We’ve just harvested our first strawberries and there are many more ripening. This week we’ll make sure we have some organic cream ready in the fridge to enjoy them at their best.
This week we will be planting out our sweet potato plants. These are a favourite crop in the garden as they always look amazing as well as providing us with a good crop. As in previous years, they will be planted in a raised bed into soil that has been enriched with farmyard manure and homemade compost. They will be trained up an obelisk to provide an impressive focal point in the garden.
We will also be continuing to water and feed our crops. At this time of year, it is particularly crucial to keep strawberries, blueberries and other summer fruits topped up with water to provide fat juicy fruits for harvest. Early potatoes will also benefit from a thorough soaking this week. They are beginning to flower which means the tubers are growing. A good watering and feed now will encourage bigger tubers for the harvest.
In the greenhouse, we have begun to harvest tomatoes and cucumbers. These plants will need to be fed weekly to make sure they have the energy to keep going. They will also continue to be tied into their supports as they grow. Some of tomato plants are ready to have their main stems pinched out as they have now set six trusses of fruit and reached the top of their supports. This means they will be even more keen to bush out, so we’ll be keeping an eye out for side shoots that will need removing. Our peppers are rapidly setting fruits which will be on the plants for a while until they fatten up and ripen. They will be securely tied in to their supports to make sure they can take the weight.
