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I love them, picked some today!

I’ve never tried them I’m afraid, so I’m not sure

spray them with water. or use a fine paint brush against each flower.

I will get the dimensions later on, when I get home, but yes ventilation is a huge issue, for pest, temperature and humidity management : All the best - Steve

not so far Lynn, I've always kept my brassicas in a greenhouse, they've never bolted on me

Good question. My spinach bolted on me in the house! They were still in the seed trays. Never made it outside

Yeah, you can’t grow spinach in summer unless you reduce day length

I just have a sprinkler, it waters the lawn and the beds, but I have to move it to 3 different locations. Super easy and cheap. For the rest I just water by hand, takes me about 20 mins a week, and 10 mins a day for the greenhouse : all the best - Steve

@@SteveRichards OK, thanks - I thought I saw some irrigation pipe behind your pots. I'm a south coast gardener too, but spend a lot more time than you watering. Perhaps I'm growing the wrong plants, but they were the 'right' plants when I moved here back in 2007. Back then, rhododendrons and azaleas were happy but we couldn't grow tomatoes outside - not hot enough and too much damp blight. Seventeen years on, we can grow as many tomatoes as we like (if water available), but the ericaceous stuff is dying without some kind of irrigation. If that's not climate change, I don't know what is!

It was just a pipe to the tap next to the greenhouse, I have 3 outdoor taps to make life easy : All the best - Steve

Great news Ali, these disasters - like the onions - teach is that the obsession with early sowings doesn't always make sense. I wish I could say the same "best year yet, for everything" but I think it will be ok. : All the best - Steve

@@SteveRichards yes, I actually thought about that. Many of my mistakes have brought about a lesson. I forgot about one of my tumblers in a pot in the polytunnel, it got swamped by a courgette, yet it thrived and had ripe tomatoes despite being pretty much totally shaded. Also my spare tumblers got put on the floor in front of my grow light shelves due to lack of space, they did better there than they were doing directly under the lights. Maybe tomatoes don't need as much direct light as I thought? All the best- alison

Mine were in the roof, so no grow lights and they did better than the two spares that I put in pots under lights

@@SteveRichards It's interesting, isn't it? I had to leave my trestle shelves in the polytunnel after I planted the tomatoes underneath. I needed them for stuff waiting to be planted out. The shelves had trays on so were causing some shade to the tomatoes and I was panicking a bit about it. However they've done just as well as those that have sun. They're not remotely leggy, they're green, bushy, thick stemmed. So much so, that I only moved the shelves when the tomato plants got as tall as the shelves. I've always thought I wouldn't be able to grow a cordon outside because my patio only has sun from 11-4 at peak in midsummer. But, after noticing all this, I've got a sungold sideshoot rooted that I'm going to try. Might be a bit late to get a huge crop, but if I get a few trusses and the plant grows well, I'll do some earlier next year. All the best - Alison.

I'm sure it will be fine, I grow mine against a wall that gets sun from 9 until 3

Ps what’s a day neutral strawberry? Is it the variety or something snazzier? 😂

Most strawberries fruit for a month, day neutrals don’t care what time of year it is, ie they ignore day length, mine fruited in April and can carry on well into autumn

@@SteveRichards ahh interesting, I didn’t know that (clearly). Thank you!

maybe, but I try to only use fine nets for crops that are not being harvested or are quick to harvest, like carrots. I find fine nets hide as many problems as they solve when they are opened up a lot, lots of pests can get in, but predators can't and once the net is on I can't see the pests. I only have three net tunnels right now, one is on the lettuce though, but I will need it soon for the purple sprouting broccoli, so I'm not sure what I will decide to do : All the best - Steve

I don't have space to freeze them, but we have them fresh all year round so it's not an issue for us : All the best - Steve

There’s no colour coding unfortunately, they are just random. I did finally figure out that I could change the colours, but by then there were too many to change. I’ve found that curled grows much stronger in winter, or at least it does for me

I often cram links in like that, between summer beets, at the edge of brassica beds, between onions etc and yes, they are amazing at their ability to recover from abuse! : All the best - Steve

It’s surprising what you can do with a tiny garden, small enough to grow old in but big enough to grow a lot of food and relax and play a lot too

I rarely get butternut to ripen here when it’s a good year, but my crown prince are still growing well, despite the weather, but leeks are more productive for sure!

not sure what you mean about getting points, but about 2/3 of the garden is already planted for winter, won't be long before I'm 100% winter plantings here, although the allotment is 90% summer plantings

In the greenhouse in pots and then straight out under plastic low tunnels, no Harding off needed, but I try and choose a week where the weather isn’t too far below freezing

@@SteveRichards thank you, i dont have a greenhouse, do you think they can survive in a low tunnel och plastic cold frame until they get planted out?

Yes, they would be fine, if you don’t have grow lights or a greenhouse just start them earlier in autumn, maybe two batches, one in mid September and another in late September.

They grow rubbish here, too cold

@@SteveRichards did you try them in a grow bag?

No, why would that help? I tried them in a polytunnel and under a low polythene tunnel, in a cold frame and outside. But unfortunately the uk climate is nothing like Germany

@@SteveRichards OK, you'll know better what works for you!

Ooh that’s a great idea!

Asian greens sown in September won’t go to seed until January at the earliest, that’s what I consider to be my main crop

A few people said that, but I’ve grown so many kalettes and not one ever went to seed. Did you sow them in mid March Mark?

