Allotment Vegetable Growing in February 2005

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Chitting Potatoes / Home Built Greenhouse

Chitting Potatoes / Home Built Greenhouse
03/02/2005

February is the last month of winter and whilst spring might be in the air some days, it's safest to wait until if officially arrives or risk waking up to a foot of frozen snow on your seedlings.

The home built greenhouse turned out to be a real boon. Because it was south facing it made use of every bit of winter sunshine. The diffusing plastic stopped the sun from scorching seedling and, being twinwalled, insulated well.

As it leaned against the house, at night heat would seep out into the greenhouse and I don't recall it dropping below freezing in there. It made an ideal winter store for the onions and garlic as well, quite airy so mould never seemed to take hold.

This year we chitted our potatoes in there rather than the spare bedroom.

Last year we used the spare bedroom to chit the potatoes but this year the twinwall polycarb greenhouse is pressed into service.

It tends to hold the heat well being twinwalled and next to the house so unless there is a really sharp frost all will be well. I can always bring them in overnight if a bad frost threatens.

Liming the Soil

Liming the Soil
21/02/2005

Raising the pH (making the soil less acid or sweetening it) releases nutrients so helping crops to grow. You need to get the level right and this varies for different crops.

So this part of plot 5 recieved a good dusting of lime - looks quite pretty in white, a bit like frost

There's a full article here: Lime – the Vital Fertiliser!

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