I've been pottering around in the garden again today, partly digging out an old pond that the ducks destroyed, sowing new grass seed over the top and fencing off that half temporarily while it germinates and to give the old grass a chance to recover from the ducks too.
Also I have been arranging and putting together the way I am going to try and grow some of my tomatoes and chillis in the tunnel this year. As I am away from home mon to fri, I have put together a huge tray that holds 9 large pots, and an aqua valve - a small contraption a little like the float in a toilet cistern that allows the plants to be fed automatically as long as there is water in the reservoir (in my case, a dustbin converted into a water butt!)


And here's a few of the chillies and some tomatoes that have just come up. Sweet aperitif and Roma this year. Might add another variety too but undecided on which one. Recommendations are always welcome! Last year was moneymaker and gardeners delight and they were great but I fancy trying some different ones.
I have started my toms in toilet roll tubes this year. It's worked fine but to be honest, it's more hassle than it's worth. Especially as I have seed modules redundant in the shed anyway.


This little one is trying to flower already and so will be stripped and topped in the next week or so.

Chillies looking well ,they make a nice indoor plant .I have in the past grown different Toms but always stick with Moneymaker as the main ones ,Wendy makes lots of chutney so need a prolific fruiter to get lots for chutney ,grew gardeners delight for first time last year and i couldn't leave them alone so sweet ,kept getting told off for eating them .Like the idea of irrigation i did set up a drip system year before last but was a little hit and miss will be interesting to see yours work .

Yeah chillies are an attractive houseplant. Some of the ornamentals are stunning and nice and compact too.
I planted a few more tomatoes yesterday, a few different courgettes, butternut squash, pumpkin, basil and corriander, and a few sweetcorn. Far to early for some but I reckon between the tunnel and conservatory, I can probably make it work. Only planted a little of evrything and will probably do the same again in 2 or 3 more wks as a back up.
The 'technical' part of my irrigation system - which isnf technical at all looks like this........

each of the three small outlets can feed a seperate valve although I will only be using two this year. No guarantee but im hopeful.

Chillies looking good Thom I'm very interested in your irrigation system as I've been giving this a lot of thought too - I did find it very stressful with the watering and now with a planned second polytunnel, the time to do it all will be stressful. I've been looking at using (horticultural) wicks fed up into the bottom of the pot that goes into a base reservoir but I also like the idea of a water butt with lines to top up the inside reservoirs - so much easier to top up the water butt than back and forth with watering cans to water every single plant pot.

Update....
The chillies are still going great, although I'm a little upset as one seems to have a bacterial infection. Leaf mould. Will pop some pics up soon. I have multiples of most but only one white bhut jolokia and of course Sod's law said it had to be that one. I haven't chucked it yet, isolated and stripped the worst affected leaves. I'm not holding out much hope but you never know.
Tomatoes all germinated well but now seem to have frozen in time. They are warm with heaps of light yet they just don't seem to want to get their first true leaves. Seed leaves and about an inch and a half tall. Been that way for a week I guess.
Planted up some other bits and they are doing great inside. It's a little early but did some more toms, basil, coriander, sweetcorn, squash and pumpkins, and a couple of different courgettes. I will sow another batch in a few weeks to be on the safe side.

Up at the allotment, potatoes are in (as well as garden) put in a few rows of carrots, beet root, parsnip, peas, broad beans and my MIL has sewn cauli, leek, sprout and some sweet peas. It's early but again, the weather has been taunting me!
LL......the irrigation system...
Basically, it's just the bin in the posts above, or a water butt or any type of reservoir really. The plumbing doesn't get any more complicated than what can be seen attached to the water butt and those pipes run straight to the aqua valves. I have two trays of pots, so two valves. They were 9 pounds each. Could easily do something on a much larger scale.
I don't think it will be quite as effective as regular watering for individual plants as they require, but as I'm away mon to fri, I think they will work great.
As a test I have already got soil in the pots and it's staying nicely moist, not water logger, but not drying out in the polytunnel which has been around 20 degrees the last few days.
One thing I have noticed is the water level in the bin (which will eventually be a weak feed solution) has been dropping a bit quicker than I would have liked due to evaporation but I think that can be massively reduced by adding either some bricks/stones/gravel around the pots meaning less water sitting in the tray or by some sort of cover for the trays which as another experiment will probably take the form of pieces of plastic sheeting sitting on the waters surface, like Lilly pads I guess. Either way, I will post up how I get on.

