Today in the glasshouse a quick division of outside grass for our plant sales and friends

Cuttings from different herbs and some Balopa and galtheria to make up the tray of cuttings to fill it the herbs are Thyme and sage cuttings the labels are cut from milk cartons cut a point on the labels as it is easier to push into the compost

Sown some cabbage in a seed bed January King and Early Durham a spring cabbage also some lettuce All the year round variety harvesting french beans,peas,potatoes ,courgette,spinach,beetroot,onions,shallots ,black currant,redcurrants ,tayberries, blueberries. Raspberries My strawberries and asparagus have finished

I will scrub the strawberry bed soon as the plants have finished fruiting there are still a few fruits left these are now 4 years old and not looking very good so will plant a new bed in different ground under the fruit cage will swap the summer raspberries around so these will go where the strawberries are will put some sand in the soil for the strawberries this will reduce slug activity in the ground the sand is placed in strips along the rows spade depth

Gardening jobs for June
Its finally supposed to be frost free so we can safely put plants outside including our house plants for a good airing, some say Blowsy season as lots of the large blooms start flowering this month.
Lawns need mowing mine is brown at the moment with lots of seed heads when the mower goes over they pop up again behind you, must water a new lawn and a liquid feed wont go amiss.
Harvesting lettuce, radish, spring onions , cabbage also picked my first outdoor strawberry but the asparagus is the gem at the moment A lot of potatoes were hit by frosts in May but these will catch up it will give a check on growth .and delay the size especially earlies.
Gooseberries have got bad bought of mildew these will want spraying this year due to the mild winter unless you have the variety Invicta which is usually mildew free, also gooseberry sawfly caterpillar will be prolific if spraying fungicide dont forget the strawberries and summer raspberries for botrytus these will need a spray as well
Deadhead flowers when over and lift the spring bulbs to dry off for next year Dafodiles, crocus and tulips the later is always best to buy new for next year but if you have a favourite before the leaves totally die down give a quick foliar feed to help boost bulb size
Plant up hanging and containers for summer flowering half hardy annuals and tender perennials can be planted now
Winter and early spring bedding flowers can be sown this month
take softwood cuttings lavenders, carnations, pinks, wallflowers osteospernums, verbena, fuchsias and hydrangeas
Apply grease bands to fruit trees and the friut tree grease can also stop earwigs on other flowers although it does not say anything about this, useful on dahlias and chrysanthemums
layer propagate clematis by bending a branch make a cut half way through the stem and pin down or place a stone on top to weigh the branch down.
Companion planting a few surprises with vegetables, are your radishes with hard skins, sow with lettuce as the watering regime is more on the lettuce and your radish will have tender skins. Beans next to kale the nitrogen fixing bacteria produced by the beans help the Kale which return the favour by keeping them shaded. Cabbages improve with tomatoes growing next to them reduces cabbage pests the other way is cut a butterfly out of a milk carton put on the end of a cane this stops cabbage white butterfly congregating on your plants as they do not like company when laying their eggs.
De Clutter use a plastic funnel in the shed screw to side of shed, place a ball of string with the end through the spout and put a spare pair of scissors in the ball of string ready for when you want some string for the garden
Mike Ellard

We walked a little further today found a field of potatoes not long planted are these the small potatoes passing themselves off as new potatoes for early next year demanding a higher price I wonder public can’t tell if it’s new potatoes or last years small potatoes not very well marked up in supermarkets also found a livery wild flower field some lovely flowers and have to get a book out to find out what they are as not good at identifying wild flowers or trees I have an app on the phone that’s supposed to help but again it’s rubbish it has less idea than me. The church had ribbons for the N H S which was nice it would be better if colours of the rainbow but a talking point just the same also went to allotment 36 we picked our first outdoor strawberries today also broad beans which we had for dinner and the freezer and guess what at Aslake Glasshouses we have a hedgehog with young making a lot of noise as I’m sitting here typing this they sound like pigeon calls this will help our slug control in the glasshouse I hope . All the best to everyone and keep your chin up or in our part of the world pecker up