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Yes to all of your questions, it makes a big difference to when and how you grow. It's all covered in my onion growing guide steverichards.notion.site/Individual-growing-guides-bc279089de074c0ab0bfedc4f41d54dd?pvs=4 it's also why it's generally a waste of time to start onions from seed before February, earlier and they will just grow big necks and be unsuitable for storage. It's only worth it if you want to grow big onions to show : All the best - Steve

@@SteveRichards Thanks. I started my onions and banana shallots in January this year - my first year growing - so I will bear this in mind for next year.

A lot of RUclips creators grow for show rather than food, so they skew the advice that’s out there

Hi Sam, all of my growing guides include information on what can go before and after each veg steverichards.notion.site/Individual-growing-guides-bc279089de074c0ab0bfedc4f41d54dd?pvs=4 also my growing guides for greenhouses, polytunnels etc include lots of examples of planting plans www.notion.so/steverichards/Outgrow-6f57489ae10a4721b48b421826203814?pvs=4#cfde22687e204a40bf8238e3f2da9f20 also March seems to be way too early to be planting potatoes, unless you are not in the UK : All the best - Steve

Fortunately the greenhouse beans are fab : all the best - Steve

Summer carrots are sown in March and April. For a good mid season strawberry to eat in summer I like Elsanta, but for a longer harvest try Mara De Bois : all the best - Steve

@@SteveRichards thanks for the information will give those strawberries a try for next year

mine is 20' by 10' I have a chapter in my ebook that goes through how I think about choosing and designing a tunnel steverichards.notion.site/Polytunnel-Design-and-Growing-Guide-e260fa0b71bd4dea9a9003c74bdb9ce7?pvs=4

I just don’t have the space to wait John, my sowing timeline assume that I will have the summer crops in the ground by the end of May and so I have follow on seedlings needing the greenhouse space. I’m not complaining, harvests of the tender fruits and legumes: summer squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, French beans are strong, peppers will be ready soon. All of the hardy crops are loving the cooler weather and the rain so I’m swamped with harvests : all the best - Steve

@SteveRichards same here Steve, my undercover spaces are full of seedlings, some stuff just had to go out. Luckily, I've got some spares as my courgettes outside don't look happy. Some stuff got fleece (not yhe courgettes) on to help outside, with cold wind and night temps. All the best.

Natural dieback, the plants are dying now that they tubers are ready for harvest

@@SteveRichards Thanks for the reply Steve. I planted 2 earlies in each tub. But in one tub the blotches are only appearing on the one plant and not the other. The other plant is nice and green and showing vigorous growth.

That often happens, one tuber might have started to grow a week or so earlier than the other

Hi Sandra, there are so many over-optimisers in gardening, if I did that it would take me an hour, I value my time at £40/hour so it would probably cost me in time, more than the value of the whole potato harvest. Any flowers will reduce yield on any root crop, but it usually makes only a very small difference, so for an 80/20 gardener like me, I concentrate on the 20% of activities that have 80% of the effect on harvest size and ignore the other 80%, plus I like looking at the flowers, so I leave them on : All the best - Steve

@@SteveRichardsThanks, Steve. I also like looking at the flowers. 😊

it's a challenge for sure, but at least it's not affecting current harvests : All the best - Steve

yeah, dying or sulking, hard to know for a couple of weeks : All the best - Steve

Thanks Kevin, be sure to look at the book too, lots more videos available there steverichards.notion.site/Outgrow-6f57489ae10a4721b48b421826203814?pvs=4

The tomatoes will be fine though, they always pull through

The French beans in the greenhouse love it though, it’s a mystery

I’ve started heating again this week, as it’s been too cold for cucumbers and beans to grow, a few days of heat and harvests are back on track

some of it at least, a few plants got eaten by snails, although I'm sure they will recover. I'm also trying yacon in pots at home

@@SteveRichards Am having 7 different varieties of Yacon here in Germany, growing some in soil and others in big buckets.

@katipohl2431 that’s incredible, I like it but I couldn’t get through that much. Are you eating it fresh or processing it into syrup?

@@SteveRichards Am eating it fresh and giving some to friends and family. Will try to ferment some in November.

Your allotment is absolutely stunning! How many hours a week would you say you spend to keep it that tidy?

yeah, my growing system has worked well again this year, we've had lots of tomatoes for 3 weeks now : All the best - Steve

I wish!

So do I, but the plants are too small, so I've snipped them off

I lost a whole tray of dwarf French beans, I put them up on the top of the brick wall in the garden and snails ate the lot. I learnt that lesson!

I don't think I could get through that many!

