Zum Inhalt der Seite gehen
The greenhouse full of soil blocks. It’s sow time. #GrowYourOwn #SeedStarting #SoilBlocks #GreenManures #Gardening #Allotment
An unheated greenhouse with plastic propagator trays covering a bench down one side and shelf units at the end and other side. The trays are full of soil blocks. Some have been sown, most will have smaller seed blocks transplanted into them when their seeds have germinated from warmer propagation indoors. Green manures of ryegrass and broad beans cover the greenhouse beds. Some over wintering crops are still to be harvested. Komatsuna are growing nearest the door. A brindle boxer dog is sitting inside the greenhouse looking slightly bored with the gardening antics.
#Gardening #allotment #growyourown #seedstarting #soilblocks #greenmanures
Richard Rollinson
That's a great sight! I'm still a few weeks away from getting my greenhouse going. 😀

JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt

Broadfork
A little later than I usually am but I am stuck for indoor plant storage space these days. The seedlings will have to hope their hats will keep the frosts at bay.

I’ll be sowing in earnest this coming week.
Richard Rollinson
Yes, for me it's always a balancing act with timing the space vs. weather issues. I can't afford to keep the greenhouse warm at night in very cold weather and yet the plants must get started because the weather will flip to "warm" very suddenly. I can't start the warm weather stuff until I can plant out some of the early plants to make room... It's an inexorable chain of events. 😀
The Crafty Miss
This is reminding me of hotbeds. In the 18th and 19th centuries, this method helped grow things like melons in winter for stately homes.(Rabbit holes here: https://www.gardenhistoryinfo.com/gardenpages/hotbedhistory.html; https://video.allotment-garden.org/65/victorian-hotbed-garden/)

Oh, just found a clip of Monty Don doing one: https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/monty-dons-outdoor-melon-trial-part-one/

Maybe you could make a similar bed under the shelves and get enough heat to help overnight

Monty Don's outdoor melon trial (part one)

In this video clip, Monty starts off his trial of outdoor melons by planting the variety 'Outdoor Wonder' into a hot bed.
BBC Gardeners' World Magazine (BBC Gardeners World Magazine)
Dieser Beitrag wurde bearbeitet. (2 Wochen her)

JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt

Broadfork
Thanks for this. @richrollgardener A hotbed would add a nice bit of residual heat to a greenhouse. Not sure it would be enough for a New England winter but it is a fascinating skill the French market gardeners of the early 20th Century used to great effect, getting their produce to market earlier to fetch high prices.
@Richard Rollinson

JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt

The Crafty Miss
I always wondered how Freud found strawberries for his seriously ill daughter in February. When I first heard that story, I determined that if it were true, they perhaps came up from Italy
Broadfork
I have a great little book by Jack First “Hot Beds How to grow early crops using an age-old technique.”

This photo from early in the 20th Century is one of the French hot bed systems called “lining.”
Picture of a French hot bed system with the caption “Hot beds covering acres of ground, over a hundred years ago. The mats used during frosty weather were made of ryegrass.” Four men are tending hot beds. Horse manure is spread evenly over the ground with rows of frames placed on top with narrow paths of manure in between. As the paths sank more manure was added, which not only insulated the frames but heated them up.This process was known as “lining”. With these linings there was no need to have so much depth of manure in the hot bed. The growing medium inside the frames on top of the manure was made from the previous year’s hot bed and was 10-15 cm deep. Rolls of ryegrass mats are on each bed to be rolled over the bed tops to insulate them against frost.

JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt

KellyAnn Romanych (she/her)
Ernie reminds me of Lolly our brindle from many years ago❤️

May the sowing commence!
Broadfork
He really keeps me going and is a joy to have around. He’s very daft with lots of quirks.

This week he has once again discovered sticks are fun after growing out of playing with them a long while ago. The joys of spring again, I guess.

Sowing time at last. Patience is not one of my virtues. I will now spend what will seem a ridiculous amount of my life watching and waiting for seedlings germinate and slowly grow.

JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt

⇧