It’s the time of year when I get lots of exercise carrying tender seedlings out to the polytunnel every morning, and back to the safety of the house every evening.  They need to go out to benefit from the daylight (and hopefully sunshine) to make them grow sturdily, but night time temperatures still regularly go below zero in the tunnel.

I will be supplying tomato, courgette, and squash plants from late May onwards.  I’m growing Sungold tomato plants in bulk (orange cherry tomatoes with exceptionally good sweetness and flavour) plus a few other varieties including Gardener’s Delight (red cherry tomato) and Marmande (big slicing salad tomato… also ideal for making tomato soup).  I will also have yellow and green courgette plants, and butternut and Crown Prince squash plants.   Plus a few other items like leek plants, red russian kale, and some herbs.   If you’d like any plants, you can reserve some now or wait to see what’s available later.

This year I have also bought excellent peat-free multipurpose compost in bulk.  This is a new product, Sylvagrow, which I used for the first time last year and was very impressed with. Sylvagrow is the best peat-free compost I’ve tried, and was awarded Best Buy status by Which? magazine this year, competing against all composts, including the environmentally damaging  ‘normal’ peat-based composts which nobody with a conscience should ever buy.  I have Sylvagrow compost available at £6.50 per 50 litre bag (the standard garden centre price is £7, though it’s hard to find at normal garden centres).  It’s good for seeds and brilliant for potting up.