Gardeners are born optimists, which is handy, because growing vegetables is a swings-and-roundabouts business. In one season, carrots and parsnips might excel, egged on by consistently warm days and nights, yet onions—which thrive in a damp, cool spring followed by a hot, dry summer —will turn out like marbles. The following year, things could well be reversed.
One thing we are pretty much guaranteed is that, by mid May, the ground will be warm and frosts on the wane. This is one of the reasons why our ancestors held such sway by May Day. The date is misleading, however, because when we adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, 11 days were lost and May Day jumped forward. In Oxfordshire, there is still a tradition of planting runner-bean seeds and other vegetables on Old May Day, about May 12 or 13. This, then, is the perfect time to up your game: order some different seeds, plant mixed rows of leaves, add some flowers. In short, ensure your vegetable garden is more beautiful and more productive than ever.
Make summer plentiful and plant a tripod of climbing beans with a companion planting of lettuces and edible flowers. Many people stick to a favourite heritage variety of red-flowered runner bean, the ones with dark-mottled seeds. Growing these has two major problems, however. Being equatorial plants, these older varieties prefer evenly balanced days and nights, rather than long summer days, so their growth spurts wait for longer nights. They are also heat-sensitive and drop their flowers once night-time temperatures exceed 16ËšC. Recent summers have been getting hotter, so it makes sense to plant white-flowered runner beans, with pale, non-blotched seeds, as these are more tolerant of hotter conditions. If you want to go traditional, sow a mixture of red and white runners. Polestar is an excellent stringless red with plump pods; White Lady is a classic, white-flowered variety.
この記事は Country Life UK の May 13, 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Country Life UK の May 13, 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
