Green Gardening Tips

Some great tips turned up recently in my inbox from the Pesticide Action Network. They send out a great tip sheet with info on what needs doing seasonally in the garden with other useful bits of info. Here is some of their good advice:

VEGETABLES
Right now you should be sowing outdoors:

• Runner beans
• French beans (sow main crop in May with subsequent sowings to the end of June to harvest until the end of October)
• Beetroot
• Broccoli
• Winter cabbage
• Savoy cabbage
• Calabrese
• Carrots (intermediate or long-rooted varieties)
• Cauliflower e.g autumn giant
  • sow autumn varieties to harvest in Autumn
  • sow winter varieties to harvest next spring
• Chicory (forcing varieties)
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Lettuce, endive
• Courgette, marrow, pumpkin can be sown outside in late May
• Peas
• Radish
• Spinach (summer varieties e.g. King of Denmark)
• Spring onions
• Swede
• Turnip (early varieties e.g. Purple-top Milan)

SUCCESSIONAL SOWINGS
Many vegetables can be sown over a period of several months. They should be resown at regular intervals to ensure a constant supply of fresh produce. These include beetroot, french beans, carrots, peas, lettuce, endive, radish, spinach and turnip.

You should sow under cover:

• Sweetcorn

You should plant outdoors:

• Brussels sprouts
• Summer cabbage
• Red cabbage
• Celery and celeriac
• Leeks

You should plant out in the greenhouse

• Aubergine
• Peppers
• Tomatoes
• Cucumber (greenhouse varieties)

And finally you can start to harvest your radish, asparagus, rhubarb, spinach, peas, lettuce, leek, kale, winter cauliflower, spring cabbage, sprouting broccoli and chard.

FRUIT

• Put up codling moth traps to prevent codling moths from mating and laying eggs in your apples
• Birds love to eat soft fruit so prepare nets or fruit cages to put round fruit bushes
• Pull out unwanted raspberry shoots to prevent canes becoming too dense
• Strawberries planted late should not be allowed to flower in the first year so pick off any developing flowers

OTHER TASKS

• Propagate perennial herbs by taking cuttings
• Horsetail, bindweed, dandelions and other perennial weeds are grow furiously. Ideally dig out their roots. At least make sure they do not set seed and spread.
• Keep mowing the grass every week
• Sow new grass before the weather gets too hot
• Pinch off tops of broad beans to discourage blackfly which love the succulent tips
• Cover carrot plantings with fleece to keep carrot root fly away

Good eh? Sign up to their newsletter (email here to sign up) to get the entire tip sheet.