May

May

  • KEEP HOEING
  • Prepare runner bean supports and framework.
  • Put straw around your strawberry plants.
  • It can still be chilly so don’t forget to harden plants off before planting them out.
  • Mulch soil to retain moisture; you can use newspaper, grass cuttings, leaf mould and straw.

Sow outdoors; Beetroot, cabbages (autumn), calebrese, carrots, cauliflowers, chicory, courgettes, French beans, lettuce, marrows, peas, pumpkins, radish, runner beans, spring onions, swedes, sweetcorn, swiss chard, squash.

Plant out; Leeks & brassicas that have been grown in greenhouse and hardened off outside.

Eat this month; Asparagus, cabbages (spring), lettuce, radish, rocket.

Top Tips; Water soak marrow and courgette seeds overnight for a good start.

Straw can be used as an insulator and also as a slug deterrent.



June

June

  • Encourage runner beans up their supports.
  • Make sure potatoes are earthed up.
  • Remove all side shoots from tomatoes, and if some of the flowers have set, start to feed the plants.
  • If you are watering your allotment, do it early in the morning or late afternoon to avoid evaporation – and soak rather than splash.
  • Peg down strawberry runners.
  • Protect any fruit with netting.

Sow outdoors this month;

  • Calabrese
  • Carrots
  • Chicory
  • French and runner beans
  • Kohl rabi
  • Lettuce
  • Turnips and Swedes.

You might be eating your first early potatoes this month, along with beetroot, broad beans, globe artichokes, lettuce, peas, radish and rocket.

Tips;

When you lift your first early potatoes, why not keep a few tubers aside and replant in a sunny spot. By late September they will need covering with cloches to protect them and then you could dig them up to have with your Xmas dinner.

Transplant;

Broccoli  –  Brussels sprouts  –  Cabbages  –  Celeriac  –  Courgettes  –  Cucumbers  –  French beans  – Sweet corn  –  Tomatoes.



July

JULY

  • Water your tomatoes and sweetcorn; don’t water when it is hot and sunny. Tie in your tomatoes and remove the side shoots.
  • Runner beans; when they are tall enough, remove the leading shoots to encourage heavier cropping.
  • Start to lift onions and leave out to dry.
  • Lift early potatoes.
  • Harvest calebrese heads to encourage others to develop to the side.

You could be sowing outside;

  • More carrots – Chinese cabbages  – Lettuce  – Pak choi  – Peas for the autumn  – Spring cabbages.

You could be planting out;

  • Beetroot  – Calebrese – French beans – Leeks – Runner beans – Turnips – Winter brassicas.

Tips;

  • Mulch on dry spots to retain moisture
  • You could try nastertium flowers and leaves in salads



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