Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Guest room or greenhouse?

Following the dismal failure of the tomato seeds I planted last year, this year I have started them off inside the house, where it is generally nice and warm. Early signs are good... well, better than the couple of sad little seedlings that made it to around 10cm high last year before giving up. Although it was a pathetic first attempt, I don't feel too bad because most people around here struggled with tomatoes last year thanks to the cool summer we had. Except for those people growing them in greenhouses of course. Where we are up on the hill is simply too cold to grow some things and the growing season is short. I will look at getting a greenhouse next year. In the meantime, the morning sun streaming into the guest room will hopefully give these little seedlings a chance.
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 28, 2011 at 9:49 PM

    Hi Susan,
    May I highly recommend a book called:

    Growing vegetables south of Australia: how and why a Tasmanian food gardener produces heaps of fresh vegetables twelve months a year, by Steve Solomon. It is very popular at Cygnet Library where I work and I have found it extremely useful.
    Available for free from your local library!
    It helped me get a tomato with no greenhouse which in our conditions I think is pretty good - not a lot of sun/snow/sleet/wind/rain and more rain!
    Silverhill's suggestion is good - we used plastic bottle cloches to start them off outside also. Steve Solomon recommends black sheeting on the ground to add a few extra degrees celcius and to choose small varieties rather than say larger, longer to grow ones that would defy our short growing season up here on the mountain ie: grape tomotoes perhaps. We are hoping to have our hoop house up soon, nothing in it yet, but just to get it up would be great.
    Thanks for the offer of daffodils too, we've meant to come by and say hello in person at some stage and maybe share a German beer or two :) Hopefully before year end!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Susan MooreSeptember 29, 2011 at 9:48 AM

    Thanks for the ideas. I've been using 'plastic bottle cloches' on some seedlings I've transplanted over the past couple of months, largely in case of frost, and it seems to be working ok so far.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 29, 2011 at 10:04 AM

    Hi Susan I concur with silverhill on the tree guards-they work. Our cafe tomato plants are doing well despite the threat of frosts. Steve from the RVL

    ReplyDelete
  4. steveSeptember 29, 2011 at 10:05 AM

    Hi Susan I concur with silverhill on the tree guards-they work. Our cafe tomato plants are doing well despite the threat of frosts. Steve from the RVL

    ReplyDelete

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