Page 47 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2024

Dahlias hardening off in frame
seed and potted them on, they should be ready for planting.
I have told you before that I sow salad crops such as lettuce and beetroot in cell trays and reduce the
seedlings to one per cell.
If you did so, they may
be ready for planting,
depending, of course,
when they were sown.
I wrote last month about planting tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and aubergines in the greenhouse. You can still plant them now if not done before. Please refer to last month’s notes.
Most of the seeds I
mentioned for sowing in
March and April can still
be sown. I wrote about
sowing in detail then so please refer to those notes. Whether you are sowing in pots, cell trays or direct in the beds, only sow a few at a time, particularly with salad crops so that you don’t have too many
ready at once.
We are likely to get some warm sunny
weather this month, and watering will become a priority so don’t let any plants
dry out. Plants you have planted outside may need watering, but the main priority are plants
in greenhouses or polytunnels, particularly those in pots like tomatoes and cucumbers. It is a good idea to shade your greenhouse. You
can buy paint that you mix yourself and paint on the glass and at the end of the season it brushes off when dry. Also, keep the doors and ventilators open unless frost is forecast.
As the weather warms up, pests are likely to increase, particularly greenfly, and you may get whitefly on your tomatoes in the greenhouse. So, keep your eye open for them and try to deal with them at an
Shallots potted up and growing
early stage before they increase too much. When there are only a few you can squash them between your finger and thumb. If there are too many for this, you will have to spray them with a suitable insecticide. For whitefly in the greenhouse there is a predator called Encarsia that you can buy but I have never tried it myself.
If you planted potatoes in March or April, they should be growing and may be ready for earthing up. This means just drawing up some soil round the stems.
If you planted tomatoes in the greenhouse in April, they should now
be growing tall. For plants grown on the cordon system, which means growing them on a single stem tied to a cane, from now on the side shoots should be removed when large enough to handle. These are shoots that grow from the axils between the leaves and the stem.
Another job this month is to put straw under the developing shoots on strawberry plants to keep them off the ground. Also put a net over them so that the birds don’t get the fruit before you do!
As the weather warms up, pests are likely to increase, particularly greenfly, and you may get whitefly on your tomatoes in the greenhouse
Tomato plants ready for planting
Simply Vegetables 47