Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Growing in Greenhouses & Polytunnels => Topic started by: debih on April 20, 2012, 07:38
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We had horrific weather a couple of weeks ago - a couple of inches of snow and really high winds. We never usually get much wind where we are so it was obviously coming from a different direction. I lost my rotary dryer, my gazebo and my polytunnel cover. >:( >:( >:(
Fortunately I had no seedlings in there - it happened a few days before Easter and I had put the Easter weekend aside for seed planting.
I have bought a new cover but so far it hasn't stopped raining so I haven't been able to get it sorted it yet. Fingers crossed for this weekend.
But it means I haven't got any of my seedlings in yet. I don't have anywhere to put them in the house so they will go straight into an unheated polytunnel.
My question is have I had a lucky escape - if I had put the seedlings in earlier would the cold have got to them or have I left it far too late now to plant my seeds and will I end up going for plug plants to put in the allotment?
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Bad luck Debih, :(
As you say it is fortunate you had no seedlings in there, if the wind was that bad they would have been blown about and you would have lost them any way.
You do not say what seedling you were hoping to plant but you can still go ahead with most sewings, you may have a later crop but you should still have a crop of most things. Most of us will not be sewing the really tender plants like cucumbers and squashes till the beginning of May anyway.
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I tend to start everything off in the greenhouse (other than carrots and peas) so there will be beans (which I don't start until May), tomatoes, chillies, peppers, courgettes, leeks, cabbage, cauli, cucumber and sweet peas.
Hopefullly I can get the polytunnel up this weekend, get my compost (I hadn't even gotten around to doing that - I had so much planned for that weekend after it blew away) and then can get my tomatoes started in the house.
I suppose if the worst comes to the worst I can always buy plug plants.
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If you can get your toms, chilies and peppers started this weekend you should be fine, even if you bought in some plants it is still a little chilly to be putting them out into the poly, I would take the min and max temps for a week before you decide what to plant out.
April is always a frenzy for sewing but the May sewn ones usually catch up as they have better weather.
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Thanks - that makes me feel a little better.
I will get my tomatoes on this weekend then. I haven't actually bought the chilli or pepper seeds yet so maybe this year I will buy them as plants in a few weeks time.