Peppers, again, feed. Every time you're feeding your tomatoes, give them a good feed. Make sure they're in kind of the warmest part of your house. So, for example, when I'm saying that I'll plant the tomatoes right down the center and allow the airflow from the back door to the front door, I will put the put the peppers into sort of a side corner where they're going to get maximum heat because we want them to be really, really warm and growing really really strongly. Again, for me, one chili plant, maybe two or three pepper plants, is going to be enough.

Speaker 1: 29:51

I struggle a little bit as the year goes on, depending on the summer, to get peppers to, you know, to develop into fully fledged big, big peppers. Just because of the length of season. I typically, because of the open sides, can be very cold, late, so you're not getting in early enough, but I still have loads of green, good quality green peppers, but just they don't. You know you don't end up with your yellows or your reds typically in my tongue but they're looking for heat and again, from feeding perspective, just feed them. The same way they jar with the tomatoes and the other crops and they're the. They're the big, they're the big crops.

Speaker 1: 30:30

The tomatoes, I would say, is the is the one that people, a lot of people, just struggle with disease. And those little tips of keeping the airflow, you know them relatively dry, doing your pruning in the morning time, all those things are hugely beneficial. The seaweed, for me, is the thing that makes the difference. It really makes a resilient plant and I think that's hugely important when it comes to disease control. Then what else have I got in the tunnel or what else is happening in the polytunnel? I've strawberries in fruit, now almost ripe, just watching them day by day. They're almost there. Basil, some sown doing really well, get planted out along with the tomatoes over the next day, or two tomatoes over the next day, or two, and I'll do another sowing of basil later on. So just two sowings of basil. I'll do another sowing, probably in June time, and that'll be two sowings of basil and that'll hopefully give you know I'll have harvest there right right up until until until it starts to get cold, whenever that's going to be, and so, yeah, basil is another one that's going really well there, but it's in.

Speaker 1: 31:43

There's loads of opportunity, you know, in your polytunnel to maximize your space. So make sure you're filling that space. Things like radish should be comfortably grow in your polytunnel at the moment. They will grow quite quickly, but use them up. Spinach, lettuce, all of those are going to grow really really well in your polytunnel at the moment to grow really really well in your in your polytunnel at the moment. So, yeah, there's loads of opportunities to capture crops, you know, and and maximize, really maximize your, your greenhouse space. It's, um, you know, when you have a greenhouse space that allows you to to grow the likes of tomatoes so well.

Speaker 1: 32:19

Again, talking to someone the other day and they have their tomatoes gone outside and they do it every year and if I, you know, I ask them how they go and some years they have some tomatoes, as in maybe a bowl of tomatoes, and other years they get some tomatoes but they don't turn red, and I would find that really frustrating. I'm, you know, not a patient person, so I'd hate to kind of put that work in and just get a bowl or one bowl or get some green tomatoes. Just that wouldn't, wouldn't satisfy me. So when you do have a polytunnel or a greenhouse, then maximize it to the last. Make sure you're getting all of those you know, getting the max out of your tomatoes, getting the max out of your peppers, your courgettes and your cucumbers. Make sure you're getting the max out of all those your basil you know, which won't do well outside either. So all of those crops that you know you have the ability to grow in your greenhouse, maximize that now. And, yeah, take full advantage of this warm, groaty weather that we have. So I hope those tips help. It's quite early in the year, you know, in terms of tomatoes and all that. So just bear that in mind. You know those tips. You know, week by week, continue to do that, the feeding, the seaweed, and that will really benefit. And I'd be very surprised, you know, if you get to the end of the season and you haven't had if you follow those tips that I've just given you, that you won't have your kind of best year with your tomatoes. I really think that's if you.

Speaker 1: 33:53

They're the. They're the sort of cornerstones of having really successful crops over a long time. In a greenhouse there's so much else you can be grown, and melons, you know. I know a lot of people grow melons. I don't have huge success with it. Again, my polytons are a little bit cool for them. They do okay, but I don't really have very good success so I don't do it anymore. I've had melons in the past. I've got some fruit for them, but don't bother. Squashes is one that does quite well, but last year was poor for them, so I just didn't bother. This year with squash I might. Maybe I'll buy a couple of plants. If I see any decent ones somewhere, I might butter them in squash or whatever. I might grow a few of them, but only if I see them, and I can't so on seed of seed of them at this stage. Um, but yeah, there's loads of people that will be successful with those, just because they're, you know, in a quite in a warmer greenhouse than than what I am.

Speaker 1: 34:53

But on those few crops that we spoke about, particularly tomatoes being the main one, being the one that's, you know, I spoke about it before. I think tomatoes is probably one of the vegetables. That is just a million times nicer when you grow your own. The flavor, the, the taste, the sweetness it's, it's uncomparable to what you would buy in a supermarket and, as a result, I'll hardly eat a tomato, like last year. We had tomatoes right up until october, maybe early november, and from then on I'd hardly eat a tomato until they come back in the next year very, very rarely, because it just don't. Just don't cut it when you're when you're used to having your own ones. So, yeah, it's, it's one of the ones that that people really, really get success with. But follow those tips and I think they'll. They'll set you on the right path.

