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Maggie’s Blog – June & July

After a slow start following such a long, hard winter my seedlings appear to be growing well and catching up with where they usually are by this time of the year.

I removed the cloche (i.e. Planto Bio Plant Tunnel) from the peas about three weeks ago and placed it over the broad beans that I had just put into the ground. The advantage of being under this is that the material it is constucted from is a fleece material which keeps the young seedlings warm and pest-free but lets in the moisture. The broad beans are in flower now and have made strong, healthy plants so I have now removed the tunnel from them as well. It folds down flat and is easy to store in it’s original bag.

The potatoes that I “chitted” back in March are now in the ground and doing well. As the leaves have been showing above ground I have been banking up the earth each side to protect them from late frosts. This also makes sure they produce plenty of tubers later in the year.

I planted up my summer baskets and containers about five weeks ago but kept them in the greenhouse to develop. They are now in flower and have grown to fill the space to give a good display. I am now putting them outside during the day to harden them off prior to putting them in their final flowering positions next week.

As always, I will continue to harvest all the asparagus spears until the longest day (21st June). I do not pick any more after that date, but leave the ferns to develop and the roots to recover. In the Autumn after the first frost has turned the ferns brown I will cut down them down at just above ground level and give the bed a good feed with a general fertilizer.

My daughter has moved to a new house with a small garden, but still likes to grow her own runner beans so we are trying them in one of the Burgon & Ball patio planters that are on sale this year. We have put a layer of pea gravel in the bottom of a Round Vegetable Planter for drainage, and filled the bag with a good quality compost. It is large enough to accommodate eight bean poles and this weekend I planted eight beans (still in their toilet roll tubes) against those poles. It will be interesting to see what sort of a crop can be produced. It should certainly keep the beans out of reach of the slugs!

Happy gardening.