It’s time to talk about munchers and suckers again. Munchers; slugs, snails and the cabbage white caterpillars cut out notches or holes in leaves. Check the plant itself on the underside of the leaves and around about for the culprits. Suckers; aphids, are often found on the underside of young leaves. You can sometimes see leaves crinkle as the sucking continues. Keep a daily eye on plants and before things get out of hand pick them off. Remember ladybirds, hoverflies and even birds will help too.
Peas
Keep regular picking to keep the plant producing.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes will be flowering, small fruits developing. Support the plant to focus on flower production with regular side shooting on cordon tomatoes, removing lower leaves in congested plants. Keep up a regular liquid feed too.
Berries
Will be ripening and cropping. Strawberry plants will be producing runners, these should be cut off and composted or repotted for growing on to replace your current plants as they age or for giving to the neighbours.
Greens
Final call to grow kale for winter, it’s best sown on a sunny windowsill or greenhouse to get it started, spinach, chard and cut and come again lettuce can still be sown in warm, damp soils.
Herbs
Keep sowing annual herbs (one-year life cycle) such as coriander and parsley into open ground, pots or trays.
Bees will thrive on common perennial herbs; chives, marjoram, sage and thyme.
Tatties
Planted early will almost ready to lift. Don’t be too tempted to harvest too soon the plants will be loving the rain. Keep an eye on lower leaves for discolouration and the flowers going over. Bob from One Seed Forward keeps us straight with a weekly update on our socials on his tattie crop.
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