Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 22 Entries. Saturday, January 25 View Page Hi all ! Best of luck to every grower around the world for this 2020 season. Hoping for a great weather without heat waves and expecting some big vegetables ! Still 100% organic ! we will grow as usual plenty of tomatoes for the market but also some good genetics as the WR 9.65 Marley, our 8.07 and plenty more. However, we'll grow also cucumbers, aubergines, giant bell Peppers and Corno di toro, courgettes, giant leeks and giants pumpkins. Slowly a passion became a job ;-)   Monday, January 27 View Page well, soil test has been done for pumpkin patch. Phosphorus and potassium are very high but the rest is not too bad. Need mostly to adjust micronutrients and nitrogen. Will use blood and corn meals. Organic matter is really high with 10,8%. Put down peat and perlite to loosen the soil and bring the PH down a bit. Still working on the polytunnel door, remove rust, refix new bolts, new paint, and clip windscreen. Regarding the others vegts, 3000 seeds of tomatoes, cucs, aubergines, courgettes, bell Peppers are already up and about 120 giants leeks. All pots are enjoying the rare Sunny days Under a brand new polytunnel specially built to welcome them, a few weeks ago. Winter has been mild and extremly wet so far.   Friday, March 20 View Page Well, it's a great chance to have the patches at home, despite the world coronavirus propagation and the quanrantine. I can prepare carefully the 6 polytunnels and keep sowing thousands seeds and repot all young seedlings. Almost 5000 done now. I spread all lab recommandations in the pumpkin patch as you can see here. For tiny little rates, as copper, zinc, manganese and boron, I mixed them with enough water to cover the whole patch and use a blower directly on the soil. Did it for each stuff, one by one. It took time but at least, I am sure it's nicely spread. For the rest, I simply used a gardening spoon and back Walking while spreading. Tilled and watered it and job was done. It's finally sunny since a couple of days, soil is warming up slowly but surely. Take care during this tough time.   Friday, March 27 View Page Don't know if that works now ?   Saturday, March 28 View Page Did a light test to compare the outside direct sun light intensity and under a polytunnel. So 100 000 Lux is the direct sun light but...   Saturday, March 28 View Page ...Under the pumpkin polytunnel, it's 74 360 Lux so that's 25% lost cos of the plastic, 2 reasons to explain that difference : that plastic is old , with the UV and the years it becomes less clear, second Reason is Simply, it's dirty : dust, pollen etc... I will clean Inside and outside each tunnel with a Karcher ( wish me good luck lol) Another factor can change that number, plastic quality. A classic one like Hytithermic is clearer than a Celloclim which is diffusing the light. I did another measurement under tunnel 4 and 5 with that Celloclim plastic : 53 000 Lux, that's almost 50% light lost. In fact, the light is spread in many direction. I hope to reach at least 85 000 Lux after cleaning the pumpkin tunnel. Important detail, I did all those tests at about 2 feet off the soil where the leaves will be.   Sunday, March 29 View Page This is under the pumpkin tunnel   Sunday, March 29 View Page seedlings   Sunday, March 29 View Page We ( my lovely wife and I ) keep sowing and repotting everyday cucumbers, a few aubergine strains, a couple of Bell Pepper strains, severals courgette strains and a dozen of tomato strains as Big Zac, Pineapple, Andine, Brandywine, Marmande, Rose de Berne etc...all seeds, starting and growing mediums are "Bio". so far, there are about 3500 seedlings but we need more. Will start competition tomatoes soon with Steve seeds : 5.29 Porkchop, 6.55 Porkchop, 5.71 Lambchop and 9.65 WR, 10 pounds or Nothing ! lol ;-)   Monday, March 30 View Page And thousands tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, eggplants, Bell peppers, etc...   Friday, April 3 View Page Soil temp is actually around 11C but weather is very Sunny and warming quickly. Spent days to clean tunnel plastic inside and outside, man my arms are dead ! However, I checked again the light intensity and it gains 10 000 Lux ! from 74 000 to 85 000 Lux which is good enough for me. Pumpkin patch is almost ready, need to fix the new door and start to set a couple of driptapes. Seeds are soaking in Kelp, let's the race begins !   Saturday, April 25 View Page I need to start in 2020 cos I didn't post anything for a while. I grew 2 Urena seeds (thanks Leonardo).   Saturday, April 25 View Page Back to 2020 season, I started 2 Urena seeds (thanks Leonardo) : 1938 and the Famous 1911. Electroculture benefits with pyramid.   Saturday, April 25 View Page 1938 Urena in 2020.   Monday, May 11 View Page 1938 Urena   Monday, May 11 View Page 1911 Urena   Thursday, May 14 View Page Both plants has been transplanted on the 18th april.   Thursday, May 14 View Page This is the 1911 Urena. Both seedlings are same age and same size. Great plants.   Thursday, May 14 View Page Everything is done, little huts for cold night, just in case.   Thursday, May 14 View Page Lovely Sunset on the polytunnel. Perlite is draining really well, misting system is set up. All fine so far. Photo taken yesterday 13th of may.   Thursday, May 14 View Page Photo   Saturday, May 30 View Page 1938 Urena