This week I give an update on what I've moved outdoors into a small plastic greenhouse, and show you how I'm transplanting two month old cherry and Moneymaker varieties of tomato in Ireland into larger container pots.
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00:00 Hello, this week I'm going to be transplanting some tomatoes, some seedlings, they're about
00:16 2 months old and I have a little greenhouse that I picked up for £30 to see if it lasts.
00:23 It survived the storm there earlier in the week so I'll just check it out.
00:27 I'll take you around there, show you what I'm growing first and then I will start planting
00:33 up the tomatoes.
00:34 I'm just going to show you what I've been growing inside this wee greenhouse here.
00:40 So, start at the bottom down here and I have some hollyhock just transplanted, some pap
00:50 marigold, curangela.
00:53 Over here there are some new seedlings, some chamomile and then oxeye daisies, the big
01:00 white daisies you see out in the wild in Ireland.
01:04 More curangela and 4 varieties of sweet pea that are ready for planting.
01:12 Baby's breath over there, lobelia, they'll need probably potted on soon.
01:18 A couple lupins in the back and some more hollyhock.
01:27 Over here we have some other lobelias, some watercress, these ones here, some larkspur
01:35 at the back there and these are night scented phlox which open up at night and really scent.
01:45 Here are some unknown ones, I don't know what these are, I just found a packet of seeds
01:49 and planted them so you probably won't know until you see some flowers appearing.
01:53 There's one nasturtium out, some more growing in seed trays inside and here are French marigolds
02:02 and that is everything that's inside.
02:06 So here I have a big 40cm pot that I'm going to transplant these small tomato seedlings
02:17 into.
02:21 These are about 2 months old and it's time now, you can start to see the roots coming
02:27 through the bottom of them so it's time for them to go into what will be their forever
02:33 home in these big containers and I plan to put 2 or 3 into each one.
02:40 So what I have here is some multi-purpose compost and some topsoil and I've just been
02:54 mixing those in with some dry tomato feed as well.
03:06 So what I've done there is just tipped some topsoil on here first and this will help retain
03:33 moisture on the tomato seedlings and for the roots and then under that I'm going to add
03:43 some tomato fertilizer, this is dry plant food.
03:48 I'll just show you it out of the packet, it comes like that, so I'll just put a few handfuls
04:03 in there to give them a good start.
04:06 So there we go, now I just break that on through.
04:16 There's a real whiff of it, that fertilizer in there, strong stuff.
04:23 And now what I'm going to do is add in a bit of compost, a bit at a time and then mix that
04:36 in through that and that'll be the soil prepared and ready to put the tomatoes in.
04:44 So there we go, this is just general multi-purpose compost, I'm just going to add a handful of
04:54 it here.
05:00 And then I'm going to just mix that through, you know, under the topsoil.
05:26 So we're getting in a nice rich mix for the seedlings to go onto.
05:37 Try and take some topsoil off from the bottom here, yep, that's it.
05:57 Now just repeat the process, so a bit more topsoil on here, and there's quite a lot of
06:10 sand on here which is good for drainage as well.
06:22 So there we go, a bit more plant food.
06:38 And this plant food should release slowly over time.
06:41 So just topping it off now with some more compost, mix that in.
07:03 And this pot has a really good depth, it'll allow the tomato roots to spread downwards.
07:13 So now just make a hole for the first one, move this out of the way.
07:28 And I'll bring one of these seedlings up close to you.
07:31 I have two types of tomatoes here, unfortunately I mixed them up so I don't know which is which,
07:37 but one is a cherry tomato from Unwin Seeds, and they come up very well.
07:45 I think a couple of, I think these are actually the moneymaker ones, the smaller ones, but
07:49 it's hard to tell, they look so alike at the moment.
07:51 And these are just normal sized tomatoes and I've grown them before, it's the same packet
07:56 of seeds from a few years ago, so I know that they're very good growers.
08:04 This is my first time trying cherry tomatoes, you can see there the roots are right down
08:10 at the bottom, but they're not totally wrapped around themselves so it's probably a good
08:17 time now to get them into the soil.
08:19 And what I'm going to do is bring them up there around here, their first leaves, and
08:25 plant them down there because all these tiny little fibrous hairs will become roots in
08:30 tomatoes.
08:31 So let's go and plant the first one, here we go, right down, and that's it, bedded in,
08:44 simple.
08:45 So, let's take another one now, try and keep the same, what I think is the same type of
09:01 tomato anyway, time will tell.
