Fruit

This spring has been spectacular as far as fruit flowering has gone. The honeybees have had a steady supply of nectar and pollen, from gooseberry, blackcurrant, plum, cherry and pear through to a most prolific few days of apple blossom. Just a week ago the apple trees were a mass of pink and were buzzing with bees. Now they are all green again with the promise of lots of tiny little fruitlets. A lot of these may fall off in the "June Drop", although hereabouts the June Drop might not happen until July! If there isn't a natural thinning, there may well be far too many apples and some hand thinning later on will give a better quality of fruit. However with twelve mature apple trees, this is a huge and fiddly job and to be realistic there is not going to be time or possibly the inclination to get this done.

The honeybees - master pollinators of fruit, and with the bonus of honey too. Bumblebees also work very hard and wasps and myriad species of hoverflies will all pollinate your fruit for you

A good set on the gooseberries - and growing quickly! Spreading some chimney soot at the base of the bush seems to help prevent mildew. It is also coming up to the time of year when the dreaded gooseberry sawfly can strike, which starts off with masses of tiny little grey caterpillars which if allowed to chomp at will can completley defoliate the bush. Catching at an early stage, the tiny caterpillars can be removed while they are still clumped together on one part of the bush.

Tiny little pears look as if the late frosts didn't do too much damage, and pollination has been successful. But it is a bit too soon to think there will be a crop of pears as they may well fall off yet. This is Conference, one of the most reliable varieties for planting in the north - another more recent one is Concorde. Many of the types familiar from the shop shelves will really struggle to produce fruit in the north due to late frosts and less warmth and sunshine during the summer.

Amazing apple blossom...fingers crossed for a good crop of apples.

Coming soon - The Grape Vine goes mad, and more planting and sowing in the veggie patch.

Weeds, watering and midgies

Yes, the midgies have started! Not a pest for the veggies but they definitely restrict gardening activities. The last two weeks have been really busy, and we have gone from frost and snow to boiling sunshine. The weeds have been biding their time, ready to sprout from innocent wee seedlings into ernormous trifids, which will smother the crop, provide cover for slugs and provide the proverbial seven year's worth of weed seeds. The hot weather has been the perfect time to get the hoeing done to keep the weeds in check.

Here are the tatties in the field, all earthed up. The ground got so wet with the heavy rain that came last week that it was quite a few days before it was dry enough to do this and by the look of it will need a second going over to knock the weeds out completely.

The outside tatties are coming on well, but compare to the early ones coming on in the greenhouse in pots! It has been so hot in the last day or two they needed shading to prevent them from wilting, and lots of watering. The flowers are just starting to form, so it won't be long before it is worth having a look to see if there are new potatoes ready to harvest!

It goes without saying all the wee veg plants still in pots and modules have needed watering every morning this week. They dry out very quickly in the strong sun and don't have much of a root system so at best will remain stunted and at worst will shrivel up. Now the forecast is for rain and cold weather again! That is something that small tender plants won't enjoy so guard against overwatering.

Brrr, it's been chilly

The last week or so has been spent keeping an eye on the weather forecast and trying to make sure none of the susceptible plants and seedlings get damaged by the frost, snow, rain and cold winds we have been experiencing - not quite normal May weather but not unheard of either. However the beetroots have come through undeterred with a good germination!

Indoors, the first of the french beans, courgettes and cucumbers have germinated. These are getting careful attention as the Virtual Veggie Patch does not use extra heat but relies on the making the most of the energy supplied by the sun. Watering is critical when the temperatures fall and the seedlings have received almost no water over the last week, only getting a drink when the compost has dried out a bit.

The tatties were all planted just before the frosts set in. They won't start coming through for ten days or so, but care should be taken to make sure they don't get nipped with any late frosts when they do appear. They can be easily protected by quickly earthing up with the hoe or by covering with old sheets, horticultural fleece, polythene etc.

Next week the forecast is looking much better - back to warm sunny days - so the remaining crops will be getting started. Here, there are still carrots, turnips, peas, broad beans and runner beans to sow and that will be the main sowings complete. There are still a lot of plants to go out yet though, and maybe the odd successional sowing of salads such as lettuce, spring onion and radish, but those vegetables that need to make the most of our relatively short growing season will all be underway and a supply of tasty homegrown produce is something to look forward to!