Planting out in May

With the re-appearance of the sun in early May, it is finally time to plant out in the garden.  The water butts are full, the soil is thoroughly wetted and the conditions are ideal for planting out seeds.  The temperatures are climbing again to the mid 20s, and overnight staying above 7 degrees, so with the chance of frost over, some of the more tender plants can be planted out directly.

The broad beans and peas are planted as seeds straight into the bed with a wigwam of canes erected to help them clamber upwards.

The swede and turnip seeds have been sown ready for winter stews and soups, and thinned to give them maximum room for the roots to swell

Whilst the carrot and parsnip seeds have been planted and then covered with Enviromesh to keep out any carrot fly that would happily decimate our crops

Two types of spinach seed have been sown, the large leaves for cooking down with butter and plenty of salt and pepper to accompany our roast chicken.  Whilst the smaller salad leaves are eaten raw and give a lovely peppery flavour to summer salads

To accompany them, I have sown mixed radish seeds, of different sizes, colours and heat levels. An easy salad plant to grow as they swell so quickly and can be eaten within a couple of weeks of sowing the seed.

In the greenhouse I have started planting my more tender crops.  Sweetcorn seedlings are just pushing through the compost,

Canteloupe Melon, butternut squash and pumpkin are rapidly growing in size

Whilst the dwarf french beans have grown strongly to form solid little plants

I am growing flowers from seed to attract the pollinating insects, both for the vegetables and for Nicks macro photography.  The seedlings are growing happily in the greenhouse, and the morning glory vines are already in flower

In the orchard, the rains in April caused some peach leaf curl to the Nectarine and the Peach tree, even though I had applied Bordeaux Mix in Autumn and early Spring, but picking the leaves off and disposing of them seems to be working as the trees are both bearing fruit

Although I will need to pick off some of the immature nectarines in order to ripen just a few, as there are over 20 young fruit on the tree

And the apricot tree which is flourishing in terms of leafy growth and size, has just one ripening fruit.  I can't decide whether to make an apricot tart (for one),  or a tablespoon of apricot jam!