The end of May

The first full salad of the year - radishes and some of their leaves, lettuce, baby red kale, and spinach.

It's hard to get an overarching sense of what the garden is doing at the moment. I have to devote myself to lots of little tasks - mostly because it's how I work best, but also there is a lot to do, and I don't feel I can spend half a day on a single thing.

Things continue to grow - shockingly fast in some cases. The third lettuce sowing germinated in about four days. Many brassicas are getting to the size where they can be planted in their final position (wherever that will be), and some ornamentals like the first cosmos are likewise almost ready to be placed.

 A lot of onions need to be planted - maybe I've left this a bit late, but they will probably be fine; I expect to harvest them perhaps in September. Note, these are planted in peat pots - I would not buy peat products, but these were found in the shed, and it's wasteful not to use them.

I've got on with a fair bit - the first tomatoes, several 'Moneymaker' that are head and shoulders larger than the other varieties, have been moved to the polytunnel to acclimatise. They have tiny flowers forming, and I had to pinch out the first side shoot, which seems ridiculous in May, but the weather has been so warm and fine, it's no wonder they're racing on. Funnily enough, the size of pot I put them in doesn't seem to have affected their growth - several are about a foot tall, whether they're in a litre pot or a tiny thing.

Above: some of the second sowing of lettuces, now pricked out into modules and doing well (these are mostly the dark variety 'Bijou'; below: the third sowing is already coming up after just a few days.

Repotting/pricking out is going fine, on the whole. The second sowing of lettuces is finally about done, and I have far too many. It's still amazing how rough they can be treated - I sowed them thickly, and pulled the clumps of seedlings apart, pressing each tiny plant into a module compartment, and firmed them in with more compost before watering. At first they look very unhappy, but just a few days later, they are thriving, and will be big enough to pot on again or plant out in a couple of weeks' time. Cucurbits are mostly done - some winter squash look very sickly after repotting, but most are thriving, and there's still time to resow those that haven't made it. Ditto sunflowers - although in their case, it's mostly slug or snail attacks that have been the problem. Next melons, aubergines, and Ammi (a white, lacy ornamental relative of the carrot) - the hundreds I pots I got recently are all used up, so more are needed.

Cabbages, broccoli, 'Aztec broccoli'.

The next more substantial jobs will be laying out a couple more raised beds for onions, cabbages, and kale, probably with a catch crop of radish and turnip. I set up a new compost heap in a quiet corner, and the one I started a couple of months ago is already too big and will need a rethink. A lot of waste material is being generated from mowing and weeding, and I'm balancing that with lots of brown corrugated card, of which there is always a surplus from online purchases (like the pots!). I'm yet to be convinced it will all break down into something good, but as with so many things, I must have faith in gardening experience.

Harvests:
26/05 - 100g (radishes: 80g, spinach 10g, mixed salad (lettuce and kale) 10g)
27/05 - 155g radishes
28/05 - 5g spinach
Year to date total: 310g