Although the weather in June is notoriously unpredictable,following the long dry spring, with this April being the warmest on record and the unsetelled weather during the Music festival in May, June can be a wonderful month in the gardener on the allotment, with things looking almost perfect will once the first flush of spring has passed. The gardener will need to juggle his or her energies, for the garden to continue into the fullness of summer.
This time of year little and often tends to be the best policy in the garden, as it helps one keep an eye on the lush growth of garden plants and the tenacious weeds and though toughts of long days spent in the garden during warm sunny weather is the ideal that we all dream of, the tasks of life in general will always get in the way and most times have to take preferance.
Early summer mornings spent dead heading, with a mug of coffee in hand and feet adorned with ones best gardening slippers is surly not a bad way to start the day
. As this month is so busy here ensues a list of jobs for the month.

General Care

• Peas need staking with pea sticks, netting or pruned garden twigs.
• Continue to earth up potatoes
• Hoe between rows on hot days to make sure weeds dry up and die without re-rooting or they will compete for moisture and nutrients.
• Continue to tie in Sweet peas removing, side shoots and the tendrils to encourage extra long flower stems.
• Continue to pick cornflowers and other early flowering annuals from the cutting garden to ensue repeat flowering. Also dead head to prevent seed setting, as this will stop flowering.
• Mulch beds after wet weather to trap moisture and smother any weed seedlings. Home made garden compost or bagged from the garden centre works well especially if spread over 2-4 layers of newspaper. The broad sheets work best as tabloids leave more joints
• Dahlias should now be in full growth filling the flower beds, remember to stake with a coral of bamboo and string, do this as soon as possible so that the new growth will mask the supports.
• Be ever watch full for slugs and snails and any other night time visitors. I recollect when I once grew Dahlias on the Jawbones allotment site Badgers would dig in and around the mulch material up ending plants and canes.
• Bulb catalogues will be arriving by now so it’s not too early to be thinking of where to be planting out ready for next spring.
• Take photos of the garden for reference when planning for next year.

Sowing and planting

• Continue sowing salad crops, such as beetroot, Chinese cabbage, Pak and radish. Leafy salad crops may do better when sown in partially shady sites since hot dry weather can lead to bitter tasting leaves.
• Sow French, runner and, peas, squash, sweet corn, and outdoor cucumbers directly into prepared beds outside.
• French beans are best sown in traditional rows, (18in) apart, at  (6-9in) spacing.
• Sweet corn works best planted in blocks, at 45cm (18in) spacing, with two seeds per hole. Any seeds sown earlier under cover can now be planted out into the same block pattern.
• Runner beans need well-prepared ground and suitable supports (often a frame or wigwam of bamboo canes tied together with twine) for the shoots to twine around and grow upwards.
• Courgettes, marrows and pumpkins can still be sown outdoors in early June. Encourage good fruit set by hand pollinating.

• Plant vegetables sown indoors earlier in the season, including winter brassicas. These can be planted out in ground cleared of early potatoes.
• Gaps between winter brassicas plants can be used for quick-maturing catch crops, perhaps radishes or gem lettuces.

 

Here we go !

May can be such a busy month in the garden with planting out seedling and direct sowing of so many vegetables and flowers along with hoeing and watering, these jobs need to be tackled now for next month its to late.

Weather wise the last of the frost should have finished, but a keen eye needs to be watchful of those night time temperatures and of coarse the extremes of weather that tend to go with the Music festival and the county show, will have us all trying to decide flip flops or wellies?

May is usually the time for planting out any cuttings taken through out the spring or purchased on line. These will include any Dahlia cutting struck from shooting tubers that have been potted up in the green house, in March or April. Bare root tubers will have been already planted in to the garden in mid April.

Since its introduction from South America some two hundred years ago and with a multitude of alterations to its make up, with the work of hybridisation, much achieved by enthusiastic amateurs the dahlia now comes in many forms and an array of colours to suit all tastes.

Divide into categories of form, from the tight balls of the pom-pom through the cacti and decorative forms right up to the large and giants, much favoured on the village show bench.

Some times maligned for being gaudy and crass the Dahlia has had a bad press over the years but they are now returning to favour as new varieties are being seen in the garden centres.

