Kitchen Garden Forum

I have alluded to my dilemma in my earlier post but a specific?

This is what I have to play with, 20ft long, much tidier now that this, which was after the clear out. The staging on the left is 50% clear, like to do better but my boat gear has to go somewhere.



This year, I'm doing long red peppers, plumb and Italian beef toms, I suspect I will have room for a couple of extra plants of some kind but dont know what. Melons might be possible . . . but tying up in slings? not so sure. Last year I got one melon to set, did not realise I needed to pollinate by hand. I laid the plant on the soil and put the fruit on a cardboard square. It grew to the size of a grapefruit, stopped and the plant rotted at the base, we eat the melon in a fruit salad, it was superb



So, did I water it to much or incorrectly to make it rot? or have I got to do the climbing and hammock bit. I know I must pollinate with a male flower.

Or, any other suggestions . . . but not cucumbers

CJS

Morning CJS, regarding the collapse of the melon plant, it could be due to many things, over watering, damage to the stem or a disease of some sort. It's always hard to give an accurate answer to these problems.

You can always extend the growing season with your greehouse by starting things off a little earlier than normal and sowing some things a little later. You could try this rather than thinking along the lines of just trying something new in their in the summer months.

I'm sure some of the polytunnel owners could give you some suggestions of what to try regarding that, if you were interested of course.

I trained my melons up canes, used net bags to support them, hand pollinated them - and got much the same results as you, one grapefruit sized fruit per plant, delicious but not great result for the space taken !

First job buy a shed!

...and when you've shifted the boat stuff to the shed, start using the greenhouse year-round. You could try french beans sown three weeks or so earlier than usual in the borders (if you have) - and salad leaves throughout the winter. A greenhouse should work all year, not just in the summer months.

There in lies a problem Geff, I already have a 24x10 shed behind the greenhouse . . . Thats full of 'stuff', I am a squirrel . . . plus my bench saw, vertical drill, thickness planer, loads of reclaimed wood stock, hand tools, paint etc, etc . . . and of course two 4 cuft freezers in which I keep fishing bait and some of the fish I catch, at least the freezers are stacked one on top of the other

The picture is an old one, since then, I have moved a lot but not all. I suppose I could tidy it to give me half the staging? But as I say I would not know what to do with the staging . . . (how best to use it?) Salads? no heating in the green house, or light.

Sorry Alan, I'm sounding difficult . . . but I have no idea about 'what and how', only the obvious things, like toms etc. And the boat stuff . . . thats destined for the shed . . . when I extend it? . . . there is another 4 feet of hard stand I can use at the back. But as I said not been well, anything to physical is a problem. The extra 6mx1m strip I dug in the lawn on Saturday was a major job for me, took me from 11am until 3.30pm and I'm still suffering So, I take that as a warning, 'be careful'.

However, summer is coming, some of the staging will be be freed up . . . about 10/12ft's worth I recon?

CJS

Hi CJS

Growing salads in the unheated autumn and winter greenhouse is fairly straightforward. With all your staging you could easily grow at an easy waist height. Polystyrene fish boxes make ideal containers, filled with multi-purpose compost.

Have a look at this for a start

http://www.rhs.org.uk/RHSWebsite/files/ ... a54bb7.pdf

I would be happy to anwer any other questions you might have - and I'm sure there are plenty of others on the forum who would help.

Best wishes - Alan

i use polystyrene boxes in winter greenhouse too, at the moment I have winter lettuce, mustard greens, spinach, stump rooted carrots, early peas,
spring onions using the tiniest from the onion sets, and cape gooseberries in flower already All these in frost resist polystyrene shallow or deep boxes picked up free at the local supermarket. Envious of the space you have there, lol

You are right of course gents. You should see the shed! I have 2ft x 18ft x 4 shelves high, down one side, bench and power tool down the other side . . . The problem is, with Hazel and myself, between us, unwell over most of 2009, my shed, that was neat and tidy . . . now looks like a tip as well!

. . . Recommendation, two essentials power tool; bench saw and a thickness planer, you can produce any thickness and width up to 9", for any job, from almost any size or type of wood you might have in stock. Keep offcuts and scrap, planes from 140mm down to 7mm thick, saved me a fortune in hardwood for the boat, cutting down old doors, window and door frames.

So, I think this summer, everything is due for a clean broom clear out . . . I'm bound to find stuff I thought I'd lost There is paint of dubious age and origin, wood offcuts, and 'stuff?' I have not used since they were berried out of sight and mind when we moved in, in 2002.

Gives me time to fully recover, do it steady, end up with a clean sheet . . . cleanish . . . ready for autumn? In the mean time, I have a number of old pots 12" to 18", plastic, terracotta and stone, I intent to put them against the SW wall of the house under the kitchen window in tomato corner (sun trap). Grow herbs, got some wild strawberries seeds, pack-choi, baby leaves and stuff, see what happens? Thats besides the new strip, cabbages 'greyhound'?, purple sprouting broccoli and parsnips. I'm going to have my work cut out?

I told you, I ain't got a clue . . . So any suggestions or pointers on that lot gratefully received . . .

CJS