"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments"

Janet Kilburn Phillips

It's Bean Time!

Hi Everyone.

Can you believe this weather we're having here in London! As I write we're due to have a 28C (82F) day tomorrow and I have to say I've never known spring weather to be like this ever! A bit scary really, but let's make the most of it and get out there and get all those jobs done we've been meaning to do for ages.

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

What to sow and grow in May.

So many Beans to choose from! Top tips.

Roots, Shoots & Fruits - Fertilisers demystified.

What's going on in May?

Who's the plant Messiah?

And lastly, Lottie news.

🥦🍅🥒🌶🍠🌽🍓🫑🫐🍐🥕

What to sow and grow in in May.

May is one of the busiest times of the year to be sowing and planting vegetables. It's probably easier to say what you shouldn't sow and plant at this time than what you can. Looking at the long range weather forecast I doubt we'll get any frosts now, even though our last frost date is usually middle of May, but that is only an average.

It is too late to plant any Garlic now. Garlic needs several consecutive days of temperatures under 10C (50F) to split the one clove into several cloves and form a bulb. Personally I wouldn't start off any Spinach either as there is a strong chance it will just go to seed once the weather really warms up. I would however sow some Perpetual Spinach, which is actually a Chard, which cooks and tastes like Spinach, but is less likely to bolt.

Now is definitely time to sow all types of Beans, Squash, Courgettes, Pumpkins, Cucumbers and Sweetcorn. It's not too late to sow some Tomatoes either. It always amazes me how things catch up in the summer once the night time temperatures start to rise.

Flowers for pollinators are good to start as well. Things like Dwarf French Marigolds, Cornflower, Antirrhinum, Zinnia, Sunflower, Rudbeckia and Nasturtiums.

Although Xmas is a long way off, don't forget your Brussel Sprouts need to be started off now along with Kalettes, Sprouting Broccoli, Swede and Autumn Cabbages. And if you've not done it already, your main crop Potatoes need to go in now, which reminds me that I haven't done mine yet.

So many Beans to choose from!

I've gone a bit bean crazy this year and have got several different Beans I want to grow. Growing them are becoming one of my favourite things to have on my Lottie. Not only do they grow fast, they are fantastic croppers as well. I love to eat the green or sometimes purple or speckled pods, but mostly I also like to grow them for the Beans inside that I dry and store. I'd love to know what ones you are trying this season.

There are many different types of Beans, but the two main types are Runner Beans and French Beans. Runner Beans or Pole Beans as they are sometimes called, have long flat pods and need supporting with canes or trellis to grow. You can get some Dwarf Runner Beans that don’t grow so tall, only 2 feet (60 cms), but they still need supporting.

French Beans on the other hand can come in both climbing and bush varieties. The benefits of a bush variety is that they don’t need supporting. Bush Beans are great for growing in any small gaps that appear in your veg patch as the season progresses, filling the space quickly.

Check out Ben's video for a step by step guide for growing fabulous Beans.

Shoots, Roots and Fruits - Fertilisers Demystified

I'd been planning to write a new article on this subject, but I'm going to be honest and say that it's been a very busy week indeed, so I've recycled one from a few years back. Still a very helpful piece even though I say so myself.

What's going on in May?

Barnes Pond Market - 3rd May 2025

The second of the Barnes pond markets has come round really quickly and it looks like it's going to be another lovely sunny day, fingers crossed.

I've got even more Veg plants and Flowers for you this time with lots of them hardening off outside in my garden as I type.

Hope to see you there. 10am - 4.00pm

Food growing course.

This month we're going to be talking about planting out, thinning out and how you can survive slug attacks, amongst lots of other things.

I bumped into one of my students the other day and she said that one of the things she likes the most about the course is that you get time to talk to other food gardeners about your passion.

Who is the plant Messiah?

A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Carlos Magdalena 'The Plant Messiah' at Kew Gardens via another plant chum Myles Irvine from @riverside_passiflora

Carlos, who I've met a few times now has a new website which gives a hint of the invaluable work he and his colleagues do to preserve so many plants worldwide including vital food crops.

His website www.carlosmagdalena.com is well worth a look, especially the short video.

“Each gene is a word; each organism a book. Each plant species that dies out contains words that have been written only in that book. If a plant species becomes extinct, one book is lost, and with it the words and messages it carried. We are burning the library of Alexandria every time we destroy a hectare of pristine habitat.”

― Sr. Don Carlos Magdalena

Lottie News!

Looking back at April it would seem we only had one, maybe two lots of rain, which was mainly overnight. Other than that it's been one of the driest Aprils on record. I have however been taking advantage of all this lovely weather by catching up on things. I finally managed to plant my Onion seedlings that should have been done a while ago. I also sowed the first of the Carrots in my Carrot corridor, making sure they were covered with wire cloches to deter the squirrels and foxes from digging my precious seedlings up.

It was great to see the first Pea pod forming and the 1st early Potatoes showing through the compost in the big pots. The flowers on the Field Beans were looking good, although I'd noticed some black fly on them without a ladybird in sight. I've been power spraying them off each day, the black fly that is, to keep them under control rather than pinching off the tops that is usually recommended.

More Peas were planted, this time Sugar Snap ones, my absolute favourite 😋 They rarely make it to my kitchen as I just usually eat them on the plot as they form. The first of the Rhubarb was picked. Mine is a rather late variety, but this means it's still producing well into the autumn.

One thing I have been concerned about since having all this sunny weather and that's the temperature in the poly tunnel. It was 41C (105.8F) the other day. It was like an oven when I opened the doors. Next week I will definitely be planting my tender crops in the tunnel and keeping my fingers crossed we don't have some weird cold snap to put the mockers on all the hard work.

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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