Potatoes for May
If you like your early potatoes early and you have enough room, why not plant some in your greenhouse in January? They could be ready for harvesting as soon as May. Yields can be modest, but the flavour of fresh early potatoes is unbeatable. Choose seed potatoes of an early variety, and stand them on a warm bright windowsill indoors to start sprouting. Keep the eyes facing upwards so the emerging shoots will be straight and tall.
When the sprouts are about five centimetres tall plant the seed potatoes in the greenhouse, either in the ground or in large pots. Some compost or well-rotted manure could be added to the soil, but not too much if slugs are a problem. When planting take care to trickle soil gently down between the sprouts to avoid damaging them. Some growers who use pots plant the seed potatoes in half-filled pots and add more soil as the sprouts grow up, always leaving their tips exposed to the light to speed up growth.
Keep the soil moist but not wet, ventilate the greenhouse (or bring pots outside) on warm days, and protect the plants from frost and slugs. Add soil around the bottoms of the stems to stop light from greening potatoes near the surface. You can start eating the potatoes when flowering is over, but the potatoes will continue growing bigger until the foliage dies down. They taste best when freshly dug, so unless you need the space or have a slug problem dig them only as you need them. Bon appétit!
Shelter for Greenhouses
Horticulturalist Peter Whyte gives some advice on protecting Greenhouses.
Sheltering a greenhouse from strong winds reduces damage, but if not done properly it can do more harm than good. A solid barrier such as a wall stops the wind dead in its tracks, but the air pressure that builds up in front of that wall turns the wind up and over the top and around the ends or corners. The diverted wind adds to the wind already passing by, increasing the wind speed there. And because the wind pressure increases as the square of the wind speed, it greatly increases its force and the damage it causes. To make matters worse the airstream passing over or around a solid barrier creates a vacuum behind it that causes violent turbulence, which further increases damage.
The trick is to create a permeable barrier, with holes to let some of the high-pressure air from in front pass through it and fill the vacuum behind. This eliminates the turbulence and continues straight on but at a lower speed, pushing up the high-speed airstream coming over the top of the barrier. The average wind speed is reduced by half for a distance of ten times the barrier’s height downwind, but also for twice its height upwind because some of the airstream is diverted upwards before it reaches the barrier (so you can place a barrier close behind a greenhouse to avoid blocking the sun).
The ideal windbreak is about 50-60% solid and 40-50% holes. A hedge like that would be transparent enough to let you see cattle through it but dense enough to prevent you counting them. Artificial barriers can be made with walls of concrete screen blocks or solid concrete blocks spaced apart, or purpose-made plastic screening such as ParafenceTM fixed to posts.
Pretty little Polytunnel
A 2.5m x 6m (8.5ft x 20ft approx.) Polydome Tunnel which we built recently during the Indian Summer.
A Polytunnel is a low cost way of covering a large area but it also has practical advantages – for example being completely safe.
Polythene has come a long way over the years – while we guarantee our 900 gauge cover (which maximises durability and light transmission) for 6 years we have had many customers achieve life spans of more than 10 years – some even 12 to 15 years and believe it or not the longest life for one of our polythene covers so far is over 20 years.
Many things affect the lifespan – you don’t want the polythene too tight or too loose. If you use chemicals that might shorten the life. The main thing affecting the life of the cover is the sun – how many hours of daylight the cover receives.
Our 900 gauge polythene is manufactured to include the maximum grade of UV inhibitors the manufacturers offer.
We selected this polythene for its mechanical characteristics, it is supple so can be stretched as easily as lighter covers – and being supple it actually is less likely to be damaged during installation.
Our 900 gauge film is thermic – providing enhanced growing conditions and is clear as you can see from the photo which we find most customers prefer.
We have this cover in sizes from 2.5m wide up to 12m in width on jumbo rolls which we cut to your required length. Wider covers are available but in a lighter gauge (800 gauge).
Call our sales office if you would like a quote for a replacement cover on 057 912 0424
Change in Glasshouse Range
We have made a decision to discontinue selling Eden Greenhouses with immediate effect.
A competitor has been selling them at cost (as Greenhouses are not their main business) which in the short term is good news for some customers who avail of the cheap prices but we are unwilling in this case to do so.
Due to EU pricing law the manufacturers are unable to stop this practice which is intentionally pushing others out of the market.
