The Greenside Up Veg Patch

My Vegetable Garden (3rd May 2012)

If you missed the first video clip in April I mentioned that the food produced here is for family and friends. We don’t sell the fruit or veg but freeze, preserve, dry or make into wine everything that isn’t eaten. Pretty much all of the planting and sowing is done by myself, though Mr G is great with a fork in the autumn and spring months and builds fabulous sturdy structures.

So what’s been happening over the past month? After a slow start the recent rain and then a bit of warmth over the past couple of days has seen the plants (including the grass & weeds) start to pick up again.

Outside the leaves on the potatoes have broken through the soil so they’ve been earthed up protecting them against blight, frost and the tubers rising to the surface and going green. It’s my first time growing potatoes under a mat so I’m interested to see how they compare with the rest of the crop.

The Brussels sprouts and cauliflowers have been planted out having been sown from seed on the heated bench a few weeks ago. Today I sprinkled some organic slug pellets around them in an attempt to protect their new leaves from the hungry little munchkins. The different kales were all started a bit later so a bed has been prepared ready for them.

Brussels Sprouts

Mange tout pea seeds were sown directly into the soil yesterday against the pea support and a green manure of phacelia sprinkled in between to prevent weeds taking over the empty space. There are some toilet roll pots with mange tout coming up in the polytunnel that will be ready to plant out soon, filling in any gaps and giving an earlier crop than the seeds.

One veg we like to be self-sufficient in are the onions and garlic so have two beds on the go which I’ll be adding some leeks to in the next few weeks. The onions have been planted at different times with a couple of bags of shallots only added to the collection last week so they’re all at different stages.

The last veg bed outside will host the ‘others’ so parsnips, chard, beetroot, radish and spinach have all be sown directly and I’m patiently waiting for the seedlings to appear. Carrots will be sown shortly.

In the polytunnel there’s a bit more action…. the globe artichoke is forming, peas are growing and sweetcorn, lettuce, carrots, rocket and broad beans all coming along. The strawberries have almost finished flowering and the fruits forming. There are lots of seedlings on the bench too. Tomatoes, peppers, aubergine, mange tout, scarlet, Tuscany and curly kale, courgettes, cucumbers and winter squash – am starting to wonder where to put everything!

So that’s it for this month and as you can see May will be a busy month planting everything out. If you have any questions or observations about anything I’m doing in my veg patch feel free to leave a comment or ask.