Build net tunnel for brassicas - see below - and support for broad beans if not done last week.

Plant early cabbage - three in a row
Prick out 12  outdoor tomatoes; more to do next week.
Sow inside in modules/trays: courgettes
Weed polytunnel edge border ready for planting next week.
Pick radishes before they go woody

2024 This is a cold season and it is perhaps best to leave sowings until early-mid May as we did last year.

Sow outside: runner beans, dwarf French beans - left until next week.
Sow inside in modules/trays: a few spare runner beans, a few spare French beans - left until next week.
Charles Dowding makes his outside sowings around mid-May.

Sow inside in modules/trays: squash - left until next week

Build frame and net  for runner beans - left until next week.

Net tunnel for brassicas

1.8m long and 1.2m wide
Use 3 hoops and six metal inserts
We will plant 2 of each of 4 varieties although you may wish to plant a reserve in the middle  to give 3 across a row.

If you have 3 beds on plots 162/251, please place the tunnel on your second bed.  If you are using your own plot, please build there.

This week we will be planting only one row of early cabbages (2 or 3 modules) so the rest of the tunnel will remain empty until we sow and plant our red cabbage, calabrese and cauliflowers.

We will have more modules than we need so keep these as reserves rather than planting more than suggested.
We are planting relatively small brassicas so we have room for a total of  8 modules in 4 rows  - 45cm along the row and 60cm across the row. The pots in the photo show the final spacing when all varieties have been planted.
If we were growing winter cabbages and sprouts we would need spacing between plants of 60cm or more.

The hooped netting is to deter cabbage white butterflies - the clue is in the name: their caterpillars can easily destoy a crop. They are expert at finding gaps in the netting