09:04 But here's another one to you, they're very healthy looking seedlings these, they're young
09:10 plants now actually, but there we go.
09:15 Some of that in between them, and that's two down.
09:21 And what I might do is just try and get four in here because I don't have enough room for
09:27 four pots, I have enough maybe for three.
09:32 So take this one, and the same process, just repeat.
09:40 Just right down, and into there.
09:47 And tomatoes, unlike a lot of plants, they seem to transplant quite easily and it doesn't
09:52 seem to stress the plants out or anything.
09:58 Final one now, I'll go for the smaller one.
10:12 Make sure your hole's big enough as well for the plant to go in.
10:18 There we go.
10:19 And that is basically that.
10:21 All I'm going to do is water these in, so they can get the feed around them, and these
10:26 are old pots that I've used before for different floral displays.
10:35 That is your pot done there, four tomato plants in it.
10:40 As I say, that's probably too many, but we'll see how they get on, and if it gets too much,
10:46 can always transplant one or two of them on.
10:49 So I'm going to leave that to one side, and just do another one now as well.
10:56 Find the other pot.
11:00 There we are.
11:06 Just repeat the same process, so, on the top side.
11:12 It might be better just lifting the back of the stage.
11:32 Some plant food.
11:50 And this is just from Lidl, so cheap and cheerful.
12:10 That's well mixed through there now.
12:12 Time for some more compost.
12:21 Just taking a couple of handfuls, and I'm just mixing this in through.
12:50 Let me know how you, if you've grown tomatoes, how you're getting on.
12:58 This year, I know here in England we've had a lot of wet, damp weather, and very high
13:03 ones as well, for the first few months of the year, it's now mid-April.
13:12 The weather's always a topic of conversation here, but especially so this year, because
13:16 it's just, it just hasn't stopped raining for months.
13:21 Everything is soaking, the ground is soaking, there's a lot of slugs and snails around.
13:26 Fortunately, these will be growing behind glass doors, so they won't be out in the elements.
13:34 I don't think they'd survive the weather we've been having, so.
13:40 In Ireland, it's generally just too cold to have them growing out in the open, so there
13:55 we go.
13:57 Just breaking up the lumps here on the topsoil.
13:59 The topsoil's been sitting for quite a while, and it's dried a good bit.
14:07 There's a lot of rich nutrients in that, and both the compost and the soil, and then with
14:14 this added boost as well from the fertilizer, it gives them the best start, so.
14:31 I've had a plastic greenhouse before, a few years ago, and the one erupted to shreds,
14:48 so I don't have big high hopes for this, but if it lasts for even a couple of months, I'd
14:54 be happy, so.
14:55 You can always use the frame anyway, if the plastic doesn't make it.
15:16 Just for holding plants.
15:17 I know last week I showed you some copper foiling of pots, and what I've done with the
15:29 money greenhouses, I've copper foiled the metal rods at the bottom as well, to try and
15:34 limit the amount of slug damage that will be done in there.
15:44 I'll let you know how I get on with that, to see if they actually do cross it and get
15:48 on the seedlings.
15:49 But I'll be keeping an eye on it anyway, so as soon as I see damage I'll be moving things
15:57 about.
15:58 But a lot of the plants in there are coming along nicely, so when they're aloe plants
16:03 the slugs won't be touching them as much, then that'll be as untrusted.
16:08 So, again, I'm going to try these other slightly different looking seedlings, in the hope that
16:13 they are the other variety, the money maker variety.
16:17 They're a bit smaller looking than these other ones, and a bit darker too in colour, so I'm
16:26 hoping that's not just variation, I'm hoping that that denotes a different type of tomato.
16:38 I think there's four like that.
16:47 It is important to label your plants as soon as you do them, because it's just so easy.
16:54 I did these on the same day, and as soon as I'd done them I couldn't remember which was
17:03 which.
17:04 So, you're better off trying to get them labelled up and ready as soon as one tray or one pack
17:16 of seeds is done.
17:17 So there, that's those ones done as well.
17:20 And I'll just carry on now, but I'll not bore you with the rest of it.
17:24 So that is everything for this week.
17:29 We finally have a bit of blue sky, as you can see behind me.
17:33 And that's something we're risking in these parts of this year.
17:38 So there's more dry weather on the way, so next week I'm planning to plant up some sweet
17:44 pea in that.
17:45 There's still a risk of frost, but I think in the next few weeks we'll start to be able
17:51 to maybe dig up the ground and get stuff outdoors, get more and more stuff outdoors.
17:56 Until then...
18:03 [Music]