Tips and Jobs for May

Tips and jobs

Tips for May

Tips for June

Tips for July

Tips for August

Tips for September

Tips for October

Tips for November

Tips for December

Tips for January

Tips for February

Tips for March

Tips for April

Tips and jobs

Sow seeds of French beans
Now it's a bit warmer it's time to sow veg which can't stand frost, like French beans. Put up supports first – a wigwam of beanpoles, tied at the top, is ideal. One beanpole holds around three bean plants. Make a hole about 5cm deep for each bean seed close to the pole and drop the seed in. Cover lightly with soil and water.

Get hoeing
There's an old saying about weeds on a veg plot: if it looks like it needs doing, it's too late. Make it part of your regular routine to hoe through every couple of weeks to keep right on top of them. Slice them off just below the soil on a sunny day, so they'll dry out on the surface.

Tuck in your strawberries
Your strawbs will be about to turn red, scenting the air with that lovely fresh smell of summer, so tuck a good handful of straw under each plant to hold the fruit off the ground and keep them clean. It helps them ripen too as it keeps them off the colder ground.

Top tips

Pinch out the topmost shoots of broad bean plants – blackfly like this bit best so if you remove it they'll go elsewhere. Eat the bean tops yourself - just wilt them in a steamer, just like spinach. Use your compost bins for growing squashes. They love to get their roots down into all that rich crumbly goodness and they'll grow you whopper fruits in return. Fill in the gaps under big brassicas like brussels sprouts with quick-growing salads to cover the ground and get a second crop out of the space.

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