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May – Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head!

Our frequent rainfall keeps Ireland green and beautiful. However, since you’ve put up a tunnel and blocked it out, now it is up to you to keep your plants hydrated!

Water, along with oxygen, sunlight and soil, is a basic need of all plants, even though their requirements can vary considerably. From one type of plant to another, from tiny seedling to full-grown, from pots to open soil, and from overcast days to sunny ones this job can keep you on your toes!

How Often?

There is no correct answer to this, but you want to keep your plants somewhere between waterlogged and parched! If the soil feels dry below the top inch or two, it is probably time to water. If plants start to droop or lower leaves begin to yellow they are too dry. When you see moulds and mildews appearing on the soil surface, it is likely too damp.  Intuition for this develops quickly enough.

Morning vs. Evening

This is a point of debate. Most everyone agrees that in the heat of the day is not the best time to water. However, if a plant is wilting or is a tiny seedling drying out, it is always better to water than let the plant suffer damage or death. The advantage of evening watering, particularly in very warm weather, is that the moisture can be retained overnight and will evaporate the next day once the heat soars again. The advantage of morning watering is that if you have a hearty nocturnal slug and snail population you can discourage them from slithering along on moist soil munching all of your plants overnight by keeping things at their driest then.

Manual vs. Automatic

This is another point of debate and probably something in between is ideal. Automated systems can be put on a timer and adjusted throughout the season. This is ideal to cut down on time and effort, but it is always wise to monitor the situation and not fully depend on automation. Manually watering allows you to reach every plant and give more or less in specific situations, but it does require a dedication of more of your time. Polydome does supply irrigation equipment, including simple battery-powered automatic timers.

Overhead vs. Underneath

Overhead watering, including overhead irrigation lines and the use of a hose, does have the advantage of washing down leaves like the rain. However, some plants work better with underneath watering, from watering a tray under a pot to using capillary mats or low-level drip lines. Reason for this vary, but this often suits plants that are prone to mildews or blight from remaining damp or leaves that scorch from being watered in the sunlight. In a protected structure where there can be less natural wind and ventilation, this is often an ideal solution. An example of this is using low-level drip lines for tomato plants to avoid blight or feeding potted cyclamen from a capillary mat to keep their leaves healthy.

In the winter, having a roof that keeps excess rain out is a great advantage to many plants. However, the surrounding areas outside the tunnel moisten the areas near the edge, so this is something to bear in mind.

So, the next time it rains, enjoy the raindrops! They are little droplets supporting life!

Electricity in your Greenhouse

As the days get shorter and colder, you might think about bringing an electrical power supply to your tunnel or glasshouse. Electricity can power lights, heaters, soil warming cables, propagators and climate controllers, letting you grow a wider range of plants over a longer season.  But it’s not just a matter of running an extension cable out from your house; domestic cables and fittings are neither shockproof nor waterproof enough for safety in greenhouses.  Electricity and water are a lethal combination.  If you only need working lights you could use wireless battery or solar-powered lights with high-efficiency LED bulbs.  If you already have a low-voltage garden lighting circuit nearby you could take a short spur off it, provided it can handle the extra load. 

If you need mains power, you must get a registered electrical contractor to do the specialised wiring work. At the least, the supply from the house should be through Steel Wire Armoured (SWA) cable buried at least 50-60 centimetres underground with warning tape above it.  It should pass through a Residual Current Device (RCD), which monitors the flow of current out from the distribution board and back and trips instantly if they are not the same (i.e. current shorting elsewhere). All sockets, plugs and fittings should be of heavy-duty industrial type with a much higher Index of Protection (IP) rating than domestic ones.  They are not cheap, but neither is human life!

Great first day at the National Ploughing Championships

IMG_1960Great first day at the National Ploughing Championships, very busy and not a drop of rain.  Traffic management seemed to go very well.  If you haven’t been come and see us on Row 8 Block 3 Stand 195.  A lot of interest in Livestock Tunnels for calves and for sheep as well as Polytunnels for gardening.

Pelargonium Cuttings

Pelargoniums (geraniums) are easy to grow from cuttings whenever the plants are growing, but easiest in late summer. Fill a pot with seed compost and moisten it by standing it in water for a while. Then let the surplus water drain away. Choose your healthiest, most vigorous pelargonium plants for cuttings. Non-flowering stems are best because flowers give off hormones that inhibit root growth, but if you have to use flowering stems remove any flowers and flower-buds. Stout stems grown in good light are better than spindly stems grown in poor light; a few weeks on greenhouse staging can produce good stems.

Cut the chosen stems below the third node (joint) from the top. Cut off all but the top leaves, insert them into the pot leaving one node and the top leaves showing and firm them in gently to ensure good contact between the cutting and the compost. Place the pot in a warm bright spot out of direct sun. Don’t cover it as dampness can rot the cuttings. For the same reason, water it only from below by standing the pot in water for a while and letting it drain as before. Remove any cuttings that start to rot.   Plant out the rooted cuttings when new leaves appear on them: let them recover where they were until growth starts again before placing them in full sun.

red geranium flowers in a pot isolated on white background

 

Junior Orangery Greenhouse on display

Junior Orangery (2)The newest addition to our display area in Birr is this lovely Junior Orangery Glasshouse from Janssens.   Using ‘box section’ aluminium profiles and 4mm toughened glass this greenhouse is good and strong.  The protruding Porch makes for a  lovely and unusual feature in the garden.  It comes in black only – or as Henry Ford said about the Model T car – every colour you want so long as it is black.  The Junior Orangery measures 3.14m x 3.96m giving room for a the essential table and chairs to relax in along with some plants to talk to and enjoy 🙂  The price for this impressive Greenhouse is only 3,515 euro as a DIY kit, we do offer a construction service the price for which varies with location – please enquire for a price if you are not DIY inclined.  We need a flat and level base (or flat and level lawn) to be in situ before we arrive to build it.  You are welcome to come and see this and other models at our display area in Birr.

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

 

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Paperwhite narcissi

White NarcissusPaperwhite 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

IMG_2048   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

 

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