We’re coming up to halfway through the month and I haven’t planted anything outside.

I’ve got most of the tomatoes into the polytunnel and we’ve sown celeriac, peas, carrots and beetroot outside but aside from tomatoes, I’ve only sown a couple of butternut squash and some basil. I’m not struggling, I’m just determined not to worry too much about it, things will catch up.

This weekend we topped up the Red Duke of York potatoes and I planted the sweet potatoes that arrived last week. I’ve put them in the polytunnel this year to see if they will do better in there, I just put them into the bed that has the salad in it, but the time the sweet potatoes start to grow, the salad and radishes will be done, and if they aren’t then they can all fight it out. That bed also has a rogue potato plant in it, which is obviously one left behind by Joe, so I know it’ll be a Charlotte, we’ll see if being in the ground since 2019, is good for production! We also had a bit of a clear out and started to fill the second bed as it’s time to think about planting that one up, My working plan is melons and a cucumber, I don’t know what’s too much for these beds, so it’ll either be over or under planted, just right is not a state I excel at.

It’s also path tidying time, I strimmed one side and Ma and I embarked on a tidy/weed of the paths and beds. Next week we’ll work on the more over grown side and probably do it twice. 

We pulled up the last of the spring greens so we can start to prep those beds for squash and beans and I moved the arch constructed the week before last to the long beds. Lastly, I had a tantrum-y clear up of the shed.  

It’s looking pretty right now, the poppies, cornflowers, irises and knautia are starting to flower. My favourite yellow rose is flowering and my peony has produced one perfect bloom, which is a result because I moved them and wasn’t expecting anything from it this year. The borage, orache, pot marigold, and other assorted annuals are coming up. The perennial cornflowers are blooming too and the freesia bulbs that I planted up a couple of weeks ago are pushing up through the soil.

In the food garden we have our first embryo berries (blueberries, blackcurrant and raspberries) and plums, and the strawberries (alpine and ordinary) and boysenberries are in full bloom. I also succumbed to the lure of a special offer and we now have three patio blackberries (cascade) to plant up. Fruit is expensive and it doesn’t need the care that tomatoes do so even though I’ll never be entirely self-sufficient, it’s a very cost effective thing to grow. 

The garlic and onions are looking strong and the chives are flowering, although it’ll be a while there are pea, carrot and beetroot seedlings (we are still waiting on the parsnips!), it’s all pretty exciting

My aim is to have all of the summer crops in their final beds by the next bank holiday weekend, which is about three and a half weeks. So this is my worklist from now until then:

• Build arches for squash and bean beds
• Top up the beds that haven’t had compost yet
• Cover potatoes
• Plant blackberries in new pots
• Sow climbing beans next to the arches (giantes/purple and green french beans)
• Sow bush beans in beds (yellow french beans/Jacobs cattle beans)
• Sow cucumber bed
• Sow melons and cucumber in polytunnel
• Sort the boysenberry/strawberry/gooseberry area next to polytunnel
• Sow winter squash/summer squash for planting out (if it hasn’t already been done by the time this post goes out)
• Plant out tomatoes
• Plant out squash

On the should do but may not happen list:

• Paint shed
• Turn compost
• Riddle compost that’s ready
• Sow fennel/kale/autumn brassicas