Garden Diary: Vegetable Roundup – May (part 1)

My Six this Saturday this week has proved quite a challenge. I had so much to write about but so little time. This morning we went to a fellow gardeners for a coffee, catch-up and a tour around his garden. It is amazing. So many projects and raised beds, covers, sheds, nooks and crannies. Gnome groans as he sees my eyes light up as I add jobs to his ‘To Do’ list. One of the projects that fascinated me was a birdbath with a solar-powered fountain. Guess I will be trying to find a couple of those on Amazon tonight and a visit to a pottery centre to find a suitable container for the bath plus a pedestal. We will see.

The weather has been glorious this week albeit the wind had a cold bite that left me resurrecting jumpers and leggings. But when we look at the weather elsewhere, the blue sky reminded us why we are here.

1. First Potato Crop

Pot 1: Size 43mm x 41mm pot. Planted in January-ish. Harvest: 1.95 kg. The leaves got blight before the plant flowered. They were not seed potatoes so we were happy with the crop.

2. Leaf Miner and Neem Oil

a few weeks ago I noticed squiggly lines appearing in the leaves of my beetroot plants. Which then spread to the radish and pepers..

I ask for advice on a gardening facebook group.

Beware of Neem Oil

and was advised to make a natural concoction. 1 part Neem, I part washing up liquid and 9 parts water. I can only say I am relieved I only sprayed the radish and beetroot on the main bed. All the young plants (peppers and auberginesare VERY sick) … so will need to start again. I will give them a few weeks to see if any new leaves appear but I am not holding my breath.

3. Courgette Progress

I don’t want to tempt fate but so far so good.

4. Growing Cucumbers in Pots

5. Tomatoes – Minibell and Marta Plums

The Mini Bell Cherry tomatoes which got off to a rocky start thanks to me spraying them with the wrong dose of hydrogen peroxide have recovered, thank God!

the Marta plum cherry’s are also doing well!

although this one looks like I need to start feeding with liquid manure…

6. Plot Overview

I now only have one small patch of spare earth in the middle of the large raised bed, a couple of crates and five large -ish pots ready for the next batch of ‘what’ I don’t know yet …. We still have leeks ready to be planted out

Gnome planted up the last of the potatoes in pots and some pea seeds where the black crates are in the far corner of the large beds.