This Month's Tips

May, 2010

May is without doubt my favourite month in the veg garden. Ironically there's not much to harvest. Over-wintered veg like purple sprouting broccoli and kale will have run to seed and become unharvestable, and it's still too early to eat much from this year's sowings.

What we do have though, is the promise of a big harvest to come. This month, vegetables are growing at full tilt, relishing the damp soil and longer periods of daylight. Here's a baby brussels sprout plant was planted out about a week ago. It's first leaves are starting to die back, but it's already put on a surge of fresh green growth as it's roots establish in new soil.

Perfect Seed Sowing Conditions
The first couple of weeks of May look like they're going to be a mixture of sunshine and showers. Ideal conditions for sowing seeds. Sunshine to warm up the soil, and the odd shower to make sure freshly sown seeds don't dry out.
There's a whole raft of easy to grow seeds that can be sown into the soil right now. Essentials include:

  • Beetroot
  • Carrots
  • Coriander
  • French parsley
  • Lettuce
  • Mange tout peas
  • Radishes
  • Spring onions
If you sowed these a month or two ago, now's a great time to sow some more. It means you'll have a supply of fresh plants coming along ready to replace your current ones when they start to tire in the height of summer.

These peas are about 8 weeks old. By sowing more now I won't just be harvesting in June and July, I'll be picking them right through to October.

Hold off Planting Out Tender Veg
May is also the time to plant out frost-tender veg that's been grown from seed inside. The clear skies that will be giving us beautifully sunny days, also mean low night time temperatures, and the risk of frosts in some areas. My advice is to hold off planting out tender veg like courgettes, squash, tomatoes and cucumbers. It's also a good idea to earth up the new delicate shoots of new potatoes if it looks like a frost is heading your way.

Our tender veg will probably get planted out mid month. We never bother with the labourious process of 'hardening off'. It you're not familiar, it's the process of putting plants outside during the day, and bringing them back in during the night in order to accustom them to temperatures lower than they're used to on your windowsill/greenhouse. It's a lot of hassle, and largely pointless because it's the night time temperatures you need to worry about not the day time ones. We might lose the odd plant, but hey, does it matter?

Beans - Choose Climbing over Dwarf
May is also the ideal time to sow beans. You've got two options - dwarf or climbing varieties. Dwarf varieties only grow to about 3ft tall and there's no need for structures for them to climb up, so they're lower maintenance.

Despite this I would recommend you go for climbing varieties. This approach makes great uses of space, giving you a bigger harvest for the ground they take up, plus you get a longer harvest. You will need to construct a tepee of canes, or an inverted V frame for them to scramble up, but it's well worth the effort. The beans at the bottom will ripen first, then you can gradually work your way up, harvesting higher as the season progresses.

To sow, create your structure, and push a couple of beans about 2 inches deep into the soil at the bottom of each cane. Scatter a few organic slug pellets around the new shoots as they emerge. Soon they'll be winding their way up your canes and providing you with a delicious harvest!

French beans are my favourites - try Blue Lake Climbing, or Cobra. Then of course there's runner beans. Only sow a few of these because they are prolific producers. Painted Lady and Enorma are both excellent varieties. And if you're feeling enthusiastic, why not grow borlotti beans too. The maroon flecked pods and beans look beautiful, but they're relatively light croppers compared to french and runner beans.

Don't Forget those Delicious Prolific Croppers
May is also the ideal time to sow some of my other favourites - kale, rainbow chard and perpetual spinach. They'll be ready to eat just 12 weeks from sowing, and you'll still be harvesting leaves from the same plants this time next year. Look how well our rainbow chard has bounced back from what people are calling the harshest winter on Dartmoor for 28 years!

Buy any of these seeds now in our shop. If you don't have a veg plot, check out our new range of pots and windowboxes specially chosen for growing vegetables.

But most of all, enjoy growing and eating your veg!

Peter

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