Despite the cold and wet May, the tomatoes are all planted up unto their final containers. I haven’t done as many different varieties this year (not really sure why) nor have I as many plants as usual. However, a good mix of indeterminate (cordon) and determinate (bush) will see enough tomatoes for the year (unless something goes wrong).
They’re all in the greenhouse at the moment, keeping warm until there’s a guarantee of no nighttime frosts when most of the determinate varieties will go outside and do their best against the English weather.
You can see through into the greenhouse at the back which is presently used as a potting shed but where the cucumbers, peppers and physalis will go when the plants are big enough.
The rest of the garden is doing well with Spring Cabbage, Swiss Chard, Lettuce, Radishes & rhubarb continuing to supply bits to go with the vegetables we buy from elsewhere.
There’s lots of lettuce dotted around and I’ve been sowing succession quantities of radishes. French beans are in (they’ve not germinated very well this year, I guess because its so cold) and as the lettuces come out from within the tunnel, I’ll sow some more directly in the ground. Runner beans are also in as are the courgettes. There are a few mangetout peas set, not yet enough to add to a salad but that will only be a few more days.
The disappointment so far has been the broad beans. Whilst there are plenty of flowers on the plants, there are few (if any) beans set. Obviously the cold April and wet May have delayed the pollinating insects so we can only hope that they’ll come forward as the weather improves.
The same is true of the apples, we had lots of flowers but now both trees are bare of flowers and look to be quite thin on set fruit. Obviously we have to wait a bit to see what we’ve got and the apples are bigger if there are not too many. The benefit of lots of fruit is that there’s more to share with the squirrels later in the year.
Finally, the strawberries in the tunnel have a few set, there won’t be enough to make jam this year but hopefully the plants will get established so they will be a reasonable crop next.