Growing pains

As the days start to get much longer and warmer, Aaron’s biggest problem is finding space for all his seedlings, but he still finds time to sow seeds for climbing beans and has a ball choosing pumpkins

Great Dixter’s gardener-cook Aaron Bertelsen can’t wait to plant out seedlings and harvest new-season beetroot

May in the south of England is the most enchanting month. Sadly, I cannot relax and enjoy it. I am far too busy worrying about space, or rather the lack of it. This is the month when seedlings are jostling for position in the glasshouse and cold frames, and the temptation can be strong to plant them out too soon, just to get them out of the way.

Even now, with the days growing longer and the sun gaining strength, the nights can be chilly. Plants grown under glass must be hardened off by gradually increasing their exposure to the elements before they can be planted out. Start by putting them outside during the day and bringing them back in at night. Once you have done this for three days or so you can graduate on to leaving them out all night in a sheltered spot. By this time they should be ready to plant out, although crops such as beans will still be grateful for a covering of horticultural fleece if the temperature looks likely to dip below 7°C.

What to sow

I love growing climbing beans. Some of my favourite cultivars include ‘Blue Lake Stringless’, ‘Monte Gusto’, ‘Cobra’, and the marvellously named ‘Lazy Housewife’. With their different-coloured blossoms they bring some visual interest to the kitchen garden. They don’t take up much space, are easy to grow, and yield generous crops. It is worth waiting until May to sow them as they do much better in warm weather. Start them off inside and by the time you have good-sized plants to put out, the danger of cold nights should have passed. I sow into extra deep plug trays, one seed per plug. These give the plants enough room to grow and the extra bit of space means they won’t come to any harm if the weather turns cold and you have to wait before planting out. Keep moist, but be careful to avoid overwatering as beans are prone to rotting off. While they’re growing, prepare the supports, which need to be good and sturdy. I use a combination of poles and good strong brushwood pea sticks, using tarred twine to pull the pea sticks together into a kind of tepee shape. When you plant out, water well (and keep watering) and be ready with the organic slug pellets.

What to plant out

In New Zealand, we ate pumpkin all the time, so it was a shock to come to the UK and find them relatively scarce. Fortunately, that has changed, but as ever, the best way to get what you want is to grow it yourself. Good cultivars include ‘Jarrahdale’ with its stunning blue-grey skin and deep orange flesh, ‘Speckled Hound’ with its streaky pastel skin and the classic Cinderella pumpkin, ‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’. The key to a good crop is soil preparation. This is a hungry crop, so make sure you add plenty of farmyard manure or good compost (or grow them on the heap itself). Good-sized plants ready to go out by the end of May will have time to grow and ripen before first frosts. Properly ripe pumpkins will have a tougher skin, which means you can store them for longer and eat them throughout the winter. Apart from slugs, the only real problem with pumpkins is mosaic virus, where the leaves develop yellow mottling. If this happens, there is nothing for it but to pull the plants out and discard them.

What to harvest

It is a great day for me when the new season’s beetroot is ready to harvest. I have a great love of this vegetable and over the years have enjoyed finding different ways to use it in the kitchen but when the roots are tender and young it is hard to think of anything better than grating them just as they are (don’t wear a white shirt for this part of the process), and mixing in the juice of a lemon, olive oil, salt, pepper and maybe a handful of pumpkin seeds. Deliciously fresh, it is the perfect way to convert those for whom beetroot is still tied in to painful memories of school dinners. I know that for some the flavour is simply too earthy. Peeling them can help with this, although be aware that in doing so you are also removing valuable nutrients that sit just under the skin.

You can find Aaron’s recipe for beetroot bake with parmesan at gardensillustrated.com/recipes