Page 50 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2023

May
Another busy month with plenty to do, both sowing and planting, outside and in the greenhouse. Most of the seeds
I mentioned for sowing the last two months can still be sown. I wrote about sowing methods then so please refer to those notes.
One thing I want to mention, though, which I think is important is sowing little and often, in small batches, to avoid gluts. This particularly applies to salad crops. You don’t want thirty lettuces all ready at once, do you? So, if you are sowing in cell trays, just sow one tray then another a few weeks later. If sowing in drills, just do short drills
at a time. This also applies to cauliflowers because they don’t keep in good condition very long, so they need using as soon as they are ready, so you don’t want too many ready at once. If you are sowing in pots, as I do, five or six at a time are
plenty.
Tying up chrysanths just planted
regions, it is not safe to plant out till June.
Gladioli can still be planted as I described last month. Whatever you are planting, make sure you have prepared the ground by removing all weeds and
raking in some general fertiliser such as fish, blood and bone or Growmore.
If you are planting anything that needs staking, it is best to put the canes in first and tie the plants to them. The distance apart that you put the plants depends,
of course, on their eventual height and spread. Small annuals can be planted
6 inches (15 cm.) apart, whereas some dahlias which grow bushy need 2 feet (60 cm.) between plants.
Also, don’t forget
what I said last month,
that all plants raised
in greenhouses need
hardening off in a cold
frame before planting this
is the main month when
this will be done. If sown
in greenhouses, hardy
vegetables such as brassicas and salad crops can be planted out any time now, provided they have been hardened off in frames for a week or so. This also applies
to hardy annual flowers, including sweet peas. Tender subjects like half hardy annual flowers, dahlias and the tender vegetables that I mentioned last month can’t be planted until there is no danger of frost. If you live in a warmer part of the country, this is towards the end of this month. In colder
This is the main month for planting Chrysanth they are better planted in their own beds, as I do, but it doesn’t matter
if you haven’t the room. They can be planted between other plants in mixed borders. I put my canes in first, 18 inches (45 cm.) apart in rows. The canes are 4 feet (1.2 metres) or 5 feet ( 1.5 metres long depending on the variety. When I have planted a row, I tie all the plants to the canes before I plant the next row I then tie the labels to the top of the canes.
Runner beans, (except the dwarf varieties) need 8-foot canes (2.4 metres) they can be arranged in a ring and tied together at the top in the form of a wigwam, or in rows, as I do. I explained in February how I dig trenches for them. I grow them in two parallel rows abut a metre apart with the canes 9 inches (22.5 cm.) apart tied to horizontal canes along the top with shorter canes tied between the two rows at the top and also diagonal canes between the rows to add strength to the structure.
Climbing French beans are grown on a similar structure of canes, but they don’t need to be as long.
I mentioned planting brassicas (cabbage, cauliflowers etc.) earlier. The main problem when growing them are cabbage white butterflies. They lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves and when the
You don’t want thirty lettuces all ready at once, do you?
Leeks potted into 4 inch pots
Chrysanths all planted
50 Simply Vegetables