I had a look at aqua valves and - looks relatively easy to set up with a big tank of water raised to allow for gravity. I think I will still go for the water wick idea as well (basically it is capillary matting cut into wicks which you put into the bottom of a pot before filling with compost/soil and thread through the holes into a water source such as a tray of water) Putting stones/gravel into the tray will reduce the surface water as you say, but more importantly raise the pot - I've had problems when pots have sat in trays of water, even if it is shallow. I think I've got a plan now, thank you.

Looks like you going to have a busy year ,don't be to eager with your sweetcorn .about anoth er 3to4 weeks plenty soon enough ,things moving though thats the main thing

So a quick update, I've been very busy the last couple of weeks with the arrival of twins, the garden, allotment and potting bits on....
Here's a few pics of the chillies so far. I have wittled it down to 15 plants so far. I wanted 10 good ones but can't bring myself to get rid of any more from the 30 or so I started with.



and a few of the Roma tomatoes I'm growing. I am also a a couple of Sungold and a few Sweet Aperitif.
We ate our first feed from the polytunnel yesterday too, just a few pak choi leaves that needed thinning but nice all the same!
I will post some more pics of whats been growing in the next few days hopefully but the plum and two of the 5 apples that went in his winter are in leaf and the other apples aren't far behind. All the soft fruit have full foliage and the spuds are starting to look good too. One raised bed is coming to like too, carrots, spinnach, beetroot and some sugarsnap peas and mange tout.
In the conservatory i have squash, pumpkin, a few different courgettes as well as basil and corriander. Oh and sweetcorn too!
As for he allotment, well thats for another post!

Theres the Romas that should have been in the previous post!

So once again I have been terrible at keeping up to date due to a busy busy schedule. Twin girls arriving have kept me on my toes but I have managed to keep up with the growing, just!
I have had some success and some not so much. The potatoes seemed to be doinv really well but in June I had to harvest most as tgey appeared to have blight. Still ended up with plenty, just smaller than most could have been.

The polytunnel was great at protecting things early in the season but its just too hot in there for the tomatoes, even with everything open and I believe (feel free to chime in here LL, Bill or anyone else) that anything over 20 degrees and they won't ripen. Chillies are doing ok but not as good as last year. Still getting a few every week but I think the majority are being swamped by tomato plants. Its entirely my fault for trying to squeeze too much in to a small space.

We did well on the autumn planted shallots, onions and garlic, and have had heaps of beetroot and carrots with a final sowing just gone in a week ago.

Roses have done well for their first year and although I usually only grow edibles, I am quite pleased with them!


The fruit this year has been great too. Freezer full of strawberry, rhubarb and a few other bits including sorbet! Fridge has more jam than we really need too.


Of course I will try to keep up to date but its unlikely!

Thomassio wrote: The polytunnel was great at protecting things early in the season but its just too hot in there for the tomatoes, even with everything open and I believe (feel free to chime in here LL, Bill or anyone else) that anything over 20 degrees and they won't ripen

I'm not sure I can agree with that - warmth is definitely the key to ripening, but so is sunshine which (here in the Midlands anyway) has been lacking. If day temperatures in the polytunnel have been well above 35oC (which can easily happen especially midsummer + a heatwave) then I suppose it is possible. Perhaps night temperatures have been too low? Also, what is the expected maturity period and have you allowed enough time between fruit set and ripening? Truth is, my experience of polytunnels has been limited to chillies and my one off melons last year which despite poor pollination which was my fault, produced lots of flowers. As for the chillies, I rarely get any ripe ones until end of August up to October depending on the weather.
EDIT: maybe you need a polytunnel cover with doors at both ends and that way there is good ventilation

Thanks LL.
Perhaps I'm just being a little impatient LL! To be honest I have never heard that too much warmth stops toms ripening until I started digging on the internet but a couple of sites suggested that over 85degrees f. Would stope the process. http://www.ecoyards.com/ripening-green-tomatoes/
I reckon my tunnel is around 30 - 35 withing minutes of bright sunshine falling on it!
On the chilli front...My Ajis, jalapeño and lemon habanero have all been ripening for a couple of weeks but superhots are all green and I'm not expecting much from them now.