"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments"

Janet Kilburn Phillips

It's all systems go!

Don't forget to keep an eye on those nighttime temperatures everyone until at least the middle of May, as there's still a chance of Jack Frost wiping out your seedlings or setting back your potatoes.

So what have we got in store for you this month?

What to sow and grow in May.

Shoots, roots and fruits - Demystifying fertilisers.

Bee aware and come to the 'Bee Fair'.

Not all weeds are equal - Speedwell (Veronica Filiformis).

And lastly, Lottie news and members questions.

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What to sow and grow in May.

If you've still got a bag or two of potatoes you've not planted or you've just discovered some you'd forgotten about in your shed, I'd get them in asap. Don't worry if they look all wrinkled with long spindly chits, just get them in the ground or tubs and they'll be fine.

Now is the month to start Squashes, Cucumbers, Courgettes, Beans, Sweetcorn and all the other summer veg that need a bit of warmth. If you don't have a greenhouse or a heat mat; a warm, sunny windowsill will do. As you can see, my kitchen table has been temporarily purloined for my tomato seedlings.

If you sowed your tomatoes last month they should be ready to be potted up into bigger pots before you plant them in your grow bags or tubs. Don't be in too much of a rush as the nights can still get quite cold. And anyway, you will be amazed at how quick they will grow once the weather starts to warm up.

Don't forget your winter veg! Things like Brussles, Kale, Autumn Cabbages, Leeks and Purple Sprouting Broccoli. They will need to be started off very soon. If you don't have the space or the time to sow your winter veg, larger garden centres should now have lots of plug plants to choose from.

Shoots, roots and fruits.

I’ve learnt so much over the years about growing food, but up until fairly recently, I didn’t know much about fertilisers. In fact, when I looked on the back of boxes of plant foods in garden centres and saw the NPK ratios I just glazed over and felt very overwhelmed. It seemed that I needed a PhD in chemistry to understand it all. So, if you feel the same way read on, as I’m going to make it very simple…

Lottie News!

On a warm weekend before things cooled off a bit, I finally, with the help of the Geezer Hubby managed to clean the poly tunnel both inside and out. Having said that, I can't believe how quickly the spiders have moved back in and already made cobwebs!

The hardy peas in my big tubs are already producing pods and the first early potatoes have got flower heads on them. This means it won't be long before we'll get some nice new potatoes to try.

My sweet potato that I saved from last seasons harvest has finally started to sprout and it looks like I will get the minimum of six slips that I was after.

There was quite a bit of lugging about with a few bags of wood chip to renew the pathways between the raised beds and several bags of compost that was to fill the big pots for my main crop potatoes. I do think that I may have over done it with the spuds this year though. Five different varieties including two main crop. Too many?...We'll see.

It's been so far so good with the strawberries in the guttering and there appears to be lots of flowers, but the actual plants are still quite small and I don't know why, maybe the cold nights?

I've had much better success with germinating Sweetcorn this year, 19 out of 24 seeds, which is far better than the 9 out of 40 I got last time. I went for an F1 variety this year called 'Goldcrest'

And lastly, even though the Purple Sprouting Broccoli has almost finished, we've got loads of Chard to pick which I just love.

Weeds, good or bad? - Speedwell

Speedwell (Veronica Filiformis) or slender speedwell, creeping speedwell, creeping Veronica and Gypsy weed to name but a few.

It arrived in the UK in 1808 as a rock garden plant and is now found all over Britain. I personally think it's mainly on my allotment or that's how it feels.

It's quite a small plant and has very pretty little blue flowers, but don't let the prettiness of the flowers fool you as this plant, left to seed will take over your veggie patch in no time.

As with most weeds, it's best to hand pull or hoe them when they are very small and especially before they go to seed.

Members Questions.

"Which young vegetable plants will need more protection from snails and slugs?"

As far as slugs and snails are concerned all young plants need protection, especially seedlings. I can't say which plants need more protection than others as I don't think slugs and snails are fussy, they will eat whatever small, sweet, tender crops you've got in my experience.

There are however a few things you can do that will help protect your seedlings. The first one being, always water in the mornings so that by the evening the compost will have dried out and deter them from travelling over the dry soil. The other one is keep the grass surrounding your seedlings short. Slugs especially love long, moist grass to hide in during the day. It's then just a quick hop over to your plants for supper before the sun comes up. Going out at night with a torch and looking for slugs and snails is a good method as this is when they feed. Keep hunting them down and disposing them either in a bucket of salt water or with a quick snip with a pair of scissors. If you do these things on a regular basis, the slug and snail population will go down. Unfortunately you will never get rid of them completely, but you can reduce the damage they cause quite considerably.

If you have a food gardening question you'd like to ask just pop me an email and I'll see how I can help. I don't proclaim to be an expert, but I will do my best to answer any of your questions.

In the meantime, if you know of anyone who might like to become a FG4A member do feel free to forward them this email and get them to visit the website and sign up, it's free!

Or you can always catch up with what I've been up to on Facebook or instagram.

Keep safe.

Christine x

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