May is here and the homegrown bandwagon is packed to capacity with late adopters. Garden centres are full of couples meandering aimlessly through the seed isles and hulking great bags of compost into the back of the car.
I don’t want to sound cynical. I’m all for this new found enthusiasm for hyper-local mange tout. The more people eating produce from their own back yard the better. But I can’t help shaking my fist like a mad man and asking, where were you in January when I was mulching my Christmas tree and planning my crop rotation? Eh?
May gives us all a license to get our fingers green. As the wet spring gets quickly ousted by the warm summer growing your own becomes a breeze. Don’t worry if you’re short of space, just try and pick crops that make the most of it. This can mean those that climb, that produce for a prolonged period or that look nice and double up as organic decor amongst the gnomes. If you can find something that does all three then you’re laughing.
For me the cherry tomato ticks all boxes. A failsafe variety is Gardener’s Delight, which will be available as a seedling in most garden centres. Plant with plenty of compost in the sunniest spot you’ve got. Pinch out the top of your plant as it grows to stop it getting out of control and remove any branches that don’t produce flowers. Unless you’re confident in the quality of your soil a potassium rich feed is a must.
Something about the smell and taste of homegrown toms eaten warm, straight off the vine is hard to beat. Supplement with some easy-growing window box additions, such as rocket, basil and spring onions and even the most fair weather gardeners among us will be kept in side salads until September.
Simon Lock