The Merry Month of May - the end of

End of May

 I do love this time of year. My garden is looking at its best. Different varieties of roses and honey suckle are blooming and perfuming the early morning and evening air wonderfully. I bought some new bearded irises this spring and one of them has come into flower. Of non perfumed flowers they must be my favourite. It is a pity their season is so short.

I picked my first strawberry this morning.

No, this isn’t it, these ones are for tomorrow. I ate it as soon as I found it. The strawberries are definitely late this year but, it has been so cold. The last couple of days seem to have been the warmest we have had so far and how lovely it has been.

I cleared some of the debris from my strawberry patch this morning so that the ripening strawberries won’t be sitting in mud and I put some little groups of slug pellets down as I do hate finding my ripe strawberries full of slug holes with the woodlice moving in for their share.

Now the question is – should I put netting over my strawberry bed?  I don’t like trapping blackbirds underneath and I really don’t mind sharing a couple but I do object when they eat the ripe half out of all the red strawberries on the patch. Perhaps I will net but lift it up well and leave a few escape holes.

My herbs are looking particularly good this year and I can now dump last year’s stumpy plants and start eating this year’s. I have two different lots growing in tubs at home – moss curled and Italian flat leaf.

Like the strawberries, my potatoes are also a bit slow. They are growing nicely but I really don’t think I will be harvesting my 1^st Earlies for a few weeks yet.

Late February on the Allotment

Late February on the Allotment

The last time I wrote a blog was a couple of weeks ago. While I have sown seeds I am still trying to hold back as our weather here turned bitterly cold with hard frosts and damaging winds. We did have a few flakes of snow which lay overnight but, disappeared the following morning. It’s a pity as, many of the plants which had survived the ‘real’ wintertime were seriously affected by this late cold-snap. As always, we will take what the weather throws at us and work with it.

I have been most dismayed to learn from our News that there has been so little winter rain [when we expected it to refill our reservoirs and rivers] that we are in a potentially drought situation for the coming spring and summer months. I suppose I should be relieved that this doesn’t affect the South West – yet! We have had a lot of rain during January. However, for the East of England and swathes of the Midlands where a large proportion of the crops which supply the shops and homes in this country are grown, this will affect the cost of products to households that are already hard-pressed financially and, to the growers who have also had damaging set-backs during the last couple of years from harsh weather. We must hope that these concerns don’t become a reality.

I have planted my first early potatoes in my poly-tunnel last week. This year I’m trying Vales Emerald from Thompson & Morgan. The Potato Council says about this potato:-

An outstanding early bulking variety with attractive appearance on the shelf and excellent flavour. With 25% higher yields than existing punnet varieties, Emerald is proving to be extremely popular with growers and retailers alike.

In previous years I have grown and enjoyed Accent as my First Early of choice but, this year I was unable to find the seed – pity! I did like them.

I have only planted half of these seeds in my tunnel. The rest will be sown outdoors from the middle of March – weather allowing! For the first time, I still have some potatoes left from last year’s cropping which will almost last until the new crops are ready. I did give a couple of bags away, perhaps I will be meaner next year. I have been quite disappointed in some of the supposed ‘maincrop’ potatoes I grew. While Sarpo Mira and Sarpo Axona have continued to live up to their reputation on all fronts, British Queen kept poorly and the last half bag of them has been dumped. This was a new one for me to try and I won’t try it again though, perhaps I lifted them too early and the problem lay with my treatment of them.

I have taken a risk with sowing a variety of seeds in my propagator during February. Of course, the issue is not that of providing enough heat to encourage the seeds to germinate but of providing enough light with adequate heat once they have germinated. There would be no problem if I had a heated greenhouse or conservatory but – I don’t. I have been very pleased this year that all of the chilli seeds I’ve sown. 100% germination - 10 out of 10 seeds sown [Joe’s Long from Dobies, my favourite variety]. You don’t get many in a packet and it is important that at least some of them germinate. Last year my first sowing gave me 0% germination and my second sowing a mere 25%. I don’t think I can blame the seeds. I think the level of heat I provided was too great so, this time I’ve set the temperature in my propagator to 50%.

