Garden Share Collective - May 2014

April is the big month for sowing and planting in the UK. If you want decent crops for later in the year, you HAVE to be busy in April! So I have been busy...

As ever, our weather has been a bit of a mixed bag. During the early part of April we had very little rain, but lots of sunshine and clear skies - along with cold nights. The latter part of April has been milder but very wet, though that is not such a bad thing after the dry period. The plants certainly enjoyed the moisture and everything is looking very lush now.

Most of the seeds sown in March have been planted out by now, or at least transferred to bigger pots:

Lettuce seedlings planted out

Tomatoes transplanted to bigger pots



Leeks transplanted to separate pots



First Early potatoes doing well under cover



Brussels Sprouts seedlings planted out

Broad Beans growing strongly, and producing lots of flowers

I have started harvesting a few things too, although it is early days still. The Radishes are amazingly good this year - probably my best ever. I put this down mainly to the weather conditions. They like the mild and moist conditions we are currently experiencing.

Radishes "Cherry Belle"



Even the Asparagus is better this year. I gave it a stern warning last year, saying that if it didn't do well I would chuck it out, so it has evidently taken me at my word.

Asparagus "Gijnlim"

I never get many spears at a time, but if I save them up for a couple of days it makes a viable serving.

We ate the first of the Wild Garlic, made into an incredibly pungent pesto, using Parmesan cheese, pine-nuts and olive oil.

Wild Garlic

The herbs are also wonderfully lush at present, like this clump of Greek Oregano:

Greek Oregano

Looking back at my "To do" list from last month, I see that I said I would put compost on the raised beds. I did. Here's the evidence:

Compost applied

I also stated the intention to pot-up some of the Lavender cuttings taken last Autumn. This I did too.

Some of the Lavender cuttings potted-up

I have finished planting potatoes now. I have 26 pots of them: 8 x First Early; 10 x Second Early; and 8 x Maincrop.

Some of the potatoes

 So what are my plans for next month?

• Plant out the beans (erect their support-system first!)
• Plant chillies and tomatoes into their final homes - large pots
• Plant more lettuces and endives
• Plant leeks
• Transplant more parsley seedlings
• Harvest peas and broad beans?
• Harvest asparagus, radishes, lettuce
• Possibly harvest first new potatoes

This is my entry for the May edition of the Garden Share Collective, so why not follow the link to see what some fellow garden bloggers have been up to this past month...