May in the Garden
As I sit here, rain is tip tapping off the window. A very welcome sound as it’s been so very dry the past few weeks. In fact, the whole of April was dry. My allotment turned into a bit of a dust bath, perfect for chickens…if I was allowed any. Alas, some seeds have been planted and some starts have been transplanted. A few got sun scald, a few looked half dead. But they seem to be perking back up now it’s been a touch cooler. The one thing I will say is that we have had some truly glorious sunshine filled days and it’s been lovely to be outside.
May is a very busy month for the garden. We start sowing warm loving plants and begin hardening off all our seedlings ready for their big move. It’s a nice welcome back to the windowsills as space re-appears. My favourite thing is to finally plant out the tomatoes and watch their growth explode. I’ll soon have green tar stained fingers and smell like hexenal. But I’ll be happy as a clam.
So. what can we plant and sow? There’s a whole lot you can sow now, mainly direct into the soil:
Courgette
Squash (summer & winter)
Sweetcorn
Spring onion
Autumn cabbage
Brussel sprouts
Cucumbers
Beans
Swede
Basil
Carrots
Beetroot
Salad leaves
Peas
Kale
Collards
You can plant out after all chance of frost has gone:
Tomatoes
Peppers
Chillies
Aubergine
Sweetcorn
Squash
Cucumbers
Basil
May can often be overwhelming, there’s a lot going on. Weeds tend to explode, you’re keeping on top of pests and plantings and hardening off seedlings. You have to start thinking about succession sowings. It’s also known as the ‘hunger gap, as your winter things are finishing and your new seedlings aren’t quite ready yet. This is where I really miss kale. Brassicas are my absolute favourite and my cabbages are looking amazing. I will be doing a lot more recipes about fermenting and dehydrating your produce over the next few months. I hope you find them useful for processing your garden produce.
If you do one thing this month, listen to the bird song, it’s at its best in May.