Jobs on the Smallholding: June
Are you a smallholder? Would you like to know what other smallholding folk are occupying themselves with as Summer begins? Or are you just keen to find out what is on the jobs list for us smallholders in June? Then this post is just what you’re looking for. Keep reading to find out about the jobs on my smallholding this June.
Keep enjoying the new potatoes
We are still enjoying our delicious new potatoes. We are onto the second row in the polytunnel, just pulling them as we need them. New potatoes are such a treat after the wrinkled, leathery potatoes at the end of last year’s stores.
This year we went for Foremost. They have a lovely flavour, and have worked well for mash or wedges, or just lightly steamed.
Earth up main crop potatoes
As you’re eating up your early potatoes, be sure to take good care of your main crop. They need to be watered well to ensure good sized tubers and to prevent cracking. But not too much, or else they will rot.
Earth up the haulms regularly and try to remove the worst of the weeds.
I mentioned in the May update that we had planted a large proportion of our main crop potatoes in pots this year. They are doing very well, standing alongside the polytunnel. We top up the pots with some extra compost when they need earthing up. Watering them can be a bit of a chore, though!
Weeding, mowing and edging
The warmer (and all the rain we’ve had, too!) are excellent for most of your crops. But the grass and weeds will be enjoying the warmth and rain, too.
So, keep your hoe busy in between all the crops in your garden beds. And be sure to mow your lawns and paths, and edge your beds regularly, too, to prevent the grass from encroaching.
Successional sowing
Keep sowing your successional crops. We are doing fortnightly sowings of kale, salad greens, chard, spinach and more! This will ensure you have a continuous supply of all these “cut and come again” crops – delicious!
Potting on and planting out
Keep a watchful eye on your module trays and pots, and move on any seedlings that are starting to outgrow their space. Roots poking out through the drainage holes at the bottom are a sure sign that it’s time to move your plants on!
This month, we have planted out the last of our tomatoes, having cleared the first row of new potatoes from the polytunnel. And our cucumber plants are ready to plant out, also. Exciting!
Nurture your beds
Now that your garden beds are full of crops, be sure to take a walk around daily. Do your peas need any help to climb their netting? Are you melon flowers setting fruit? Does everything look happy and healthy?
If you are so inclined, you can keep a notebook and jot down any observations that might help you in your planning for next year.
Frustratingly, the majority of our red onions have bolted. They really aren’t large enough to use, and they have a thick woody stem in the centre that makes it a challenge to chop them up for cooking anyway. This is the second time that we have experienced this with red onion sets. So, lesson learned. We will be growing them from seed next year!
Our garlic plants have also developed some spots of rust for a second consecutive year. We thought we had taken enough steps to prevent this; we planted the garlic with increased spacing between each of the plants, and spread them out across the veg garden. We will have to do some more research for next year.
Keep watch for pests
My husband often jokes that Peter Rabbit is the real bad guy in Beatrix Potter’s beloved children’s tale. He has a lot of sympathy for Mr McGregor! As I’m sure any true gardener would agree. Toiling away to grow your own food is hard enough at times. If all your hard work feeds the local wildlife instead of your family, that can be very upsetting.
On one of our daily veg garden walks, we noticed that all our brassicas had been nibbled, which was incredibly frustrating as they were doing so well! We are unsure of the culprit at the moment, but watch this space for updates as we strengthen our defences around the veg garden.
Back garden projects
Our work in the back garden continues. George has been digging post holes for the climbing frame, while I excavate the enormous pile of topsoil and backfill hardcore foundations into the enormous hole we dug last month.
I have also been weeding the raised beds and looking for signs of life in the strawberry plants that were once there. And using this opportunity to look a little closer at our espaliered fruit trees, to see what maintenance needs to be done there.
Progress is being somewhat hampered by our hens. We have moved them into the back-garden temporarily as they were attacked earlier this month by a fox, we think. And we sadly lost one of our older hens. They are making an awful mess in the garden, but they are still alive, which is the priority for now. We need to give some more thought to keeping them as safe as possible.
I hope you have enjoyed this trip round the smallholding, with all the jobs on my list for June. Stay tuned to find out what will be keeping me busy every month for the remainder of this year!
