The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Greenhouse season
With summer somewhere over the horizon, it’s that time of year when John is happy to spend a day in the greenhouse
With summer not quite here yet John Stoa is happy to spend time in the greenhouse, and the plants are too.
As cold winds continue to delay a decent spring, plants grown under glass and now needing to harden off are having to be patient.
The hardier types, such as chrysanthemums and geraniums, have been out for a few weeks but threats of overnight frosts mean they have had to be brought back inside for protection.
The same applied to rooted fuchsia cuttings, now a decent size and some starting to flower, but they are too young and soft to be hardy.
Cabbage, cauliflower, kale and Brussels sprouts were all raised under glass and are now hardened off and ready to plant.
Kale never seems to be affected by clubroot disease but all the other brassicas are, so I now only grow the resistant varieties. My cabbages are Kilaton, cauliflowers are Clapton and Brussels sprouts are Crispus.
I grow these brassicas under the best conditions as I need perfect germination. You only get 20 seeds in each packet so there is no room for failures.
Last year I tried the clubroot resistant swede Invitation, but the roots were small and tough, so not worth growing.
Spring onions always start in the greenhouse in cellular trays as outdoors the germination is very poor.
They grow better in decent compost, then once they have put on some growth
Kale never seems to be affected by clubroot disease but all the other brassicas are, so I now only grow the resistant varieties
they get hardened off and planted out on the plot a couple of weeks later.
Although my main batch of geraniums are now hardened off and put outdoors, I have taken all the tips out as another batch of cuttings.
They will be kept in the greenhouse a few weeks till they root and begin to grow, then get potted up, and after another couple of weeks in the greenhouse, they are ready to go outdoors.
Overwintered chrysanthemum stools put on plenty of growth, giving me nearly 100 cuttings.
They root very easy and are fairly tough, so they are now outdoors and ready to put into final pots.
The old stools still had plenty of green shoots so they have been planted in a border.
Outdoor fuchsias taken as cuttings last autumn have all rooted and been potted up.
They grow so well that some are now beginning to flower. Sweet corn seedlings had also been potted up, then
after a fortnight put outdoors to harden off.
Tuberous begonias are always slow to grow, so they remain in the greenhouse.
As there is no room left on my tomato border, the begonias can sit happily under my row of grape vines.
Once I see all the begonia shoots they will get replanted into bigger boxes with more space.
They are usually the last to get hardened off, probably by the end of the month.
The grape vines have now all got plenty of young shoots growing.
Let them put on a fair bit of growth, but once you can see plenty of grape bunches, it is time to start pruning.
Any shoots that have no bunches on them can be removed or if there is plenty of space, cut back to one or two leaves, which can be removed later.
If any shoots have two bunches remove the weakest, otherwise grape size will be reduced if you ask the vine to produce too many grapes.
Tomatoes are all growing strongly in their final pots before planting out, but as yet at the beginning of May I do not see any truss with that first flower, so no planting out yet.
Although we seem to get plagued by cold winds, the greenhouse temperatures can rise dramatically on sunny days so keep the ventilators open wide as long as possible, only closing them at night while clear skies run the risk of an over night frost.
Condensation builds up over night but soon clears when ventilation begins in the morning.