Planting in the poly tunnel

The First batch of Aubergines were planted today, they have been grown in 3" pots in our grow room under lights for 4 weeks then hardened off in a conservatory. As they are starting to flower we decided to put them in.
We have found that a long growing season is important to get a reasonable from Aubergine as is high fertility
They are planted through a woven plastic sheet, Phormax this suppresses the weed growth but still allows water to penetrate. It has the additional advantage of being reusable, this sheet is in its fourth year.
Last year we bought some white Phormax thinking that the additional reflected light would improve growth rates. In fact the growth was half of plants grown through black and because light could penetrate there was a large amount of weed growth under the cover. That sheet is now laid between the tunnels to reflect light back into the tunnel.



Tha apples are in full flower now, about 2 to 3 weeks later than recent average, the advantage of a late flowering season is that the blooms are less likely to succumb to late frosts.