That's good to know Alison, yes I'd take the flowers off, until the plants are big enough to support growing fruits. I've been taking mine off because the plants are stressed and panicking they are producing flowers too early. It looks like I have to wait another week at least before temperatures get above 13c and the plants will be happy : All the best - Steve

​​​​@@SteveRichardsMy Strawberry 'experiment' was down to laziness more than anything else. I always intended to shake the roots bare when the plants were dormant and renew the compost, but didn't get round to it. I then decided I might sprinkle some vitax grow organic concentrated manure on, but didn't even do that and they've still done well! I've fed them with tomato feed though, but only every 2 weeks as per instructions on the bottle. Ah that makes sense about the squash panicking. There's me thinking mine were doing well with all their flowers, when actually they're probably stressed. It's going to be next weekend before it's 13 degrees at night here, but they're going out today! Can't hold off any longer. I harvested my first ripe tumblers from the polytunnel baskets on tuesday. Sown on the 9th march. No sign of red profusions ripening, sown on the same day. The plants are humongous like yours were though, tons of flowers! All the best - Alison

@@AliW-xu4lv that's how we often learn, by mistakes or laziness, especially me with my 80/20 approach. I often walk around my allotment site looking for things that did well through neglect (there's a lot of neglected plots) . Good news about the tomatoes, my polytunnel Tumblers are ripe now too, I think sown same time as yours, but my Red Profusion in the greenhouse are absolutely loaded with ripe fruits this week, so we've had just enough for a month, but now we have abundance, not bad for mid June. There comes a time when you just have to plant and if you can fleece them (don't let the fleece touch the leaves) they will be happy : All the best - Steve

@@SteveRichards I didnt know about not letting the fleece touch the leaves. Makes sense, expecially if it's wet. Thanks for the tip! All the best - Alison.

@AliW-xu4lv actually it’s in case of sunshine, the leaves will burn

onions from sets are very unreliable over winter, so I'm pleased you sowed Toughball! Shallots are meant to be better, but not for me! : All the best - Steve

My toughball all got battered this winter. Only managed to save a few of them, so will have to try and protect them more this winter

Absolutely, they’re great, we are eating them now from our January sown plants : all the best - Steve

I think it was seeing your savoy cabbages in summer that gave me the idea Woody

What do you have in now Mark?

@@SteveRichards way to many tomatoes lol. Lettuce, calabresse kalets, potatoes. I've got a few cabbages need picking. Onions french beans. Peas

I’m not a fan of the traditional white cabbage myself, but I really like red and savoy, Debbie and the kids families like spring cabbages too.

We used to be all kale, kalettes and Brussels rather than cabbages but I’ve gradually realised what a great hedge cabbages are against pests. If we get hit by cabbage aphids or bad whitefly in summer or autumn, we have the cabbages to fall back on. We still grow all of the other brassicas too of course : all the best - Steve

I have, I've had courgettes for five weeks : All the best - Steve

It's crazy isn't it Lynn, I was out on my bike this morning, very chilly and very windy ... next week looks better for me though : All the best - Steve

@@SteveRichards a bit frustrating. I am sure the tomato and pumpkin plants are looking at me in judgment 😪🤣

You have to remember that I'm feeding 6 families

@@SteveRichards yes but...cabbage...what do they all do with it?

Chop it into stir fry, steam it and eat it with a roast meal, add it to soups, chop into salads

@@SteveRichards I like it in stir fry yes. I use it in coleslaw too but probably only a couple of times per month. I tried making saurkraut lots of times and it ends up on the compost bay...just cannot seem to stomach it. I just remembered my dad used to make pickled cabbage and that was quite nice but it demands cheese...lol Paul's mum made the kids eat cabbage soup and cabbage water...now, that is surely child abuse?

@@SteveRichards I suppose I could add some to my fassolada or minestrone which is a weekly joy.

it's been a real battle David, started to get serious back in August and it's never stopped. Right now I'm about back to normal, slugs are still an issue, but losses are manageable : All the best - Steve

Thanks Steve,it's a battle,last year's wet weather,,I cannot grow cabbage,the hammer it, I can grow some kale,sprouts OK,turnips,could you list any more,that are pretty bomb proof,thanks for replying

kalettes are the best, calabrese and Purple sprouting broccoli are a lot better than cauliflower if you have a lot of slugs and snails : All the best - Steve

I have wood chip on all of my perennial beds, but strulch is easier to remove and bag up in autumn, when it's not needed. If you already have weeds growing, they will definitely push through strulch, but new weed seeds won't germinate on it, so it stop weeds blowing in. I'm too busy for an untidy plot, keeps my time down to an hour a day : All the best - Steve

Just one, the plants are huge

it's a very interesting subject and not very well documented so far as I can find. The influence of day length, light intensity, plant age, plant size at critical day lengths, temperature and stress on a plant can be quite complex. I'm actually working on a spreadsheet right now to figure out how I'm going to minimally manipulate day length and temperature in the greenhouse (since I have heat and light in there) this winter, so maximise yield, avoid plants going to seed, break dormancy early and all sorts of other objectives. I already do all the basics in my plans, but I think there's exciting potential to go further : All the best - Steve

see this video ruclips.net/video/Q2PR4s6nYkI/видео.html

The beauty of heating the whole greenhouse is how little effort is needed on my part, if I value my time (which I do) then it's ridiculously efficient compared to any other option : All the best - Steve