Planting out

We're now ploughing through May (no pun intended there) and I've been busy planting out veg that's now used to the climate and ready for outdoor life. This includes a selection of brassicas, beetroots, sweetcorn and onions. Surprisingly they didn't take up too much space as I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't have much room remaining for everything else!

Brassicas:

This is a big family that includes the following:

• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Brussels Sprouts
• Turnip
• Kale
• Broccoli
• Radish
• Kohl Rabi

Out of the list above, radishes and kale are growing in the polytunnel. The others were planted out. Brassicas like certain soil conditions: If your soil is too acidic, you will have to add lime. Lime is easily found in garden centres. Check your soil pH level (if you can) - anywhere between 6.5 and 7.5 is ideal for brassicas as it allows them to get the nutrients they need from the soil. When planting out, make sure that your soil is free draining and partial shading is good. I have grown brassicas in full sunlight on my allotment, which wasn't detrimental to my crop but I will check to see whether the yield will be bigger if grown in partial shade. Finally, they like a firm soil, so when I planted my brassicas out, I firmed the soil carefully around each plant. I covered my crops to prevent pigeons from picking at them while they are young and small. 

Shabby looking but they will look good in the soil.

Earlier on in the year I had sown the beetroot variety Boltardy in a tray in the polytunnel. Well, they're big enough to go outdoors now. Beetroots can have the reputation of not liking their roots being disturbed but I've grown them this way since I can remember. Careful handling is needed and they should be happy. Once they have settled in over the next couple of weeks I will sow more but different varieties. Like all the other veg I've transplanted outdoors, the beetroots are covered temporarily. 

Beetroots are a staple in my family and I always look forward to harvesting them. The leaves can also be eaten and I love them in soup.

The onions I'm growing are Bedfordshire Champion and Red Baron. As I've decided to grow from seed instead of sets they feel like they are growing very slowly. Both varieties are still small but they have all survived so I'm happy. If you are new to vegetable gardening and want to grow onions, I'd recommend sets rather than seeds, because it can take a long time. 

This year the germination of sweetcorn was very disappointing for an F1 variety that I bought. Not knowing at the time of purchase (online) the seeds were treated with fungicides and looked a pink colour. You'd think that they would have had a 100% germination rate but not so. I only had three out of 15 seeds germinate. Luckily I chose to grow some other varieties that were left overs from last year, which did ok. So I then took two other varieties to sow for a succession of crop and all of these have come up. Sweetcorn is a lovely crop to grow in the garden or allotment because you'll find the cobs sweeter in taste if you pick and cook straight away. This is because the sugars start to turn to starch very quickly when the cobs are picked. If you have a lot that need picking, pop them in tubs/bags and put them in the freezer. This is a tried and tested method in my household and means that you can have sweetcorn past its season, that doesn't taste stodgy. 

This is what treated sweetcorn seeds look like. This F1 variety is Golden Lion, which is a super sweet variety. 

Untreated seeds in comparison.

Besides all the work, I've been able to pick some veg too. Radishes now find themselves on my lunch plate along with salad leaves and spring onions. The garlic growing outdoors has started to bolt (not the ones in the pots though) so I've cut off the scapes (the stems with the flower buds). These are a bonus as they are edible too and some went into a salad for dinner today. They can be eaten raw or cooked. This is why I enjoy gardening - there's very little waste the more you learn!

Radishes are always great in a salad. The leaves go on to the compost heap.

Spring onions are ready for harvesting. I have many more at different stages to make sure that there's always a supply.

A garlic scape

Carefully cutting the scape.

Now to chop one or two into a salad for lunch. You can cook scapes too. 

Now for some news on the wildlife in my garden: the blue tit chicks have fledged and I must admit that I feel life's a little empty without them now. The robin has been visiting, especially when I'm working in the garden, with one fledgling. Our hedgehog regular, Spines McCoy, has been missing for one night. Not seen on any of the camera traps and he's not touched his food. I'm hoping that he's just been too busy to visit. Speckled Jim is still a daily visitor with his flock, which always brings a smile on my face. He's now cheeky enough to follow me to see where I keep his food!

Well, I still have plenty to do as I'm sure you all do. Stay safe and keep gardening!

Into May

As we're still in lockdown, I feel that I've managed to keep ahead in my gardening plans. It's not all been plain sailing however, as some seeds haven't germinated and there have been pests, but who said gardening was easy?

So far, I've got the polytunnel and greenhouse bursting at the seams with seedlings and young vegetable plants but there's still the danger of frost in some areas, so I'm not taking any chances of putting young plants out just yet. This doesn't mean that you can't start putting plants out. Hardening off is a job that can be done. This is getting your young plants used to the outdoor climate (sun and wind as well as different temperatures), if you intend to plant them outdoors permanently. Place your plants outside in the day but remember to bring them back in at night time. Do this for a short time, gradually increasing the amount of time that your plants are out. Finally, once there is no danger of frost you can leave your plants outside overnight. I'm also potting lots of things on, using compost from the garden as it's hard to buy any at the moment. The advantages there are that there's no peat in home made compost and it doesn't cost me anything. Unfortunately though, it's not sterile and so I have weed seedlings growing among my veg plants. Home made compost can be sterilised but the process can put people off as baking the compost is the way to do it. I don't think my husband would appreciate finding that in the oven, never mind the smell!

A dangerously hot looking chilli ready for picking. This one is Apache, but I haven't tried any yet!

Pak choi - not yet ready for picking as they need to be bigger but once they're ready they will go into stir fries and salads.

Radishes are easy to grow. Sow seeds and watch them grow in just a few weeks. Pick as they get to a cherry size and enjoy. Regular picking thins them out and allows the remainder to grow. Better still, get your children to pick them.

Some mixed salad leaves. My husband will pop down to the polytunnel to cut some for his lunch everyday.

Of the successes up to now, I have potted on tomatoes and planted some in the raised beds in the polytunnel, transplanted flower seedlings in to pots and picking salad leaves, radishes and spring onions. I'm also starting to pick the ripe chillies of the apache and jalapeno plants that I sowed very early on.

The potatoes are growing well and I've started earthing them up to (hopefully) get a good yield.

Carrying on with work, I'm also making some liquid plant feed two ways: one by gathering bindweed and placing it in containers with water and I've also made a wormery, which should collect the liquid run off underneath to also use as feed. The bindweed liquid feed was suggested to me by a friend on the allotment. I once asked John about what to with all the bindweed I dug out of my plot when I first got it, as it would just grow again if I placed it on the compost heap. John advised me to put them in a container, fill it with water and cover it and after a few weeks I could dilute it with water (roughly 1 part feed, 10 parts water) and water my plants with it. In my experience I found that this worked, however I do combine my feeds by using different methods such as adding compost, chicken manure and leaf mulch. What you feed can depend on the plants that you grow. I'm hoping to write about that in more detail very soon. 

I'll be concentrating on sowing more seeds this month too. Having already started on a second sowing of sweetcorn, I'm going to sow fennel and French beans. Here's some vegetable seeds that you can sow this month:

• Leaf beet
• Courgette (you can sow directly outside)
• Cauliflower
• Kohl rabi
• Beetroot
• Runner beans
• French beans
• Peas
• Micro greens and salad leaves

The weather will get warmer again but stay on the lookout for any frost warnings. Till next time x