Potting on

Our attention was focussed in and around the Genus greenhouse this week with our seedlings getting either potted on or hardened off.  The sunflowers ‘Ring of Fire’ and ‘Buttercream’ have been growing well in the individual cells that they were sown in but were rapidly outgrowing their space.  Each one was potted on into a 9cm pot, watered well, and put on the top shelf for maximum light.

The broad bean ‘Valencianna’ was put in the coldframe a few weeks ago and was now planted outside into the bed with the other broad beans that we’d previously sown directly; we’re performing a little test to try and see which method gives the best results.

The red lettuce ‘Lollo Rosso’ was also needing some more space but, rather than potting on, we watered them well and placed them in the coldframe with the lid propped slightly open.  We’ll plant these out in a week or so’s time.

The final job of the day was to mulch the strawberries.  For this we used the commercially available ‘Strulch’, a form of chopped straw.  This has a number of benefits, it holds the  fruit above the soil, it deters slugs and snails, and it prevents weed seedlings from growing.  A simple job that should guarantee us beautiful home grown strawberries in the coming months.