Veggie Jobs for May

Poly tunnel looking lush

Well it has been a slow start to the year, but fear not, the vegetables WILL catch up. In fact Monty Don was recently castigated for suggesting that one needn't run to the Garden Centre to stock up on ready grown plants because even if you plant seeds now, this late, they will soon catch up as the daylight hours lengthen and the days warm up.

Warm up? We have had a couple of days where the temperature has nudged into the twenties, but they have been noticeable by their limited number rather than their warmth.

I have managed now though to get out and finish planting all my chitted potatoes, my beans are coming on well in the Poly Tunnel and so are my herbs, tomatoes, courgettes, sweet corn and strawberries. My Chilies are well behind but I'm sure they'll catch up. I have dug over my outside beds and covered them with polythene cloches to try and keep the soil warm and cat poo free.

The bean poles are up - in a cross shape so that the beans can hang freely rather than get caught up on the inside where it is dark and access is difficult. Don't be tempted to allow the beans to grow on the inside - they won't do as well. Chard, carrot, parsnip and beet root seeds are down in the ground outside and my salad trays are started off and doing well. My broad beans are in flower as is one of my peas, my Chervil looks vibrantly green and tastes great, but my basil is conspicuous by its absence. 

Things are progressing well. 

I'm frequently asked what people should grow in their gardens and I mostly give the same answer: you should grow vegetables or fruit that you like, but don't buy often because they are expensive, or plant what you love to eat a lot of. For me the former consists of fruit like raspberries, strawberries and blueberries or perhaps Borlotti beans and some rarer herbs. The latter would include all the salad stuff for summer, Italian tomatoes, pink fir apple potatoes, beans of all varieties, carrots, herbs and beetroot which my wife loves. 

Potatoes are easy to grow in pots or in in unworked soil if you have to because they will move the earth for you! Rhubarb enriches soil and beans will keep growing the more you pick. I use so many herbs on a daily basis that my back courtyard is full of all of them from bay to rosemary, sorrel to chives and thyme to a huge clump of oregano.

It's a time of busyness but also a time of optimism for the coming glut of food. Well, I hope so anyway. I'll keep you updated....

Salad trays are very useful...