Rain...at last

Finally we get some rain, unfortunately on the day I get to spend in the garden - bank holiday Monday! I was a very damp and muddy figure by the end of the day, but a valuable day it was. The greenhouse is now completely planted up with tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and chillis (plus a couple of cucumbers).

I grow all my greenhouse vegetables in containers, there are no soil beds. The ground is covered with black membrane and gravel to keep the weeds away and I use fresh multi-purpose compost in good sized containers, which ends up going into the raised beds at the end of the season as a soil improver. After a few years fighting to grow tomatoes in grow bags, including ring culture methods, I came to the conclusion that there is simply not enough soil in a grow bag to satisfy the plants needs for water and nutrients. By planting in good sized containers my tomatoes do not need feeding, and if regular watering is maintained then blossom end rot will be avoided.

I avoid feeding with tomato food as it leads to excessive plant growth which serves no useful purpose, but it also delays cropping so you end up with a huge glut of tomatoes in September. If you don't feed you get less plant growth, and perhaps a smaller overall yield, but you get your tomatoes over a much longer cropping period, which for most people is preferable (and cheaper and less effort). Unfortunately it doesn't stop side-shoots growing, so they still need removing, but the fact that there is less green-growth probably means there is less of this to do.

Things are beginning to get back under control in the garden - at the allotment we now have potatoes, broad beans, runner beans, climbing french beans, tomatoes, sweetcorn, kale, brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, onions, garlic, pumpkins, courgettes, spaghetti squash, cucumbers and gherkins planted in the ground. There's a few more things to plant up at home and a few seeds yet to sow, but if the rain keeps coming then it could still be a good year.