May

 

It's been a cold, wet May. The temperature has been above 14°C on a couple of occasions only, and rainfall has been twice the average. Unsurprisingly, most things have hardly grown, at a time when they would normally be racing away. My broad beans (at the back of this plot) are still only about a foot tall, with a few flowers but no pods yet. In front are my kalettes, grown from my own saved seed, which are very hardy - they will stand (and crop) throughout the winter. They will eventually get to about 4' tall, with stems an inch or more across, so need good stakes.

Elsewhere on the plot I have sowed garlic (planted last October as they need a cold spell or will not give good bulbs) onions and shallots, peas, lettuce, potatoes, carrots, beetroot, spinach and spring onions, but none is growing as well as it should! However, strawberries have a lot of flowers - they will be late this year though : last year I started picking at the very beginning of June. Apple blossom was amazing, so we might do well there, and I have picked lots of rhubarb, which has been encouraged by the amount of rain we have had. At home, I have planted runner beans, French beans and courgettes - but it is still far too cold to plant these out - and leeks. Let's hope for some better weather!