In the end the consumer looses out as for example we have 5 of their models on display (and were the only company in Ireland that I am aware of with this number) but of course they will no longer be.
Customers in the country around our area will no longer have someone who can build them – in fact the competitor does not employ any constructors while we have three permanent staff engaged in this.
No doubt with us and others out of the way the competitor will up their prices again (as otherwise why would they sell at cost?) and so the consumer will in the end be worse off.
We have some stock of Eden Greenhouses (and Halls and Europa Manor which were from the same source) and also our display models to sell off – so if you want an ex display model now is a good time.
Dahlias – our resident horticulturalist Peter Whyte gives some tips
Every year somebody predicts a hard, cold winter. If they are right this year, the roots of plants such as Dahlias will be killed when the soil freezes. To keep them safe you should lift the root tubers and store them indoors until spring. As soon as their stems are blackened by frost, dig up the plants carefully, avoiding root damage. Gently shake off the loose soil, and cut the stems back to about 15 centimetres. If you have different varieties label them with their names and colours right away – you may well forget which one was which before spring. Stand them on wire mesh or similar in the greenhouse for a few days to dry off fully. Then place them upright on a layer of dry peat or soil in containers, filling more in around them to cover the tubers. Keep them dry and cool but frost-free under staging until spring, and then divide and plant them out a fortnight or so before the last likely frost date for your area. If you want to take cuttings, start them growing in the greenhouse in February and use the new shoots as cuttings when about 75mm high.
Polytunnel growing training session re-run
Mr Tanguy de Toulgoet, is re running his training session to help people make the most use out of their Polytunnels. It is on the 24th of October and he is in Durrow, County Laois.
As before he will teach on plant production, herb drying, companion planting, winter storage and much more.
The cost is 50 euro per person, it is a half day course and starts at 10am and finishes at 1pm.
People who mention Polydome will get a 20% discount on the cost of the course.
Here is a link to a leaflet about it: Course Leaflet
Greenhouses are for lovers
Customers in Cork, the Twohigs have kindly sent this lovely photo of their beautiful Janssens Victorian SL Greenhouse. What a beautiful job. Greenhouse isn’t the right word though is it as it isn’t plants but relationships that will blossom in this one. Cheers.
Paperwhite narcissi
Paperwhite narcissus is a type of white scented daffodil which can be forced to flower for Christmas. A greenhouse makes it easier to grow better blooms. You need to buy specially prepared bulbs, and compost them afterwards because they rarely flower normally again. Store the bulbs in a cool, dry, dark, airy place until 4-6 weeks before you want them to bloom. Place them on a 5-centimetre (2”) layer of damp (not wet) bulb fibre or potting compost or even pebbles in a container such as a shallow bulb-pan. For small containers an odd-numbered group of (for example) three or five bulbs looks better than an even-numbered group. They should be close together but not touching each other or the sides of the container, with their pointy ends upwards and leaning in towards the middle of the container. Add a little more compost or pebbles to firm in between the bulbs but leave their tips exposed.
Place the container in a cool spot away from direct sunlight. Check them every couple of days to make sure they don’t dry out completely, but never add enough water to reach the bottoms of the bulbs or they will rot. As soon as the green shoots appear, move the containers to your greenhouse and give them as much light as possible. The more light and the less heat they get the less leggy and floppy the stems will be. Keep the greenhouse cool by ventilation but frost-free at nights, and make sure the plants don’t dry out. Turn them often to keep growth regular and upright. Bring them into the house when the buds are well formed, and the flowers will open in a few days.
Peter Whyte
Polytunnel recovering
We recovered one of our Verticlair Polyunnels from Filclair, I think this photo is lovely. As well as manufacturing Polytunnels we are agents for Filclair from France who we source Multispan structures from. The Verticlair has straight sides and this particular structure has a fully automatic roll up side ventilation system. A great Polytunnel cannot make a good gardener out of you put it is a tool that a good gardener can do great growing with.
Polytunnel growing course
A customer of ours – Mr Tanguy de Toulgoet, is hosting a training session to help people make the most use out of their Polytunnels. It is on the 3rd of October and he is in Durrow, County Laois.
He will cover plant production, herb drying, companion planting, winter storage and much more.
The cost is 50 euro per person, it is a half day course and starts at 10am and finishes at 1pm.
Here is a link to a leaflet about it: Course Leaflet
