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Jobs for the Month: May
By May we will hopefully
have hedgehogs helping us in the garden rehabilitated from Spikes
Aid Charitable Trust who are using our garden as a release
site. A truly symbiotic arrangement for us in the Kitchen Garden,
they eat the slugs, we provide a safe haven for them snug in their
little hedgehog houses.
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And boy will we need help! The slugs are out in
force at this time of year, like an army of molluscs on the attack.
Thwart them with Slug Wool (Slug
Buggers), Slug Pellets
and barriers (Smart Pots have done brilliantly on
trial). |
| All the potatoes are in the ground now and will
need earthing up as they grow – but don’t smother them.
You may also want to mulch them later in the month. I will be
using Strulch here.If frost threatens, I will use fleece but I plant
in a tench so earth can be easily pushed on top rather than pulled
upward to the plant. This method also provides some protection from
frost and wind. Don’t forget to earth up spuds in planters
and containers too. Remember to water and even apply
feed. |
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After forcing some nice crops of rhubarb
earlier this year, I am now going to rest our crowns a while,
taking off the forcers and removing straw and slugs!
Courgettes, Summer Squash, Winter Squash all sown now and will be
hardened and planted with protection.
Beans are both sown indoors in Root Trainer pots and placed optimistically outside under cloches
ready for the transition to clamber Obelisks and Cane
Supports.
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| Brassicas, in modules and biodegradable pots are to
be hardened off, with some lucky ones heading for ‘Brassica
Hotel’, a cage made from the smallest mesh available and
lined with a bed of tilled, manured and clacified soil to keep away
those aphids and other nasty pests. Others will be placed in a
control bed with little protection to see how they compare –
I will let you know the results. |
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Tomatoes can be a time-consuming
crop!
Support them before they begin to flop by using string,
obelisks, frames
or traditional canes/poles as necessary.
Side shooting and tying in regularly is required together with
feeding well – either tomato food and/or seaweed
feed.
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