As you know its been a slow start to the year, the garden is about 3 weeks behind usual schedule due to the ridiculous weather patterns that have hit us, I think I have gone from shorts to fleece jackets to rain coat in the space of one day!
The greenhouse is stacked full of annual flowers waiting to be planted out, I need to get these out so I can plant up the Tomatoes, Aubergines and Peppers. This year I have a good supply of Cosmos; ‘Dazzler’ ‘Double Click’ , ‘Purity’ and ‘Pink Sonata’, I am going to fill my rose bed with them and cannot wait to see them all in flower, the roses will intermingle and provide support to the Cosmos, and in turn the Cosmos will fill the gaps in-between. I’ve also grown Zinnia for the first time this year, these I will plant out at the end of the veg beds for some colour change, Phlox, Nasturtiums, Nicotiana, Sunflowers , Linaria, Pelargoniums and all the others will be put where I can fit them in!
The vegetable beds are coming along, Peas are growing strongly ( they don’t mind cold) and the Shallots and Spring Onions are looking very happy. They tend to bolt in warm weather preceded by warm then cold again, this is because they produce seed in year 2 of their lifecycle ( known as a biennial ) so they are tricked into seed production but the odd weather pattern, so we shall see what happens when the summer hits us.
I have had a good germination on my Parsnips ( Imperial Crown ), and Carrots ( Red Cored Chantaney) which have been residing under fleece since April and now are in the open Beetroot, ( Detroit and Sanguina ) and Lettuce ( Marvel of Four Seasons and Lobjolts) are alongside and so far so good. I will still keep an eye on the frost predictions and cover them again if I need to, the fleece is rolled up next to the beds just incase.
Despite the haphazard weather I am very lucky to have the luxury of somewhere dry to sow my seeds, I have been really busy resulting in a little bit of tardiness on the blog, its been full on and that’s set to continue. Sowings in May define the summer and Autumn harvests, so in the last few days I have sown what are known as the Brassicas, Winter Cabbage ‘Savoy’, Brussel Sprouts ‘Evesham Special’ , Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Nero ‘Nero Di Toscana’ and Cauliflower ‘Snowball’, suited for my garden as its a dwarf variety so won’t take up too much space.
As I have probably mentioned before I start everything off in modules for planting outside, be it veg or flowers, I find this gives the best results by avoiding cold winds and most importantly I think, pest damage, the plants just get that bit bigger which I think helps them fend off predators. If you don’t have that option now is the time we can start to sow direct too ( I.e. sowing seed directly into soil as opposed to a module), the ground really is warm enough, despite the weather fluctuations. I must stress that timing is everything ( be it veg or flowers) so be mindful of your last frost dates. Its worth finding out what your predicated last frost date is, its quite variable through the country and is a guide only obviously but take heed and do not put any tender plants out until that date has passed. In Cuckfield it’s mid May so I don’t plant out any frost tender plants until then, if you have seedlings up, then for those frost tender ones, get some fleece to cover on predicted frosty nights or you will be very disappointed in the morning when they’ve all succumbed to Jack Frost.
A question I get asked a lot is when can I plant out from modules into the ground. A general rule is that 4 weeks from sowing, plants are ready to go in the ground. This is a general rule and I like to remain flexible and just go by what the plant is telling me. The easiest way to check is to gently remove a plug and see what the root system is doing, when removed the root system should have a good network and hold the soil together. You don’t want the roots to be too cramped but equally they need to surround the plug so that they are good and strong before planting out. Seedlings will often turn yellow when they have run out of nutrients so this is another indication it’s time to pot on, or indeed plant out. The majority of plants can be deeply planted up to their first set of true leaves helping to retain stability, particularly beneficial for Brassicas ( Cabbages, Cauliflower etc ) that have a lanky stem. When planting out be sure to firm the soil around the plant so there are no air holes that prevent water absorption, make sure you water in well using a pouring spout and not a rose spray to ensure water gets down to the compost around the roots to help it settle.
Finally I want to touch on a subject which has had a fair amount of media coverage recently and for good reason.
As an organic gardener I try to follow as much as I can sustainable growing and encourage biodiversity. I don’t use pesticides, I encourage as much biodiversity in to my garden as I can with a variety of different flowers to provide food all through the season. Compost is a product we all use in varying amounts, its perfect if you can grow your own but to produce enough to use for the year, needs space, time and topping up from bought compost is always required. Compost is a product that if we don’t choose carefully , ultimately means that when we buy it, we contribute to the destruction of another ecosystem. Peat ( or peat Moss) is a resource that is harvested aggressively and is found in most multipurpose composts. Moss requires water to grow and is extremely slow growing and lies low, and is therefore not a renewable resource, it grows at the rate of 1mm per year and so it take years and years to develop, it really is a niche habitat containing a unique set of plants and insects that cannot be found anywhere else. Our reliance of peat is huge and through April theres been a huge push to educate gardeners into why using peat products is just not sustainable and depleting it depletes a natural part of the global ecosystem. Sadly peat is still marketed and produced because its cheap, it’s a disgrace that large associations have not banned it. Campaigns continue so until this resource is protected please do some research and buy peat – free. Undoubtedly it is more expensive, I get that the financial implications can have an impact on choice, but as gardeners we should be trying to help the environment as a whole, not helping to destroying it. Most of the multi purpose compost sold contain at leat 15% peat, so please think about it and search out the products that actually say 100% peat free, a lot of marketing is false and only by reading the contents of your compost, will you know whats actually in it, there is a choice to make here and its a really important to make the right decision.
Oh and one last thing: our Robins have fledged! Well actually, it was just one, one egg remains in the nest, no pictures unfortunately but its lovely watching it hop about the garden with the proud parents.
Sowings for this month:
You can sow all of these now, in modules or seed trays ( if warm enough outside ) and May is also a perfect catch-up month, so you can sow anything you might have missed, honestly there’s no panic, this is a great month for catch up and repeat sowings.
Courgette, Sweetcorn, Squash, Maincrop Potatoes, Spring Onion, Autumn cabbage, Calabrese, Chard, Basil, Coriander, Thyme, Brussels and Celery
From Mid to end of the month: Courgette, Sweetcorn, Squash, Pumpkin, French and Climbing Beans, Cucumbers and Swede.
Direct Sowing from End May : Beetroot, Climbing Beans, Chard, Parsnips, Spinach, Radish, Turnip and Swede.