a gap

[sarah]

i have just dug up my over wintered onions and garlic and now have a space which, although foreseen, has not been accounted for on my plan.  an oversight on my part, but hey i not perfect! what would you put in if you had the space free? its about 4 by 2 meters. i cant put leeks there and anyway they will go in after my spuds.  i have brassicas accounted for in another bed. i have plenty of squashs and corgettes. i hate kale. and chard.  the area wasnt manured last autumn... dwarf french beans maybe, its not too late is it?  i have enough lettuce, carrots and beetroot. my neighbours plots are heaving with produce and although i am happy with the progress i have made on the plot this year, i do feel a bit miffed that i didnt have this covered. i am growing my toms and peppers at the house but am thinking maybe i should have planted some on the plot also. hmmm... thinking aloud really.  any thoughts my learned friends?

[sarah]

[supersprout]

Lucky you, a space! :o
What else do you wish you could eat fresh?
Oriental veg, pea shoots, lettuce spring to mind for fast crops?
There's still time in June to sow beans and peas of all sorts for succession :)

[Mrs Ava]

Mooli maybe.  There are some French beans, like Pongo, which is ideal for sowing now.  There are also peas that can be sown now for later picking.  My future spaces are going to have pak choi and other orientals sown.

[Belinda]

I agree with EJ on the french beans Pongo - my packet says sow in July.  :)

[moonbells]

I've got a garlic gap too - not sure either what to bung in its place! Just sowed LOADS more lettuce so I look like getting fed up with the stuff. Now it's >midsummer day I can sow my chinese cabbages, though they're fleabeetle fodder and really ought to be under the enviromesh. Which is on the red cabbs... *SIGH*

moonbells (I keep telling myself this is why it's fun!)

[Growbe]

A classic post.

It is at this time of the year that a lot of people start to find space on the plot. Mention April and everyone complains about not having enough room, in June the gaps appear.

Get in quick folks this is almost your last chance.

Cauliflowers
Cabbage
Kale

Then of course all the salad and stirfry produce.

Check out all your seed packets and sow.....End of June into July can be as important as April

[supersprout]

Check out all your seed packets and sow.....End of June into July can be as important as April

Absolutely!
If a seed packet says sow til June, I'll happily sow in July.
The crop just arrives later ;D

[djbrenton]

I've got the opposite problem. Every year I plan my plots meticulously, filling every inch. Then the swopping of spare plants start and I struggle for room. This year I had to wait for lifting my garlic to put yard long beans and calalloo in. Now I'm waiting to lift some shallots or onions in order to plant a tray of kale someone's offered me. And I still haven't worked out where to squeeze some swede and turnip in.

[sarah]

thanks folks, glad its not just me then! you are right growbe,i had made such efforts to keep on top of the april may sowings that i didnt think much further than that. i think i shall see if i can find some pongo beans and get them in, cant have too many beans can you.  not so keen on the oriental veg and kale but maybe some tunips and swede would be a good idea. thanks everyone.

[Svea]

any french beans will still be fine - i sowed some just two days ago in my onion gap

i have some spare space at the minute but am hoping that my late sowing of more courgettes will fill it quick-smart!

other than that, i cover with either green manure or black plastic if it lays dormant for two or three months.....

[Money_Bunny]

We're having to sow a lot of stuff again now after accidentally leaving the gate from paddock to lottie open one night.

Bloody horses got in and ate all the cabbages, the stuff they didn't eat got pretty much trampled unfortunately.

just glad they couldn't get into the polytunnel. Yesterday we put a load of seedlings out, carrot, calabrese, beetroot, cabbage, and some other stuff. Turned over the top bed and we have swede, turnip and leeks to go in there over the weekend.

Still have some seedling to pot up in the polytunnel too - chilli's, peppers, aubergines and tomato's..................I pushed them in a tray earlier in the year and nothing happened, moved them to the polytunnel a few weeks ago and voila! loads of them now and all needing more space.

[supersprout]

i cover with either green manure or black plastic if it lays dormant for two or three months.....

what green manure are you sowing NOW svea?

[Rosyred]

I've got plenty of room left but the ground is so hard can't get things in. Got a few pots of cabbages, cauli, broccoli and psb just feel like they will never get in.

[amanda21]

Rosyred - so glad you said that.  I have some Purple Sprouting Broc that is so big now I'm not sure it will transplant but the ground I wanted it in is weed infested and too hard to dig!!  I've cabbages at home that I wanted to put in next door to the PSB so I could cover the whoel lot with enviromesh but I have the same problem!   ???

[supersprout]

I've got plenty of room left but the ground is so hard can't get things in

Because I don't dig, and the weather, I've had to evolve a way of planting straight into hard ground :D

1. In the evening water the ground copiously with the sprinkle fitting on the watering can - it might take several goes for the ground to accept the water
2. Leave overnight to 'soften'
3. Next day make holes with a long handled bulb planter (this isn't as easy as it sounds - it can take lots of footpower. I press in a sort of circular motion, and the planter makes its way through eventually)
4. Water the holes you've just made, and go and do something else til the water has completely disappeared.
5. Plant, fill the holes with crumbled soil from the plugs of soil extracted from the bulb planter and/or something nice for the roots (compost)
6. Water the plants in the holes again
7. Mulch the whole area heavily with whatever you have

Tomatoes, runners and climbing beans are thriving having been planted this way


brassica will just love the firm soil - I'll get around to planting these sometime this month :)