Week 18 (2016) Update

At last Spring has arrived (or is it Summer) so just like all of the local growers a lot of planting has been done at the CFC this week.   We have done the first sowing of the direct seeded fillers such as grasses, Ammi and Daucus both outdoors and in the tunnel.

We also planted the first sowing (sown into plugs) of some of the new products that are being trialled this year.  These included Cleome, Craspedia and Calendula (see first photo).  Three colours of the tissue cultured Trick Delphinium have also been planted (see photo 2 which also shows the good establishment of the Scabious planted the week before).

The deep pool hydroponics trial is showing very encouraging results this year with all of the floats currently achieving good growth and healthy root development. The shallow pool system has also got off to a good start with all plants developing healthy white roots at this stage.   Photo 1 below is a overall view of the deep pool floats while photo 2 shows the healthy white roots in the shallow pool system.