General Maintenance
- Thin seedlings as they grow.
- Keep on top of weed growth by hoeing on dry warmer days.
- Watch out for pests such as Aphids, Slugs and Snails.
Start the annual vigil against them with your preferred method. - If not already done so erect Bean rigs for Runner Beans and climbing French Beans.
Vegetables
- Keep earthing up Potatoes to exclude light and stop any poisonous green patches on the tubers.
- Harden off and plant crops raised under glass last month.
- Tomatoes that have been bought or raised for planting outside will need potting on if the weather is to cold for them to go out.
- Keep on with successional sowings of Radish, Lettuce, Rocket and all salad leaves.
- At the end of the month plant out Beans, French and Runner varieties along with self blanching Celery, but protect if there is any chance of a late frost.
- Plant Sweet Potato slips once the soil has warmed up.
- Sow Beetroot, winter cabbage, Broccoli and Swedes.
Fruit
- Net any developing fruits to protect from birds.
- Remove blossoms from newly planted trees to give them a chance to establish.
- Keep Strawberry fruits clean by tucking straw under the plants.
Remove unwanted runners so the plant can put full effort into producing fruit.
Pin down a few runners to produce plants for next year. - prune out any unwanted Raspberry shoots to keep the plant open and allow the fruit to ripen
- Tie in canes as they grow on Blackberries and other ramblers.
- Remove alternate berries on Gooseberry bushes for bigger fruits. The small thinnings are used for cooking.
Greenhouse
- Crops that are to be grown in the greenhouse should be in their final position now. Or potted up into larger pots to keep them growing steadily.
- Pinch out the tips of Cucumbers and Melons when they have five leaves to induce fruiting side shoots.
- Crops that are waiting to be planted outside can be moved to the cold frame to harden off and give extra space in the greenhouse that is always at a premium at this time of year.
- Don’t water plants over their foliage, small droplets of moisture can magnify the suns rays and lead to scorching.
- ventilate the greenhouse at every opportunity, day time temperatures can be very high.
- Greenhouse aphids and other pests will be very active now so catch them early before they can multiply to plague proportions.