Now, of course, I must find a way of providing enough light until it is mild enough to move them to my poly-tunnel.

I have, already, moved my leek seedlings [Musselburgh from Dobies] and my early lettuce seedlings [Cos – Vaila, Winter gem, from Dobies] to the tunnel. Both should be hardy though, maybe not hardy enough to be planted outside just yet. Last year my Winter Gem lettuces were outstanding and stood over a long period – I seriously recommend them. I intend to plant some out in my ploy-tunnel for early consumption and a few more outdoors next month for later. They can, of course be resown to extend the harvest time. Like all ‘Cos’ type lettuces they are a robust crunchy type of lettuce. I’m not much of a fan of the softer varieties.

The leek seedlings are in a fairly deep tray but, will probably need to be transplanted to a growing-on bed before planted out to their final bed. Last year’s disastrous germination, which resulted in me begging seedlings from neighbours and from my daughter have, in the long run, provided me with an outstanding and very excessive crop of leeks which I’m now struggling to give away. Still, winter is not over yet.

On my trip to my allotment this morning, mostly to feed the birds, I see that my white sprouted broccoli are starting to shoot at last. A few, very raggy purple sprouting are also starting to sprout but, I have not covered them and I see that the resident pigeons are enjoying the leaves – I might leave those plants for the birds.

I do see Spring on the way. My ‘no-dig’ area where I keep my spring bulbs is already showing encouraging signs of spring.

Planting Early Potatoes

Planting Potatoes

Well!  Here we go again.  Yet another Blog about planting potatoes. But they are so important – well, for me anyway. Not everyone thinks they are an important crop. As I have said in a previous Blog, I think the difference between homegrown and shop bought is more striking in potatoes than any other vegetable. But, that’s my opinion.

The potatoes I planted in my polytunnel a couple of weeks ago have already put their shoots up. I’ve earthed them up as I am worried about the really cold nights we are having now, minus 4° here in Bristol. Gee! I know this is not cold by many standards. However, it can be damaging to my early plantings.

Although it is really cold at night now, it is also really sunny and ‘warm’ during the day and is absolutely delightful to have work to do on the plot. I am catching up on digging areas I had previously dug in the autumn. Although it is still very wet a spade deep, the ground is drying out quite nicely and breaks up well on the spring digging. This is the first time I am planting my potato seed into fairly well tilled, friable earth. Up to now I have been using them to help ‘till’ really heavy, solid, clay ground. And yes, they have been very productive, in spite of the poor conditions. This year I will hope for bumper crops of excellent potatoes. Of course, as Robbie Burns said – ‘The best laid schemes o’ mice and men gang aft aglay’, Please forgive me if I’ve got some of that wrong, I’m writing from memory.

My neighbour on the allotments was planting his early potatoes yesterday, when I was sowing parsnips and spring onions (the latter in a covered raised bed.) I always watch what my neighbour and his wife are doing. They are very experienced in our area and with our soil and, although not always successful in all crops, they are definitely ‘the business’.  He was planting in such beautifully tilled soil I looked at it enviously – like something from a BBC gardening programme. Mine will never, ever be like that. For me good enough has to be good enough.

Anyway, I did go home and collect my chitted early potatoes (Accent). I had enough for two ridges, which I could cover with one length of fleece ( highly recommended!). It was only when I had them planted that I realised that some of the potatoes were, in fact, Charlottes (salad potatoes – 2^nd early) Oh well! They’re in now.

A couple of days ago I sowed carrot seed in a raised bed under a poly cover. The accepted view on carrot root fly is that they won’t fly above 30cm. Believe me, this is not the case. Last year I had carrots growing in a box 1mtr above ground, and I covered it with fleece. The root fly still got into one of the varieties I had sown there. This year, my daughter and I (she has an allotment in London) are experimenting with varieties which the carrot root fly are not attracted to. Perhaps we need to plant the attractive ones alongside but, we’ll get back to you on this.

I was amazed to note that several of my asparagus crowns have already put out their new shoots, not only the older, more established crowns but also, last year’s new planting of one year old crowns. I thought it a bit too early so, I’ve earthed them up a bit.

Please get back to me on any thoughts/arguments you may have. I would love to have your comments.