On 18 May, 18:02, "Bob Hobden" wrote:
When we tried to grow under environmesh the plants didn't seem to like the
reduced light but if it's high on your frame then it will be more like a
giant polytunnel.....there's a thought.
I think the Carrot Root Fly is everywhere these days but an 18inch high
solid barrier seems to help as does planting lots and discarding the damaged
ones, a bit like White Rot in onions. With environmesh over them we had a
significant germination problem. I've started trying to breed root fly
resistance into our Long Red Surrey carrots by choosing perfect untouched
ones to replant to flower/seed etc. but it will be a long process which I
doubt I will ever achieve 100%.

We've had good results the last couple of years with quite low
enviromesh protection, but yes light admission is probably a bit
better with a higher roof. As for germination, we have had some patchy
germination of earlies, though in some cases I'm sure they've
germinated and been eaten by slugs before we even noticed they were
up. The later sowings are fine - in fact a bit too good, I'll need to
thin the maincrop. Long Red Surrey - that brings back memories, buying
seeds by weight out of a sack in an old seed shop. Good luck with
selection of that strain.
Why aren't I using the greenhouse? Occardosity I suppose and also
wanted to refresh some of the techniques I used when I had my lottie
when I was first working in a bank after I left school. Also, some
plant health considerations - I wanted to be sure of clean plants to
put under the enviromesh. There's no point in using it if you are
going to put in plants already infested with aphids and cabbage root
fly - I'm sure that when indifferent results are reported, this is a
frequent cause.
The Border carnations and Pinks are collections from Allwoods - all
alleged to be scented so I'll be interested to see what they're like.
Won't get much from the Borders this year of course - just one flower
per plant if I'm lucky - That's why 'Puce' couldn't see much of the
flowers. If I get any spare cuttings later on I'll let you know. I
don't think any of the Pinks will be much more than 12" high and some
of them are already making nice little clumps.