Love in the air on Coronation Weekend

Sunday May 7th 

Yesterday was very wet and focused on non-gardening activities.  Today was forecast to be the best of the three days weather-wise.  Grey until lunchtime and quite warm from mid-afternoon.  

I had a few hours at the plot in the middle of the day.  Shortly after arriving, I spotted a ladybird on the smaller Gooseberry bush.  A lovely sight.  

I planted out the Calabrese and Kohl Rabi into Bed 1.  It is perhaps a bit crowded but we’ll see.  After applying lime and watering, I placed collars around all of the plants, including most of the lettuce.  The photo below shows just the Calabrese and Primo Cabbage.

I needed to move a few Strawberry plants, in flower, to fit the Calabrese in.  Not ideal I realise and I hope they don’t get set back too much.

I planted out 20 Spinach (Helios) plants in Bed 2.  Then I checked on the ladybird only to find it had found love.

Hopefully this bodes well for the arrival of any pesky aphids.  I left them to it.

I weeded around the Beetroot, Leeks and Onions in Bed 4, removing some more Jerusalem Artichoke shoots.  The Beetroots have come up well.  Not sure the single Red Onions are going to make it.  

Before leaving, I planted 2 of the 3 Nasturtiums in Bed 6 in opposite corners of the Broad Bean patch before planting one pot of Coriander in the corner of Bed 2 and a pot of Parsley near the Spinach.

At home, I weeded the bed in the back garden and the sunny bed in the front before mowing the lawns.  I’ve observed No-Mow May for the past couple of years but tick season is upon us in the South Downs but I’m tidying things up first before leaving the lawn for a month.

Monday May 8th

I was keen to make another trip to the plot between showers.  While waiting for one shower to finish, I sowed some Florence Fennel, more Brussel Sprouts and two pots of Swede - one from ancient seed (almost a decade old) and one from considerably fresher seed.  I am puzzled by the lack of germination from the previous sowing of Brussels - I wonder if has got too warm in the greenhouse.

At the plot, I focused on weeding around the Broad Beans in Bed 6.  The lower leaves on most of them are yellow - I figure this is down to temperature but I watered in some old comfrey tea just in case.  I did the same over the Garlic and Strawberries in Bed 0.  I also sowed some onion seeds between the Red Onions in Bed 4.  I immediately regretted the approach - I wish I’d sowed them in a line nearby to transplant if any came up.  

Before leaving, I empty the old bucket of comfrey tea and refilled it with lots of fresh leaves from the plant taking up space in Bed 7.  I topped up with water and have left that to stew for a couple of weeks.

I then dropped some plants off at my in-laws’ and saw some bags of what looks like Ivy stems.  I took 2 full bags to the plot quickly and emptied them out near the Pear tree.  The pile might provide a useful habitat for the various critters around there.  Yesterday, there were slo-worms at the top of the two compost bins I opened.  Lovely to see them about again.

I also took a piece of fleece home with me in case I feel like moving some of the seedlings to the greenhouse and want to provide some protection.