In June, harvest salad greens, beetroot, onions, cauliflower, peas, turnips, carrots, fennel, garlic and broad beans. Midsummer’s night traditionally marks the end of asparagus season. Sow French and runner beans, peas, spinach and chard. Pumpkins, courgettes, marrows and other squashes may be sown now,still. But make haste. Water your potatoes. Feed your tomatoes. Enjoy the warmer…
Take time to sharpen your hoe as an ounce of prevention now with weeds will spare you a pound of cure a little further into summer. While pellets are always effective, a gravel barrier or eggshell border may well deter the snail and slug on their slow but sure path to your produce. At the…
While the weather is cool, dig in a 5 or 6 centimetre layer of mulch in your beds and around your perennials, trees and shrubs. Use organic matter such as well rotted manure to prepare the earth for the busy growing season. You might also work in a general purpose fertiliser such as pelleted chicken manure or…
Sowing begins in earnest now. Mid-month or once the days have gone from lion to lamb, plant broad beans, early peas, carrots, lettuces, spinach, salad leaves, leeks and chard. Plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers – bury them 1” deep and 12-18” apart – bearing in mind that they like to spread and will do so like…
Make sure that you get your garlic in the ground before the end of February. Break the bulbs into the individual cloves and plant pointed-end up, so that the tip is just covered in soil. Space them 15cm apart in rows that are 30cm apart in a sunny spot, preferably with well-drained soil. Make sure…
It is not too late to stake young trees and climbing plants now to keep them from being blown by winter winds. Prune apple and pear trees and the Buddleia, or butterfly tree. Borders could do with mulch so use manure, leaf mould or compost at least 2 inches thick to put nutrients back into…