Cultivation is simple plant out as shown above into a reasonable draining fertile soil. In the early stages care needs to be taken to protect the young plants from slugs and snails, also the need to remember, a single cutting can grow into a plant 5-6 ft tall and 3-4ft across a support frame of canes and string will be needed to fight against wet and windy conditions.

When the plant has made five pairs of true leaves, the plants need to be stopped by cutting out the leading tip. This term can be miss leading in that far from stopping the plant it encourages growth in the side shoots that will go on to form the structure of the plant.

For larger blooms the disbudding of the smaller flower buds will assist in the development of the main bloom.

A good mulch of garden compost will help the feeder roots and conserve moisture.

Though many gardeners lift their Dahlia tubers at the turn of the first frost in our warm southwestern climate a thick layer of compost after cutting down the frosted tops should help protect the roots through the winter.

The Vegetable garden

• Sow French beans, runner beans, squash, cucumbers sweet corn and pumpkin seeds directly into prepared beds outside.
• Sow cauliflowers and purple sprouting broccoli for harvesting next winter.
• After all risk of frost has passed, plant out tomatoes, courgettes and pumpkins that were previously sown under cover.
• Other young plants can be planted out once conditions are suitable, and once they've been hardened off (acclimatised to the colder outdoor conditions) for 10 to 14 days.

• Earth up potatoes when the shoots are 23cm (9in) high, in order to prevent the new tubers going green.
• Start to remove side shoots from cordon tomatoes as you see them. The side shoots develop in the leaf axils (i.e. between the stem and leaf), and if allowed to develop will sap the energy of the plant and reduce the quality of the yield.
• Strings stretched along the tops of broad bean plants can support them, and prevent them flopping once pods develop.
• Peas need staking with pea sticks, netting, or pruned twigs from the garden.

Check out more garden tips at http://earthgardencareanddesign.moonfruit.com/

The Vegetable garden

 

Plant onions, shallots Garlic can still be planted if not already do so.
Plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers.
Chit early and main crop potatoes. Do this in a cool dry shed or out house.protect from frost.
Plant asparagus crowns.
Sow seed outdoors
: Broad beans, carrots, parsnips, beetroot, onions, lettuces, radish, peas, spinach, summer cabbage, salad leaves, leeks, Swiss chard, kohl rabi, turnip and summer cauliflower. Watch the weather, and sow only if conditions are suitable.
Sow seed indoors of sweet peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, celery, salads and globe artichokes.
Cultivate and prepare seedbeds, covering them with clear polythene or fleece to warm up the soil before sowing.
Protect early outdoor sowings with fleece and polythene.
Feed crops that have been standing all winter.

                             

Put supports in place for peas. Stout posts and chicken wire or plastic netting work well, as do traditional pea sticks.
Start preparing runner bean supports and trenches for sowing (in May) or planting out (in June).
Try to avoid digging in wet weather, but if gardening on wet soil, work from a plank of wood, to avoid treading on the bed and compacting the soil.

Ready steady grow

Ready steady grow

It has been said that hearing the first cuckoo was the first sign of spring, but for most of us it’s the sound of the first lawn mower as March is normally the month we make the first cut.

There is some thing quite magical and intoxicating about the smell of freshly cut grass, it burrows into the heart and mind, it just makes us smile, lifts the heart as we then know, spring has sprung.

If the smell could be bottled, well I’m sure a cure for many maladies would be found,

Natures very own medicinal compound.

In the flower garden things are already on the move. Towards the end of the month the green shoots of the early Daffodils will be in flower heralding the spring with those yellow trumpets.

Any Hardy annuals that have survived the winter snow and wet will need to be nurtured and weeded, should any have failed there will be plenty of time to catch up.

If you have the space a few packets of annuals can help brighten the garden as well as the vegetable plot.

The analogy that all the worlds a stag fits so well to the garden, when it comes to flowers there are so many blousy leading ladies but of coarse these must be supported by the rest of the cast and chorus,

 Zinnias especially the taller varieties tend to steel the show in late summer and can be sown now, they tend to be free from pest and disease and make a good cut flower.

