Garden Update for Fiona and Michael

Spinach

The spinach is looking really good and is ready to start harvesting. As you pick it, or whenever you have any spare space in the vegetable beds, it would be worth sowing some more peas, lettuce and radish. At this time of year these crops normally take around six weeks from sowing to harvesting, so regular sowings will help keep a continuous supply of fresh produce throughout the summer. Then we can start considering crops for the winter such as winter spinage and winter salad crops 

Potatoes

The potatoes are growing well and are doing a great job of helping to clean the ground underneath the sheeting. This will leave the area in good condition for next year’s planting.

As the plants mature, they will start to produce flowers and the foliage will gradually turn yellow. That’s usually a sign that the crop is approaching harvest time. There is no rush to dig them up though, as they can be left in the ground for a while. In a couple of weeks we’ll dig up one plant to see how the potatoes are developing.

Roses

The roses are looking healthy. In one of the photos, one of the stems is producing lots of short, stubby side shoots along the main stem. These are developing flower shoots, so that plant should put on a good display shortly. It’s still a little early, but everything appears to be progressing normally.

Feeding

Continue feeding the garden every two to three weeks with a liquid tomato fertiliser. The high potash content will help encourage strong flowers, fruit and healthy growth across the garden.

Hydrangeas

The hydrangeas are looking good and there are already plenty of flower buds forming. It will be interesting to see whether any of the flowers turn blue later in the season if you’ve been applying hydrangea blueing treatment.

Brussels Sprouts

The Brussels sprouts have suffered a little pest damage, but they should recover. The insects are most likely cabbage whitefly or similar and can be picked off by hand where practical. Next year, if we grow brassicas in slightly larger groups, we can protect them more effectively using barrier netting.

Cane Fruit

The cane fruit is beginning to form small fruits and should now start developing nicely. We will need to think about putting some netting over the crop later in the season to protect it from birds once the fruit begins to ripen.

Next Steps

Overall, everything is looking very encouraging. Keep harvesting the spinach, continue with the regular feeding programme and think about succession sowing peas, lettuce and radish to maintain a steady supply of crops.

We will arrange a follow-up visit over the next few weeks when you are around so we can review progress and plan the next stages of the garden.