Polytunnel update -July 5th

I was across at the tunnel for a bit this evening to see what's what. I don't manage to get across there as ofetn as I would like due to pressures of work and family but as the three ladies in my life are away at my mum's house for a couple of days I thought I better take advantage of the opperchancity, before coming home to get the bathroom painting completed for my wife coming home tomorrow.
With the exception of the stuff I am growing in my garden (tatties, stump carrots, beetroot, broad beans, turnips, shallots, culinary onions and french beans, everything else in is my tunnel as I have given myself this year to sort out growing area outside at the tunnel ready for next year.
So first off - the rhubarb - this continually amazes me in the tunnel - I have three crowns and they all produce lovely long red stalks for about 9 months of the year. All it gets in return is a thick mulch of well rotted manure every winter

 This year I want to try and get a set of tomatoes for our local show and to this end I am growing Cedrico and Shirley. After seeking some advice on the NVS forum, I am going to thin thr trusses on 5 of the 10 Cedrico plants and 2 of the 5 Shirley plants and leave the others intact . The toms are looking good, though the plants have looked better - heat stress after the last couple of days - the tunnel gets very warm even with both sets of double doors open. This is an intact truss of Cedrico.

I am growing about 80 chilli plants this year -mainly Cayenne with some Jalapeno too - these will be used solely for the purpose of making my Spitfire and Hurricane Sauces in the back end of the year, though  I might throw a couple into the show if they are ready in time.The cayennes have just produced their first flowers.

Now for something I am really pleased with. For the last 5 years I have tried to grow cauliflowers indoors without any success - I have tried various varieties but I always ended up with brown sunburnt curds, despite the seed catalogues promises of curd protection from strong leaf growth. Well, this year I tries a variety from Johnsons called Cheesy F1. Look at the photos and see what you think about the leaf protection for the curd - you would almost miss the fact that the curd was there at all. The first photo shows the cauli in situ, and the second shows the two I brought home - the smaller of the two is the one photographed in situ.

Next we have the aubergines - these were devastated last year by earwigs which reduced the leaves to lace, and therefore seriously affecting growth and fruiting - no such problems this year - really healthy plantswith  loads of flowers . Once fruits have set I will remove the surplus to leave a maximum of five per plant.

As my wife is not a fan of summer cabbage but loves the Savoy types, I have a pointed variety called Samantha in the tunnel this year and the first head is nearly ready for harvesting!

And finally Medwyn's triffid has really exploded this week. Again, as advised by those who know more about these things than I do (but I'm learning all the time) on the NVS forum, I have hand pollinated 5 female flowers and will keep an eyse on them - if all 5 set fruits, I will thin these down to two. I have also thrown soil over some of the stems - this apparently encourages the plant to put down more roots and so help feed the plant. The only problem is that my courgettes will have to be sacrificed or they will smothered by the marrow - no big deal there though as we have already had loads.

Ups and Downs

Apologies for not posting for a wee while - there just don't seem to be enough hours in my days. So here is a wee update on what's happening.
Over at the tunnel, the tomatoes are continuing to grow apace - they don't look the best as they are quite badly heat stressed, due to the very high temperature today when I couldn't get across to open the tunnel doors until late afternoon / early evening, but they are healthy enough and continuing to put out trusses. They are currently fed every second feed with tomorite and a comfrey tea alternately. I removed some of the lower leaves this evening as I have done every year I have grown tomatoes - more energy into top growth and it also aids ventilation to the plants.

Next we have the aubergines which are looking really healthy -especially as last year their leaves were reduced to lace by earwigs and it took them a long time to recover. Behind the aubergines ( to the right in the photo) are the Stenner runner beans which have now all started to wrap themselves round thier canes and are heading skywards, and dotted along the back of these canes are some baby cauliflowers, with some Jalapeno up against the tunnel wall.

This next photo shows the first planting of cauliflowers - the idea being that once the cucumbers clad their frame, they will provide some shade for the curds (similarly the runner beans will provide shade for the second sowing of caulies.

The last photo from the tunnel shows the current state of play with Medwyns Giant Marrow - it's beginning to get up speed and I am gently wrapping it round itself with bent wire hoops securing the stems. It has the required two fruits set as I mentioned before, but one of the original fruits dropped off (????) so I let another one start to take it's place.

Other than that, the chillies are starting to show their first flowers, I have now harvested 11 of the 12 Hispi Cabbages - one remaining and I started taking central heads off the calabrese this evening, as well as picking another Cucumber Petita and some courgettes - oh yeah and a couple of punnets of strawberries from the bed outside.
At home in the garden, the potatoes are putting on a huge amount of top growth - the shaws are now at least 4ft high - lets just hope tht this translates into some good tatties below ground, The Casablanca have flowered ( a small white flower with a yellow centre) but the rest are still reaching for the sky.
The Sweet Candle seem to have regained their composure after I lost one to something unknown and are growing well, as are the parsnips. Mt beetroot are concerning me a wee bit as they seem to be getting away ahead of themselves and may need to be lifted well in advance of my local show - though I may eneter them in the Sutherland County show on 23rd July), when I also hope to enter two Carmen Cucumbers. The Snowball turnips are having a bit of a growth spurt, the broad beans are now not only flowering but also finally setting some beans. My shallots have been poor doers this year. I only have sixteen left in the ground that are still growing (albeit very slowly) - the rest seemed to go over all at the same time. There is no sign of secondary growth so I shall leave them in the ground as long as I can to see if these reamaing specimens will get any larger. The Festa red lettuce is looking very nice too. My Show Perfection peas were unfortunately devoured by sparrows within hours of being planted out and have never recovered, so these are a non starter this year.
In the greenhouse the leeks are still growing though I have the three of them in 5 litre pots and the roots are clearly visible at the bottom of each pot. If anyone can advise whether or not to leave them in this pot or pot them on again into a largere pot I'd be grateful as this is the first time I have grown leeks other than for culinary use.
The Dwarf French Beans are now all in 5 litre pots and seem to happy in them - first flowers were produced yesterday and the plants go out in the morning and in at night.