Greenhouse Intercropping

The main crops in my "cropping" greenhouse are - numbers are the plants I am raising, some will be given away, or "murdered"

Tomato - 18
Cucumber - 3
Melons - 15
Water Melon 5
Aubergines - 6
Sweet Peppers - 6
Chillies - 18 (Seems far too many, 6 x 3 varieties)

Its 30' x 10', soil has been dug out and replaced with 50:50 well rotted Donkey manure and last year's compost heap.

I was thinking of putting week fabric down, and planting-through, as the compost heap is probably going to give a fantastic crop of weed-from-seed !!

I also want to grow:

Some early maturing lettuce, a block of sweet corn, and some climbing French beans (again, an early crop)

My plan was to stick some canes in the greenhouse where the main plants will be, then stick a few things in around them so they won't be in the way when I plant out the Toms and Cues in about 3 or 4 weeks time. (They are currently growing on in pots in the conservatory, which is warmer on cold nights than the greenhouses).

The Melons are trained up the side, about 2 feet apart. I thought I could put a lettuce between them - which will be near the glass / light but harvested before the melons take over.

I can get about 15 Tomatoes down the house in a single row, but I expect I could plant them in a staggered row, and get the lot in ... so that would leave one side free for everything else.

I was wondering if it was worth put one or two Climbing Beans between each Tomato - I can rip them out when the outdoor crop starts.

The Sweetcorn will need to be in a block, so that can go on one side near the door I think.

Any other suggestions?

 

Kirsten,

Why did you dig out all the soil instead of just incorporating the manure and compost.

Presumably you dont like courgettes.

regarding the weeds - personally i prefer the hoe to membrane as the weeds will come up through the planting holes and I find that watereing through the membrane is never easy.

 

"Why did you dig out all the soil instead of just incorporating the manure and compost."

I had grown Tomatoes last year (in pots, but of course their roots had found their way down into the soil), so I'm nervouse about cropping in the old soil.

I also figured that the job had to be done at some time, so I would have the bigger job of removing a pile of clay now, and then in future years I will only have to remove Muck + Home-compost - which is much lighter, and less sticky-clingy to work with.

"Presumably you dont like courgettes."

We love them, but get a fine crop outside. Would they be much earlier if I had, say, one plant inside? I've grown some extras for my Mum, but she won't notice if I buy her one from the Garden Centre instead!!

"regarding the weeds - personally i prefer the hoe to membrane as the weeds will come up through the planting holes and I find that watereing through the membrane is never easy."

Good points. We have a huge amount of ground we are trying to tame this year. We were ambitious with out planting last year (newly moved to this house), in the knowledge that a) it was important to plant things that would take time to establish and b) we were not going to be able to keep control of it all. Of course we haven't planned on c) a really wet summer, ideal for weeds :(

Hence I'm thinking that anything that reduces "labour" on the weeding front will help us get ahead this year. Another year and the Shrubs and Herbaceous plants should be mature enough to enjoy, so I think this year needs to be a the start of making it a priority to be weed-free.

I could sink a pot, or somesuch, alongside the Toms etc. for watering - although I am thinking about "plunging" the 11" pots we have used in previous years for Toms but cut the bottoms out of them - sort of like Ring Culture.

I'm also thinking that for Sweetcorn (outside) and so on I can cut holes in weed-membrane at the recommended spacing and then just move the weed fabric to the Sweetcorn "zone" next year. Ditto for the Tomato crops.

But I'm open to ideas and suggestions.

 

All good points John, I see you are happy for me to be the guinea pig!

On reflection I realise that its pushing my luck trying to use beans as a catch crop! I'll take some photos so I can remember how quickly they grow, compared to the Toms, for another year. I've only just sown the beans, and for a cold greenhouse crop I reckon they could have been started quite a bit earlier - but the conservatory has been full of furniture - what should have been a one-day-stay whilst some vinyl tiles were layed turned into a couple of weeks because some rising damp lifted the tiles and we had to rip up, water proof and relay ... so I couldn't move in the conservatory and didn't do as much as planned.

I haven't got any spinach, can I put Chard in there instead? (I've not grown it before, but I think its a longer cropper than spinach?)

 

I've read in a number of places that its a better bet than Spinach. My Mother used to grow spinach and all I remember is picking a laundry basket full (I was very young, big things are remembered as being very big!!) and putting it in the pan with a little boiling water and winding up with a tea spoon full to eat (little things were very little too!!)

Hessayon: "Many people who grow spinach find it a difficult crop to grow - if the soil isn't right and the weather is dry it can quickly run to seed, and so it gets crossed off next years seed list. It is surprising that these gardeners do not turn to the leaf beets. Both types (Swiss chard and spinach beet) are very easy to grow, succeeding in ordinary soils and refraining from bolting when the weather turns dry. There are other benefits. A spring sowing will enable you to pick from July right through to the following June if you cover the plants with cloches or straw during the winter. Furthermore, the leaves of Swiss chard are attractive enough for it to be grown in the flower border, and also versatile enough for it to be used as a dual-purpose vegetable".

Sounds like I ought to sow in late Summer for an overwintered crop in the greenhouse too. I hope we like it!!

And indeed Joy Larkham says "Sow mid to late Summer as a successional crop from Autumn until mid-Summer the following year. Depending on the season they may remain productive all Winter. Transplant some under cover in late Summer / early Autumn for a highly productive, very useful early/late Spring crop under cover."

 

I'd send you some seeds - nearly all my packets have thousands of seeds, and I only use 10's ... but the Chard packet has only 100 seeds, and I reckon by the time I've done an Autumn sowing they'll be used up.

I've got Suttons Leaf Beet "Rhubarb Chard" which is red stemmed. Hessayon says "Flavour inferior to the white" :( - which I assume is Swiss Chard (I didn't find that in the garden centre when I was buying) and Joy Larkham says "White stemed varieties probably most productive. Older red stemmed varieites (Rhubard Chard andRuby Chard) prone to bolting" :( x 2

Well, that's a bit of a bore to read now!

Next time I'm buying seeds I'm not familiar with in the garden centre I'll have a leaf through the gardening books to see what they say :thumb: