Barry Cuff takes a look back at what happened on his Sturminster Newton plot last month
All images: Barry Cuff
May is our busiest month on the allotment, and even more so this year due to the lack of rain between 24th April and 20th May. Young plants and seedlings needed watering daily, some twice daily. Our potatoes, a thirsty crop, were given 20 to 30 litres of water per row every 3-4 days. Our strawberry plants (laden with flowers) were watered every three days as they started to produce fruit. Our skulkers* produced poorly due to the lack of rain: normally they provide us with a few meals before lifting the new crop.
1st – Sowed the first batch of Swift sweetcorn in pots. Tied in broad beans, strawed and netted the strawberry patch. Strimmed the hedgebank. Pumped water for the site.
2nd – Sowed Crown Prince squash, Butterfly squash, Defender courgette, Gergana cucumber and gherkin in pots. Harvested our Jazzy potatoes: grown in a large potato pot in the greenhouse – excellent yield from one spud. Our first new potatoes were as good as any Jersey Royal. Also harvested mixed salad leaves and pea shoots.
4th – Sowed Early Nantes carrots. Put fleece over the potatoes due to possible ground frost.
5th – Sowed Moonlight runner beans and Safari French beans in large pots. Sowed the second batch of Swift sweetcorn in pots. Erected cane wigwam and planted out sweet peas against the canes. Put cloches over the first line of peas.
Pumped water for the site.
6th – Harvested the first of our spring onions.
7th – Dug a few skulkers (poor due to lack of rain). Sowed the second line of Hurst Greenshaft peas. Pumped water for the site.
8th – Attended the funeral of an old friend and long-time
fellow allotmenteer.
9th – Removed fleece from potatoes. Sowed the third line of Hurst Greenshaft peas. Pumped water for the site.
10th – Sowed Moulin Rouge beetroot and some more Early Nantes carrots.
11th – Lost our celeriac seedlings (damped off?**). Cut chicons. Pumped water for the site.
13th – Sowed the fourth line of Hurst Greenshaft peas. Sowed Cylindra beetroot and mixed radish direct. Sowed Cendis cauliflower in a plug tray. Planted out a block of Little Gem lettuce. Bought 18 Prinz celeriac in plug trays to replace those lost to damping off.
Pumped water for the site.
14th – Fed strawberries and put a second string around the broad beans. Sowed a third batch of Swift sweetcorn due to the poor germination we had from the earlier batches.
Pumped water for the site.
15th – Weed parsnip rows.
16th – Sowed part lines of mangetout and snap peas. Watered remaining skulkers, and sowed Ironman calabrese in a plug tray.
Pumped water for the site.
17th – Picked the first of this year’s strawberries.
18th – Pumped water for the site. Bee plants in full flower (verbascum, Sweet William and Bastard balm).
19th – Erected runner bean canes. Pumped water for the site.
20th – Picked strawberries. Hand-weeded parsnip, onions, beetroot and carrot beds. Pinched out tops of Witkiem Manita broad beans.
21st – RAIN!
22nd – Sowed Early Nantes carrots. Planted out three Henbane which we raised from seed in the border – it’s a fascinating and poisonous plant from the tomato family.
23rd – Put net cloches over pea rows. Sowed a plug tray of Little Gem lettuce (by sowing once a month, we maintain a continuous supply). Pinched out tops of Masterpiece Green Longpod broad beans. Removed three garlic plants (white rot). Harvested spring onions, and used the last of the 2024 onions. 24th – Planted out Moonlight runner beans. Sowed Witloof chicory and coriander direct.
25th – Pumped water for the site.
26th – Strawberries in full swing: picked four punnets.
27th – Erected cane wigwam for Grandpa Ott Ipomoea climber. Pumped water for the site. Fed greenhouse tomatoes. Planted out Grandpa Ott.
28th – Erected wire and posts for the first line of peas, plus black cotton and bird scarers to deter pigeons. Picked five punnets of strawberries. Harvested spring onions.
29th – Picked the first broad beans and a bunch of sweet peas.
30th – Planted out Safari French beans and extra Moonlight runner beans.
Pumped water for the site.
*Skulkers – a Dorset term for ‘volunteer’ potatoes which were accidentally left in the ground
the previous year.
** Damping-off is a fungal disease that affects seedlings, causing them to collapse and die
