Wow, is that sun? We've had a slightly grey, wet and windy few days and the garden isn't looking impressed but as I write this I can indeed see sunshine!
Here is my May Garden update:
May Wildlife:
Not much in the way of overall variety of wildlife but still some nevertheless.
The rosemary bush we have is usually covered, during the day, by numerous pollinators such as solitary bees, honey bees and butterflies. I've seen a few ladybirds but I'm struggling to find any ladybird larvae ( which probably means I'm not looking carefully enough).
The squirrel is making daily appearances now I've added peanuts to the feeders which just encorouges the little furry fella more but I don't mind. The blackbirds are seen regularly in the garden too as they start feeding their first young.
May Cultivation:
- Quick tips: Back in January I sat down and made a few lists and ideas on what I wanted to grow in our gardens this year, taking into account space, time spent and food that I love to eat. Having that list has proved to be really useful because I was able to buy all the necessary seeds required without over doing it (a gardeners obsession), know exactly what I need to sow/plant when and be able to plan time to do it rather than rushing everything as and when I suddenly remembered. Or worse still start sowing everything too early!
Out the front the broad beans have taken off well, as now are the mange tout peas. In the other bed the potatoes are also finally taking off. Both beds will take longer to warm up and get started as they are of north facing direction but get the setting sun in the afternoon and evening.
The rhubarb has already been harvested twice and very tasty it was too! The wildlife hedge and the cob hedge have both exploded in growth in just the last couple of days with the rain we've had. I'm very pleased with how both are doing, even if they are being attacked by aphids (gggrrrrr). I need to put in some lady bird flowers to attract more of them into the garden because the ratio of ladybirds to aphids is severely one sided.
Looking into this a bit further I can see that I need to add more calendula flowers which is really easy to do so I'll get stuck into that this weekend.
In the back garden all the beds now have something growing in them. The onion/garlic bed is doing really well. I don't know if it was the straw but the garlic plants are much bigger and healthier looking than I have ever seen before.
The strawberry plants are flowering so it won't be long until fruit starts to form - I'll need to start adding straw around the plants soon.
The three sisters bed (which will actually only contain two out of the three) now has sweetcorn growing in it - transplanted from pots a couple of weekends a go. I might have been too hasty doing that so have sown some more just in case these get caught out by the cold weather.
Finally the last bed now has kale seedlings planted along with seeds sown for beetroot and spinach beet. I cleared behind the bed before sowing this one because it's a snail holiday park behind the bed and between the fence. I must have picked out about 30 snails. It won't stop more coming but at least I've given the kale a fighting chance now!
May Sowings:
Seeds still to sow for May:
- Runner beans!!!
- Calendula
- Soya beans
- Further beetroot sowings
The chillies, tomatoes and aubergine seedlings will be heading out from the house and into the grow-house.
The heirloom variety of peas that I was kindly given have germinated well and are now in a deep pot to continue their journey, outside. They shot up quite quickly and already need tying up with canes and string.
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What are you hoping to get up to in your garden this month? Are there any particular crops you can't wait to start growing? What ever you are up to - enjoy the great outdoors this week :-)
