The title is taken from one of William Shakespeare’s best known sonnets. ‘Rough winds do
shake the darling buds of May’. Now that we are past the middle of the month and in my area
at least, we are free of frosts, but we have
still been treated to a fair few rough winds.
My early planted runner beans were laid flat
to the ground. As were the broad beans.
Fortunately, none were broken off. I wound
the runner bean leaders back around the
canes in an anti clockwise direction. I held
the tip for a count of 20 seconds, released
and Hey Presto! The tip stayed in place on
the cane. That was a little tip I picked up
many years ago.
The later part of May is when plants put on a
real spurt. Early sown seed gives us an
early harvest. Hungry gap is now just a
memory.
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On the 13 May I picked the first of the
‘Green Magic’ calabreese. ‘Why do
supermarkets insist on calling it broccoli’.
Looking at my diary I see that I sowed the
seed on the 8th January.
Plenty of side shoots give
us a continuation of the
crop once the head is cut.
I believe it was the late
Sir Harold Hillier who
came out with the
comment, ‘If you can
grow a cauliflower you
can grow anything’.
Indeed, cauliflowers are
quite demanding. They
need a very fertile soil. A
pH of 6.5-7. Plenty of
moisture and regular
feeding.
On top of that if they
receive a check of any sort they will probably grow blind and you won’t get a curd forming.
Oh! And another thing, they don’t like close planting, if they are to reach their full potential.
Also if you are growing them for show, timing them to be perfect on the day can be a
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nightmare. My first sowing this year was made with the variety ‘Frisca’. Sown on 8 February
those are for culinary use. Here they are being treated as a catch crop between two rows of
potatoes. If growing for show and you only have room for one sowing then sow 14 weeks and
4 days from the show date. If they come early you can hold them for a week or so in good
condition. If they come late, well then you
have no hope of showing them.
Fultons Strawberry Surprise
My Rhubarb is now in full production. In
fact we like it so much, we grow five
different varieties.
The one that comes out top of the taste
test is ‘Fulton’s Strawberry surprise’. Mind
you it is not on sale in any of the shops,
so if you want to taste it you will have to
grow your own. My stock came from the
original trial plants at RHS Wisley. It is certainly not the easiest of rhubarbs to cultivate, which
probably explains why it is not commercially available. But you can buy plants and cultivate it
yourself.
Since early May I have been harvesting potatoes
grown in pots. They were started off in late
January in the greenhouse. This year I grew
‘Charlotte’, mainly because I had some left over
from last years harvest and they were well
sprouted. They weren’t bad, but the yield and
taste was not as good as those from the ‘Lady
Christl’ variety I used the previous year.
All my aubergines are grown in large pots. The
‘F1 Moneymaker’ was the first to set fruit.
In the polytunnel I am also growing a range of tomatoes. This one is the cherry type
‘Bambino’. It is growing direct in the soil but not on a grafted rootstock. I am taking a bit of a
chance as the soil grew a crop of early
potatoes two years ago and as a family
member of the tomato that means my toms
could be at risk from a soil borne disease.
Bambino is a determinate tomato, which
means you don’t pinch out the side shoots.
Mind you those side shoots will need
supporting once they bear a crop of tomatoes.
On the allotment the ‘Black Forest’ courgettes
are setting their first fruits.
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This picture was taken on 16 May. You can
just see the young courgettes. As long as the
weather stays warm we shall begin picking by
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the 20 . With commencement of fruiting I shall
give the plants a high nitrogen feed once a
week. Chempak No 2 will do the job.
As a back up for later in the season I
sowed a few ‘F1 Green Bush’ courgettes in
mid May.
‘Yorkshire Giant’ pot leeks.
Pot leeks are something I have not grown for
many years. These are grown purely for show.
I am trying a few this year in an attempt to
enter a top competition. They demand a
purpose built deep bed, pampering & lots of
room. We shall see how I get on with them this
year.
‘Bell Boy’ Sweet Peppers.
Mid May and the first fruits have set. The seed for these was saved from a supermarket
bought pepper. If you want to crop peppers over a long season they need to be started off
really early. These were sow in January. They will keep fruiting until December given the right
conditions. Mine are grown in deep pots in the polytunnel but they do quite well in the open
garden if under a tall cloche.
And the beauty is that once they start they keep going right into December in our area. In fact
I won first prize with mine at the RHS November
show at Wisley last year.
Taking a break from weeding and hoeing I
wandered around our allotment site to check on
what others were up to. A newcomer to our site
‘Andy’ is making excellent progress on his plot.
That’s a peach growing against the shed.
Mind you this chap is not doing so well. Which reminds me, time to get back to the hoeing.
My exhibition potatoes grown in
plastic polybags are burgeoning.
There was a meter gap between
rows when they were planted up.
Now I would have a job to walk
between them. They foliage is
supported with bamboo canes
and string.
For the culinary potatoes
elsewhere on the plot it is time to
earth them up.
My sprout plants are still in pots. They will need a feed
as it will be a couple of weeks before the first row of
early potatoes is lifted which will free up some ground
for them to be planted out.
Next month we shall be lifting leeks from the seed bed
and planting those out.
Right, I’m off to plant a few ‘Sweet Candle’ carrots in
deep tubs.
I will be back in June. Until then, good gardening.
John Trim