As we have had a very sudden change in the weather, I took the plunge and sowed a number of seeds in the poly-tunnel. Not wanting to be caught out like last year with some sudden late frost in March, I spotted the perfect solution to have a secondary barrier for my seedlings at a local supermarket. This mini greenhouse fits perfectly inside my poly-tunnel as an extra frost barrier, but still has plenty of light.
I also have a plastic cover over the seedling tray on more delicate seedlings like tomatoes and peppers. It is 20 to 25 degrees in the poly-tunnel and slightly higher in the mini greenhouse, so I have started venting in the day as it should be about 20 for germination. In saying that, I germinated tomato seeds at about 35 degrees in Portugal in the 1980's as we could not cool the seedlings down enough even in a darkened shaded area. We had wonderful healthy seedlings, so no harm was done. I tend to close the door of the mini greenhouse at night, because despite the warm days it is still quite chilly at night here in Brittany.
I have also been down to the local garden center to day buying a few plants, these will give me an early start to the season and my own sown plants will be a follow on and additional crops. These tomatoes, pepper and courgettes are lovely healthy plants, but will need spacing out and planting ASAP. I just hope we do not get any frost, but I will keep some fleece handy just in case. Tomatoes really cannot take any frost and as I said previously last year, I lost all my first bought plants.
