Page 51 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2021

Lettuces ready for harvesting
like Growmore or fish, blood and bone. All the tender veg should be ready for planting including runner beans, French beans
(dwarf and climbing, marrows, courgettes, pumpkins, squashes, sweet corn and outdoor tomatoes. I described last month the structure of 8 foot (2.4 metre) canes on which I grow runner beans but you can use a wigwam of canes in a circle and tied at
the top. I normally sow dwarf French beans direct but if you have raised them in pots plant them 6 inches (15 cm.) to 8 inches (20 cm.) apart. The others need more room than this, up to 2 feet (60 cm.) or more apart for pumpkins. Sweet corn are always planted
in blocks rather than rows to assist with pollination.
You may also have Brassicas (cabbage, cauliflowers and sprouts ) ready for planting if not done before and also salad crops, onions and leeks.
I mentioned planting Chrysanths last month but there is still time if you didn’t do so then. I also said you could start planting dahlias if you live in a warm part of the country but this month is the main planting time. Dahlias vary a lot in size from dwarf bedding types to giants so planting distance depends on this, from 18 inches (45cm.) to 30 inches (75 cm.). I always put the canes in first and tie the plants to them.
This is also the main month for planting annuals, the hardy ones could have been planted earlier and the half hardy ones only
if you live in a mild part of the country but they can all be planted now. Like dahlias they vary a lot in size. Those normally called “bedding plants” like alyssum and lobelia can be planted 6 inches (15 cm.) apart. Upright
growers like antirrhinums can go 12 inches (30 cm.) apart and cosmos which can be up to 4 feet (1.2 metres), 24 inches (60 cm.) apart. Any types that grow above 12 inches (30 cm.) tall need canes. I use 24 inch (30 cm.) split canes for the smaller ones up to 4 feet (1.2 metre) canes for the taller ones.
Last month I mentioned earthing up potatoes and you need to keep doing it this month as well. Also if you planted them early enough some may be ready for harvesting.
I suggest that you dig up one or two plants to see what the potatoes are like. They may only be the size of “baby potatoes” and
you may be happy with them at this size. Obviously, the longer you leave them the larger they will grow so you can leave most of them to grow bigger, you don’t need to dig them all up at once. I don’t harvest mine till July because I want them bigger for showing.
There are a few diseases that we need to be aware of and potato blight is one of them. It starts with black blotches on the leaves and when it rains the spores are washed down onto the soil and eventually down to the crop making them unusable. It doesn’t normally arrive till July but we can start spraying them now with a fungicide approved for the job as a preventative.
Another disease is chocolate spot on broad beans and again, prevention is better than cure. As the name suggests, brown spots appear on the leaves and growth
is affected so start spraying these with
a fungicide as well. Mildew can appear
on some crops particularly marrows and courgettes so spray these too. Clubroot is a disease that attacks brassicas and I wrote about this last month.
Potatoes in bags doing well
We should be aware of a few pests as well. Brassicas are troubled with cabbage white caterpillars, the caterpillars of which can soon skeletonise them and I also
wrote about this last month. Another pest on brassicas is cabbage root fly which lay their eggs close to the plants and when the maggots hatch they go into the soil and eat the roots. You can buy discs which go round the base of the plants to keep the flies off but you can make your own with plastic or any suitable material.
Aphids and other insects can attack a range of different plants. Blackfly attack broad beans and runner beans, white fly attack brassicas and greenfly go on several kinds of plants. If you notice just a few you can squash them but if there are more you need to spray with any approved insecticide.
In the greenhouse, keep removing side shoots from cordon grown tomatoes and make sure you keep up with the watering
in hot weather because shortage of water causes a condition called “blossom end rot” which shows as a round black patch at the bottom of the fruit. The greenhouse doors can stay open all the time now.
In the fruit garden, gooseberries, and
red and white currants can be pruned by cutting back this years side shoots to 4 or
5 leaves from the base. Plums and cherries should only be pruned in summer and never in winter because of the risk of silver leaf disease. Just cut out any dead, diseased or overcrowded branches.
Apart from potatoes mentioned earlier, you may have some salad crops, winter onions, broad beans and early peas to harvest.
Climbing French beans, sweet corn and courgetes
Chrysanths growing well
Broad beans
Simply Vegetables 51