I have a very small greenhouse, pictured above when I first built it a few years ago, in 2019 I think. It probably measures 1.5m x 1.5m (that’s a guess, I have no idea really – but there’s not a huge amount of growing space and it’s much smaller than my mother’s much smarter greenhouse!)
Traditionally, I’ve filled it with tomato plants, aubergine plants and Padron pepper plants. This has usually had the same results each year – more tomatoes than I know what to do with in late summer, so many padron peppers over a 3 or 4 week period, and no aubergines (if you’ve followed my posts, you’ll know I’ve had little success with aubergines – it is an annoyance and I try every year because I love them.) I do sometimes plant cucumber, but to be honest I’m not a huge cucumber fan so I don’t know why I do… I think I like the idea of them!
So, there’s essentially this glut of padron peppers and tomatoes, but little else coming out of my tiny greenhouse.
This year, I’m thinking I might do things a little differently. My plants are due to arrive any day now – I have mostly sets of 10 arriving, of things like: french beans, peas, runner beans, lettuces, leeks, onions, fennel and various other things that I can’t remember off the top of my head. Since I also get a glut of french beans and runner beans, I’m wondering if I might not try planting half of them in the greenhouse. They’ll most likely grow faster than the ones outdoors, and then I can get an early harvest and a later harvest. See where I’m going with this? I’ll do the same with my tomatoes and padrons, and pop half of them outside so that instead of a sudden harvesting flurry, I get two less intense flurries!
It may work, it may not, but I think I’m going to give it a try.
Then…. I was also thinking about my winter veggies. I’ve just pulled up a whole load of kale, spinach etc to make space for summer crops, and I remembered how slowly some of it grew. I think what I’m going to do is divide my planting in autumn as well, hoping for an earlier crop of kale and spinach and wild rocket, and then another surge in early spring when it all comes through. Again, it may or may not work, but it seems like a good use of the space and it’s worth a try!