This year I have sown the Zinnia elegans 'Benary's Giant Lime'

This is a special giant Zinnia with long, thick sturdy stems with magnificent, fully double blooms, each almost four or five inches across, in a unique and fashionable colour of lime green. Blooms to dream about.

Zinnia seed’s tend to be easy to handle and though they can be sown where they are

to flower (they like a sunny, sheltered position) from the end of April to the end of May when the soil is warming up.

I normally start them of undercover in modular trays

Apart from keeping the weeds at bay, just let nature do the rest. If you feel you have to thin out, be careful not to disturb the roots of the plants you are retaining. And in a few short weeks you'll be able to sit back and admire the colourful results of your hard labours 

Other easy annuals-

Larkspur

Cornflowers

Asters (annual form)

Nicotiana sylvesteri

Nicotiana alata 'Sensation', Mixed Colours

Sunflowers

Cosmos purity another of the leading ladies

Tasks for Febuary

Prepare vegetable seed beds, and sow some vegetables under cover

Chit potato tubers

Protect blossom on apricots, nectarines and peaches

Net fruit and vegetable crops to keep the birds off

Prune winter-flowering shrubs that have finished flowering

Divide bulbs such as snowdrops, and plant those that need planting 'in the green'

Prune Wisteria

Prune hardy evergreen hedges and renovate overgrown deciduous hedges

Cut back deciduous grasses left uncut over the winter

     Sow seed indoors for early crops e.g.: lettuces, summer brassicas (e.g.    cabbages and cauliflowers), spinach, salad onions and turnips.

 Apply a top dressing of sulphate of potash to all fruits and nut

. Ensure tree stakes and ties are firm and sound.

 

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Winter Pain For Summer Gain.

Winter Pain For Summer Gain.

Febuary can be a month of dead lines, the main one being is make sure one is fully prepared for the spring season, it can mean lots to do but this work now will save time later and mean that nothing is missed out.

The first task is have I ordered all the seeds that I need for the coming season?

It’s not always easy because it’s not just a case of making sure ive gathered all the seeds for spring sowing but enough for the succesional sowing through out the summer and Autumn.

So planning is the crucial thing. I tend to use a seed-sowing calendar, this I have pieced together over the years to include all of the staple vegetables, leeks, onions, lettuce etc but also to include new varietys new types as well as new vegetables. The calendar or planner is rewritten each year with hopefully enough room for any slight alterations. These more often enough are frequent, as it’s all too easy to be tempted by another new packet of seeds that I have happened upon in some seed merchant or garden centre.

Most of the planning for seed sowing has taken place through the dark winter nights. Surrounded by seed catalogues, but more often now with the laptop.

Oh, the gardens and vegetables that could be grown in acres of garden in the imagination, where time and energies are limitless.

Any gardening is all about timing, not just sowing the right seed at the right time in the perfect conditions but the right job or task carried out under the correct weather conditions.

Febuary can be a dry month if the wind turns to the East so finish off any digging should the weather permit. If the weather is reasonably dry and frosty, leave heavy soils exposed - the frosts will kill pests and improve soil structure by the continual freezing and thawing of soil water. Improve drainage of heavy soils by working in lots of organic matter.

If on the other hand if the weather fronts roll in from the south west bringing rain, it is well worth spending time checking tools and other garden sundries are prepared for the coming season.
Spades and hoes should be sharpened with a file or grinder, this might sound strange but a sharpened clean well oiled spade cuts through the soil better than a blunt rust one. The hoe is fundamentally a cutting tool, so the sharper the better. When gardening on wet soils work from a plank of wood, rather than treading on the bed, to avoid compacting the soil.

So to reap the rewards next summer it is a case of winter pain for summers gain.

Last year I had some success in growing hardy annuals amongst the vegetables, cornflowers with the onions and pot marigolds with the carrots to help fend off carrot root fly, so this year I am dedicating a large part of the plot to the growing of cut flowers.

Some allotment purists would discount the idea, as they believe that

“If you can’t eat it it’s a waist of time and space growing it”

I feel that being able to take a bunch of flowers cut fresh from the plot home or as a present when visiting friends just cannot be beaten.