GrowSmart Calendar - May

Temperatures are dropping and leaves are dropping so the garden is losing it's summer shelter.

Sow broad beans, brocolli, lettuce, onions, peas, radish and spinach.
Plant artichokes, strawberries, rhubarb and parsley.

Plant of the month - Strawberry

Strawberries can be grown in pots, tubs and barrels with holes cut in the sides - you plant them into the holes. You can plant them in the main garden too. A soil enriched with compost and an organic mix fertiliser worked in will encourage lots of big juicy fruit. The plants like to be mulched with bark mulch, straw, or leaf mould. Raised rows can be covered in black polythene sheeting then you cut holes in the sheet to plant in to. This keeps the beds warm, prevents weeds and speeds up fruiting.