The Vegetable Plot - May

Sow by now 

It’s time to reap the rewards of your earlier sowings and harvest spring onions and cabbages sown last year. There’s plenty of sowing to be done to harvest maincrop beetroot, late broccoli, peas and parsley, cucumbers and pumpkins. You can sow Savoy and winter cabbage all in nursery rows, and on to outdoor sowings of cauliflowers, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, parsnips and swedes, along with maincrop carrots for autumn.

That’s if you have any room left alongside the carrots and potatoes you’re harvesting now. If you didn’t sow tomato seeds you may find plants available on the Internet but be prepared to pay through the nose for them. Alternatively, ask around friends if they have any spare and do a swap for something you’ve grown. Until the closure of garden centres and nurseries is lifted we’re all a bit stuck if our vegetable garden output is limited.

But if you have the space and probably the time, succession sowing will help keep plenty of veg on your plates. Seeds should be readily available to order online or check in your supermarket when you shop.

• Thin seedlings of carrots, onions, leeks and turnips
• Earth up early potatoes
• Check pea supports
• Sow half-hardy runner beans, French beans, marrows, courgettes and sweet corn
• Make succession sowings of lettuces, carrots, salad onions and radishes
• Harvest asparagus from established beds if you’re grown it