GARDENER’S
CORNER
by Adam Willcox
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ng Tip
ardeni
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enough. Just keep on top of it and
everything will be fine.
MAY the (ground) force be
with you.
It’s the cusp of summer so now’s
the time to go for it! May is a great
month, warm breezes herald the
coming summer and you’ve
probably had your first BBQ by
now (albeit wrapped up warm and
heading inside as soon as it gets too
cold!) Your garden loves this time
of year and any early crops you’ve
sown may even be ready for your
first harvest. Yum!
Don’t sow in one go– Now’s the
time to plant in earnest, as always
keep an eye on temperatures and
use clouches if necessary. The main
thing to remember here is: don’t
sow everything at once. Stagger
your planting of the same crop,
especially if you’re going to be
eating it all yourself. Plant a few of
each thing you want to grow and
then a few more two or three weeks
later. This helps to avoid gluts and
means you can be eating an
interesting and varied diet for the
rest of the year.
Water, water, water – If young
plants dry out they can easily die.
May can be a deceptively dry
month, cloudy and misty days can make you forget
to water the plants. The best way I’ve found is to
have a watering schedule – I water twice a day, in
the morning and evening. Even if there have been
showers during the day - just in case. You can
usually tell by looking and feeling if the soil is damp
Keep on top of your weeding –
Weeds grow just as fast as your
crops *shakes fist at sky* so make
sure you keep getting rid as soon
they appear. As with watering get
yourself a weeding schedule. Try
and get out there as often as you
can as the weeds are always
competing with your plants for the
nutrients in the soil.
Thinning – Everything you’ve
been starting off indoors may now
need thinning out. It’s tempting to
keep as many sprouts as possible
but bear in mind how large the
plants can become. If they end up
competing for space that will only
end up being detrimental to the
yield you end up with.
Sowing seeds outdoors - There
are so many great crops that can
now go in the ground including –
spinach, peas, kale, spring onions,
lettuces, carrots, cauliflowers,
rocket and runner beans .
Sowing seeds indoors – Your
early batches of indoor sown seeds
should mostly be outside now, so
clean up those trays and get a new
batch on the go. It’s time to get
those summery foods in the
windowsill. Summer cabbages,
chillies, peppers and runner beans
will all be ready to go!
It’s full steam ahead now. This is the time to start
marking pages in your recipe books and googling
“things to do with runner beans” because the garden
explosion is about to happen and you won’t want to
waste a thing. ∎
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