Cultivate your edibles this May
As the weather warms up, allotment owners are gearing up for the summer growing season. May is a busy month, with several important tasks to tackle to ensure a bountiful harvest.
Rosie Yeomans, a seasoned allotment enthusiast, shares her priorities for May in a recent video. Among the tasks on her list are preparing and planting various crops, controlling weeds, and managing soil health.
One of the key crops to plant in May is the tomato. A sunny spot is chosen for planting, and the soil is enriched with composted manure and chicken pellets. The tomato plants are watered before being planted, and the pots are removed from the tomato roots.
Tomatoes are planted outside in May, either started from seeds indoors or using young plants after the last frost. To plant tomatoes effectively, it's important to provide support such as stakes or cages, plant them in well-drained soil, and water them consistently. Suckers (side shoots) should be removed for better airflow and fruit quality, and mulching around plants helps conserve moisture and suppress weeds.
Straw is stuffed under the plants, particularly under the trusses of flowers, and the whole bed is mulched to help retain moisture and suppress weeds. Straw is also used to protect strawberry crops from birds in summer, with netting placed on top to keep birds out.
Salad leaves are sown in the gaps between other crops and can be harvested before their neighboring crops are ready. Salad leaves are sown every couple of weeks for continuous harvest throughout the summer.
Comfrey, a non-invasive plant, is grown behind the greenhouse for making a liquid fertilizer. Comfrey liquid fertilizer is rich in main nutrients and can be made by stuffing chopped comfrey leaves into a 3-liter bottle and leaving it for a week or two. The dark liquid from the comfrey concentrate can be added to watering cans at a rate of 10ml per liter to feed plants.
While the search results do not provide a detailed May-specific allotment checklist or exhaustive tomato-growing guide, the emphasis on tidying beds, preparing soil, managing debris, and planting early crops in May supports these recommendations. For tomatoes, the general advice aligns with standard horticultural practices applicable after the risk of frost has passed.
If you need a more detailed month-by-month allotment schedule or tomato care instructions, sources specializing in vegetable gardening or allotment care may provide in-depth guidance. Fishing weights tied along the net at ground level can be used to stop birds getting in, but pegs and canes or poles also work. Strawberry bed netting can get tangled, so it's recommended to lay it out first and drag it over.
With careful planning and attention to detail, allotment owners can look forward to a successful growing season and a bounty of fresh produce.
- Rosie Yeomans recommends that in addition to planting and caring for tomatoes, allotment owners should also focus on their home-and-garden, specifically by growing comfrey for a homemade liquid fertilizer.
- As the home-and-garden needs attention during the growing season, allotment owners might find useful resources for a detailed month-by-month allotment schedule and tomato care instructions from specialists in vegetable gardening or allotment care.