@@SteveRichards i think I did mine earlier, I was just seeing how it would grow. My kalete plant is like 6 foot tall lol

if it's that big you must have sown it much earlier

@@SteveRichards I planted one 1 week after I planted the one that went to seed and it like normal size. The one that went to seed just grew so fast.

They do seem too, we have the black cats too, the grandkids hate it

They were there to all support the nets, which have gone now, the birds still see the can though and so it puts them off

Berries are in 35 litres, trees in 80 litre dustbins I think

About 2/3 of the garden is already planted with crops for winter Ali

Bacillus Thuringiensis is useful when you get a bit of an outbreak, like I had this week, I probably used it twice last year and I will probably use it once this year. It's safe and effective and widely used by most organic farmers. I could probably cope without it, but since it's safe and effective I'm happy to use it when I can. I'm not completely sure why it's not been licenced for domestic use in the UK, it is in many other countries, perhaps the market's too small, or perhaps they are worried that people will over-use it and this will result in it becoming less effective for farmers, either way I know how to carefully use it. I'm not sharing the risks, because I'm not aware that there are any, nor am I aware of the environmental risks, beyond reducing the population of caterpillars, which nets do even more effectively. So please feel free to enlighten me, but at this point your comment seems to be quite the over-reaction. As to why my crops are free of pests, that's down to using nets (which I do use, quite extensively) regular inspection and manual intervention, encouraging predators and getting my timings right : All the best - Steve

I am so looking forward to the building work being finished, I did the last of the internal gloss yesterday, I just have three oak door to oil now and then the inside of the house is done apart from a few edging strips. Plenty to do outside, but fingers crossed it will be done by the end of July. There's a suggestion in the comments to dehydrate salad onion tops, so we might try that : All the best - Steve

I generally tip it into the bottom 1/3 of a container, add blood fish and bone and then top up with 2/3 of fresh compost, I put any seedlings that I don't use and other plant waste into that bottom 1/3 too : All the best - Steve

@@SteveRichards ok. Thank you. Do you rotate crops?

@@danielleishman8648 I'm not able to do a strict rotation, I grow too many varieties and too many successions to make it work, but I do try to mix it up as much as I can

what makes it daunting Henry?

Well I meant it as a compliment as you have achieved so much but it is a good question as it does not really matter that my asparagus was so poor because the carrots have done just fine and the apples are very promising...it was very wet for months but the land looks fantastic.regards, Henry

Ah, I see, but from my perspective a lot of the work that I did others don’t need to do now as it’s all well documented and now it’s fairly easy, the garden takes only an hour a week (excluding watering) now the infrastructure and systems are in place : all the best - Steve

All of the details are in my greenhouse guide, here www.notion.so/steverichards/Outgrow-6f57489ae10a4721b48b421826203814?pvs=4#cfde22687e204a40bf8238e3f2da9f20 there's also a polytunnel guide : All the best - Steve

@@SteveRichards thank you

I'd not considered that Steve, partly because we have them fresh every week of the year, how long do they need in a dehydrator and what temp?

@@SteveRichards 55 Degrees C, I never make notes of timings, I just switch it on overnight and check in the morning. I made a note in my diary to build a solar dehydrator for the back garden this year but like most things on my things to do list, I haven’t bothered but at some stage I will build a solar dehydrator which will be especially good for bulkier greens like Pak Choi and kale. I find greens in dehydrators take too much space, surely a DIY solar dehydrator is a better option. Might make use of a low tunnel on decking as a temp solar dehydrator solution.

​@@stevekent3991could you share how you do that. I'd be interested in giving it a go.

I don't usually dehydrate greens, as they are so plentiful year round, I just try and avoid planting too many of them. That said kalettes and brussels leaves often go to waste and I have a lot of those : All the best - Steve

there's a new section in my ebook that covers design and planning here: www.notion.so/steverichards/Outgrow-6f57489ae10a4721b48b421826203814?pvs=4#cfde22687e204a40bf8238e3f2da9f20

Makes sense most of the year, they don't do very well sown in April though, they just bulb immediately, but the bulbs are tiny and the leaves are very poor quality : All the best - Steve

30/35 litres

before our time I'm afraid, they are about 6ft apart

You’ve done a lot of new things this year Steve, gardening for me gets less interesting each year, so I need to keep changing things, I don’t do well with any hobby after a few years.

@@SteveRichards Yep, I know what you mean. Do a job, do it well, move on LOL The straw bales have been an eyeopener for me this year. Already thinking of laying them four abreast next year to maximise the growing area!

I'm sitting here doing my sowing plan for July and thinking ... can I really motivate myself to make another sowing guide video for July, after doing so many of them over the years AND having a perfectly good up to date guide in my ebook and newsletter. I probably won't do them next year : All the best - Steve

@@SteveRichards I was on the verge of packing in the gardening side of life and concentrating on cooking. I was invited to a YT seminar and mentioned this. One of the hosts said, "yes it is all the same same to you and many of your subs, but to new viewers it is new! They do not look back at your old vidoes!" So I am still here LOL

Yeah, that's true, but it doesn't suit my personality and there are so many great YT channels for new growers. I really like growing my own food and I will probably always do that, but I like pushing the boundaries, provided it's not too much effort ... hey ho ... going to make a video! : All the best - Steve

lots more here steverichards.notion.site/Polytunnel-Design-and-Growing-Guide-e260fa0b71bd4dea9a9003c74bdb9ce7?pvs=4 : All the best - Steve

absolutely, the price I pay for productivity and the peppers do look very nice under those tunnels! : All the best - Steve

@@SteveRichards yes, but the veg from your plot always looks amazing , plus U have it all year round