Don’t be fooled by darling buds
It’s May, but we still need to step in to protect potato shoots
May can be such a strange month. The risk of frost diminishes as it progresses, but we still need to remain alert and step in to protect tender potato shoots as they appear, also hold back on turning out certain vegetable plants.
Warm, sunny days seek to confuse by encouraging a diversity of bloom in the garden, but it comes from plants that are accustomed to the cold. It’s a tad early for planting up summer beds and outdoor containers unless the plants are hardened-off.
Last year our chitted, first early potatoes, were planted over the Easter weekend at a depth of 15 centimetres rather than the customary 12. It took the shoots four weeks to surface after which they grew on rapidly and harvesting began in late June as usual. Similar conditions this time around prompted us to follow the same routine so, first shoots and earthing-up are anticipated next week.
Three key vegetables are currently marking time in the unheated greenhouse because they’d struggle in the current wind and cold that sweeps across the vegetable beds. There are circa two dozen each of sweet corn, courgette and runner bean, and they are easily checked by adverse weather. Meanwhile, it is important that they continue their steady growth pattern so there are choices to be made.
Should they be transferred to bigger pots Don’tor offered a balanced feed? If you go for the latter, it saves bench space and compost. The plant food is diluted to half the strength of a dose recommended for mature plants.
While you are waiting for suitable planting out weather, it makes sense to prepare the site for these three. I love to get the runner bean wigwams in place first because even without plants they enhance the appearance of our island beds. The circle of nine canes, one to support each plant, occupies a space one metre square.
Three plants go equidistant apart in the centre. A pair of such wigwams erected in advance, allow us to grow the varieties ‘Prize-winner’ and ‘St George’ which are super productive from July.
Sweet corn is wind pollinated so planting them in block form helps ensure that full cobs can be harvested from mid-August onward. So, they go 20 centimetres apart in organic-rich soil. Similar preparation is essential for courgettes which require lots of moisture, more so if they’re encouraged to become marrows!