Speaker 1: 35:45

There's lots going on over the coming weeks in terms of irish gardening. Loads of festivals coming up, loads of gardening festivals. Uh, this sunday, which is, I think, sunday the 18th, the rhsi and rustbread have their annual garden show up there. Some brilliant speakers. So I think paul smith is speaking, kitty scully is speaking, jimmy blake is speaking and that's in in rustborough house on sunday the 18th. As far as I know, that's always a great, it's a nice. Um, there's a lovely plant fair there, so all the specialist plants plant people are there. There's expert speakers, there's lovely walks around the garden. It's a nice place for children as well. There's some lovely playgrounds and and nice, nice walks in the sort of woodland areas and so on, lovely walled gardens there. So it's a brilliant day out, brilliant family day out and, as I said, great speakers there this year. Not sure of the if there's kind of subjects of their talks or whatever, but, as I said, kitty Scully, jimmy Blake, paul Smith and there's others as well.

Speaker 1: 36:52

Then on Sunday, the 8th of June I think, is Leash Garden Festival Buds and Blossoms. Some speakers, good speakers there again this year. I'll tell you a little bit more about that in the coming weeks. I'm actually back there myself this year speaking again, and then obviously we have bloom at the end of may and again we'll probably chat a bit more about that as we come through this. An excellent lineup of speakers, some some kind of new faces, and back in bloom this year. So there's, you know, there's loads, loads, loads on the horizon in terms of gardening. There's loads of plant fairs coming up.

Speaker 1: 37:29

So yeah, we might delve deeper into some or all of those over the coming weeks, but for this week anyway, hopefully that gives you some tips for maximising your greenhouse over the coming months. It really is. To have a greenhouse is really a blessing and gives you that ability to really have crops that it's just sometimes possible, but not always and not very successful outside, the likes of tomatoes and cucumber. So to be able to have them and have them successful, grow them successfully in a greenhouse is a huge benefit. Follow those tips that I gave you, you'll definitely. They'll definitely stand to you and, yeah, for sure, during the year, send me any pictures, tag me on any of your successes and, yeah, let's see how you all go this year.

Speaker 1: 38:21

Definitely off to a great start. As I said, this weather is fantastic, nice and warm. Everything's grown so well. Those polytunnel crops are really loving that heat that we have at the moment. For me, as I said, potatoes jumping out of the ground. They're doing really well. They got hit with frost last week but they're completely earthed back up now again and they're growing really well.

Speaker 1: 38:47

Carrots are all and they're growing really well. Carrots are all. They're so, but they've germinated so quickly and big thing with carrots is to keep them watered in those first two to three weeks until you see those, those seedlings coming up, because if they dry out at all during that time they can. They can fail and you wonder where they've gone, but that's really important. So I sowed carrots two weeks ago now and they're doing really well. It's really you can see definitively where they are and they're growing really well. Beet root, the same parsnips no sign yet. But no panic, they'll come. They're just a little bit slower. All the beds are pretty much full now at this stage. A little bit of of sewing still going on and but yeah, lots going on, lots of watering. Brilliant time for you know, for for you know, tipping up, uh, your little bit of weeding, because that really dry warm weather, if you do a small bit of hoeing with your oscillating hoe, anything that you, your hoe will just die on the ground straight away. So it's really good to easily clean beds at this stage of the year if you do have any weeds.

Speaker 1: 39:49

And just another point on on no dig. So no dig. We're in this kind of a period now where, strangely enough, we're we're kind of in a in a drought. As such, we're having to do a lot of watering, but you'll find in your no-dig beds that there's less of a need for that. They they really do retain the moisture. So the top, you know, the top little layer, might be dry and dusty even at this stage. But if you scratch back a little bit and go down a small bit, you will find that moisture is retained in the no dig beds a lot better than in in the the beds that have been, you know, used in our dug, dug and rotavated, maybe in the standard way. So no dig is hugely beneficial when we get drought periods and and again, on the flip side of that, hugely beneficial if we got a wet period.

Speaker 1: 40:39

So yeah, it just becomes really obvious when there is something happening like there is at the moment, like a drought, plants that are in the no-dig beds are just growing on fine, they're not even batting an eyelid to the fact that it's gotten very dry on top. Those, for me, I just give them water with a watering can, kind of once a week, not a lot of water, just enough to kind of keep things tipping along again, a little bit like the tomatoes in the tunnel, making them work quite hard, that, making them send down their roots, and they'll just, they just become more resilient that way and so, yeah, it's a, so it's a brilliant, brilliant spell of weather. We've had hope those tips are going to help you in your polytunnel. Hope you you're going to be really successful this summer with it and some really interesting episodes coming up over the next couple of weeks. Couple of guest interviews and, uh, yeah, there's some good ones on the way.

Speaker 1: 41:33

We'll definitely chat about some of those shows, some of those garden festivals that are coming up, because there's some excellent speakers at those. There's, you know, great days out. You know, as I mentioned, russ bread on this coming this coming sunday. That's a brilliant day out. You know, even for families it's a great day out. You can go with kids. There's things to do there for children. There's the plant fair for yourself you can pick up, you know, nice plants. I think there's be like bulb suppliers there at the end of the season as well, so you can get some nice stuff there. But a lot of the, a lot of the plant suppliers are going to be there and a lot of specialist nurseries, so brilliant speakers as well on top of that. So loads, loads there and, yeah, all the other ones coming up, but we will cover those in more depth. But that's been this week's episode. Thanks for listening and until the next time, happy gardening.