The days are certainly getting warmer though the nights are still quite cool, so don’t neglect to close that greenhouse door at night.

This is the time of year when the early tomatoes and cucumbers can provide us with side shoots for propagating. This means plants for free and allows us to extend the cropping season.

My cucumbers are throwing off loads of side shoots. These are ideal for propagating. First of all cut off the side shoot with a sharp knife.

Remove any embryo cucumbers that grow in the leaf axis, plus any tendrils and trim away any excessive leaves.

Trim the cutting just below a leaf node. Leave the cluster of leaves at the top of the cutting and one side leaf.

Stand the cuttings in a jar of clean water. Change the water at least every three days or your cuttings will turn into a slimy mush at the base of the stem. Place the jar in a position of good light but not in direct sunlight.

After ten days the cuttings will begin to root. Pot them up into a good seed compost with added sharp sand when the roots are about half an inch long. The young cuttings may well wilt for the first day or so. Spray the foliage daily with clean water and keep the plants out of direct sunlight. They will soon pick up. Within a week or so you should see roots emerging from the base of the pots. The plants can now be planted out.

And of course you can do exactly the same with tomatoes.

These ‘Cedrico’ tomatoes were all struck from cuttings I took at the beginning of May. And as I have said before, the beauty of cuttings is they will set their fruits much lower down the stem maximising the number of trusses you can have on each plant.

Broad Beans

Another easy but essential job I did this month was picking out the top of the broad beans when they were about 18” tall. This will certainly deter the black bean fly without having to resort to an insecticide. If you do get a few black fly, try hosing them off, once the fly are on the soil they can’t climb back up the plants. It’s

something worth trying if you are attempting to grow organically.

My latest sowing of broad bean was with the variety ‘Longfellow’. It is definitely a summer cropping bean as it will not tolerate any degree of frost.

Mind you if growing for show it is one that is hard to beat.

These bean tops lightly steamed are quite a delicacy.

In the poly tunnel I noticed a spot of rust on a leek flag.

One way to stop the spread of the spores is to isolate it by putting a blob of Vaseline on the infected part.

The next job will be to spray the leeks with a fungicide, ‘one designed to specifically control rust on leeks’. When growing for show we can’t afford to take a risk with any disease that might hinder the growth or mar the appearance of the plant.

Every weekend the foam collars are removed and any dead flags are taken off. It is also a good opportunity to check the leeks are growing straight. The girth is also measured to see how they are coming along. On the 26th May the leeks ranged in size from a circumference of 5” to 5.5”.

Potatoes.

Late May and into June is a high risk time for early blight. In my area in the South of England we have already had a Smith period. This is a time when conditions are right for the sporilation of the blight fungus.

It coincides with a temperature of 10c or above for two consecutive days, combined with high humidity of 89% or above for 11 hours on each of those days.

To find out more, register with Blight Watch, a website that will keep you informed of Smith periods and actual blight

outbreaks in your area.

I took no chances with my exhibition potatoes. They were all given a spray with Dithane 945. Dithane is still available on line but only in the larger packet size from Amazon that costs £17.00. The alternative is Bordeaux Mixture, which is cheap and widely available.

Do remember that after heavy rain it will be necessary to reapply the fungicide.

Some of the potatoes have had six weeks of growth. It is now doubly important that they don’t go short of water. At this period of growth I also give a weekly feed of Triple Strength Maxicrop which is continued up to harvest time.

Stored Crops.

In the apple store the crop is coming to an end. This is the last of our Kidd’s Orange Red apples. The skins may be a little soft but they are still quite useable for cooking. Each one was wrapped individually in a double sheet of newspaper last October. In the top two trays you can just see the last Vento onions. They may be sprouting but they are still quite usable.

This is the mange tout pea ‘Kennedy’. It looks like we shall be dining off these at the weekend. A tasty treat to look forward to.

Aubergine ‘Black Beauty’.

I have warned before about the vicious spines on aubergines. This one is a particularly nasty specimen.

It even has spines growing from the leaves.

Mind you these plants are really healthy. They get a spray with water once or twice a day. That is what is keeping the red spider mite at bay. They have been in these 1 litre pots for about a month, it’s now time to commence feeding with a balanced soluble fertiliser. When

the plants reach 12” in height pinch out the growing tip. When they set their first fruits it will be time to feed with a high potash fertiliser. There will be more about aubergines in June when we plant them out on the allotment.

The ‘Venus’ courgettes are coming along nicely. You can just see the embryo fruits. All the

flowers without a courgette are males and should be picked off. There are three of them at the base of this courgette. This weekend some of these will be planted out on the allotment. I will probably keep one or two in the polytunnel to ensure we get some early ones to pick.

And to prove that even a retired professional gardener doe’s not always get it right, this is a poorly tomato plant. At first I suspected verticillium wilt but the foliage is too healthy. It started to wilt from the top initially, until after three days it ended up like this. All the other plants are strong and healthy. As this tomato is growing direct in a deep bed maybe something is having a nibble at the roots. I am afraid there is nothing for it but to lift the plant to see what is going on. Obviously something is stopping the plant taking up moisture which is causing it to fail.

I will let you know the result in my next article.

Until then, enjoy the harvest of early summer

John Trim