Gardener cook In the absence of a ‘gardening third eye’, Jojo goes Zen rather than lose her cool
May is a very busy month for gardeners so, in the absence of a ‘gardening third eye’, Jojo decides to go Zen rather than lose her cool
May is the month in which I long for a gardening third eye. In this heightened state I would become a paragon of focused efficiency. I would remember to earth up my potatoes and stay on top of weeds by running a hoe down the rows regularly, and not forget to thin newly germinated salad – and also take time to sow spinach, beetroot, carrot, radishes and turnips successionally at regular two-week intervals. As the polemicist William Cobbett observed 200 years ago: ‘Almost every gardener could grow more by sowing less and doing this more often.’
While coolly measuring out my short rows, I would then take the time to prune my damson and my greengage trees while it’s warm (this helps to prevent silver leaf disease), keep my extra eye out for slugs, snails and aphid infestation as well as continuing to tend to my seedlings and fragile potted-on plants on the windowsills at home. It’s so easy to miss a slug on the bottom of a seed tray and find new growth eaten down to slime-topped stalks, or forget to bring in a batch of seedlings that are being hardened off outside. In addition to this I would pot on tomatoes and peppers before they became pot bound and remember to give newly planted fruit trees a thorough drenching once a week.
Perhaps the best way to approach this most hectic of gardening months is to remind yourself that gardening is supposed to be relaxing. Take a deep breath, go Zen and, above all, pace yourself – the growing season is a long distance event, not a sprint.
Having had decent but not marvellous pumpkin crops in the past, this year I am going to try something different. Last year my first sowing was decimated by snails and slugs, and those that survived only went on to make one or two small fruits. To provide plenty of food for this greedy crop I’ve already dug several bucket-sized holes and halffilled them with well-rotted muck and filled the top in with soil. When I feel confident that the threat of late frosts has passed (this will vary around the country) I’ll bring my hardened-off plants to the plot.
Once there I’ll plant them on top of the muck with a frame of bamboo or strong wire hoops over the top. Then I’ll take a clear polythene carrier bag and fit this over the frame, securing the bottom with an elastic band to make a smash-proof mini cloche that will provide heat as well as protection from slugs. As an experiment I’m trying this method with two plants and two seeds sown direct, planted edgeways and 5cm deep, all roughly 150cm apart. Watch carefully; then, when a male flower has formed on each shoot, cut it short after a female flower (with a round mini pumpkin attached) has formed behind it. This way more fruits will form behind. ‘Crown Prince’ ‘Uchiki Kuri’ and the closely related ‘Hokkaido’ are three flavoursome cultivars.