🌱 WHGAA Weekly Update – Mid‑May
Dear Member,
May is the month when many of us start putting up canes for runner beans, building brassica cages and preparing beds for the next wave of planting.
But a word of caution — as this week has shown, overnight temperatures are still cold, so hold back on planting out tender crops for now.
🌿 Sow Your Beans Now
You can get ahead by sowing:
- Runner beans
- Climbing French beans
- Dwarf beans
Sow them into jiffy pots now and they’ll be ready to plant out in 3–4 weeks, just in time for early June when nights should be warmer.
🫘 New Range of Peas & Beans Arriving
A fresh delivery from Kings Seeds is expected this weekend, offering varieties not currently in our 100g bag range.
One that caught my eye is Pea Serge (for pea shoots).
Pea shoots are:
- Tender and crisp
- Highly nutritious
- Sweet and flavourful
- Perfect as a salad garnish or healthy snack
A great option if you want something quick, tasty and a bit different.
🌐 Previous Newsletters Now Online
If you’d like to revisit any of my earlier weekly updates, you can now find them on our website.
To access them:
- Search for whgaa.org in your browser
- Select Weekly Newsletter
- Choose any date from the archive to view the email
🐛 Watch for Early Pests
With warmer days ahead, expect an increase in:
- Greenfly
- Whitefly
- Slugs
- Snails
Check plants regularly and apply your preferred method of control as soon as you spot a problem.
🐌 Slug Control – New Product in The Hut
Westlands Slug & Snail Defence Spray
- Price: £5.25 per litre
- Naturally derived alternative to pellets
- Effective for up to two weeks, even in wet weather
- Makes surfaces unattractive to slugs and snails
- Safe for use around children, pets and edible crops
A useful option if you prefer to avoid pellets.
🌾 Keep on Top of Weeds
Freshly prepared seed beds don’t stay clean for long.
A quick hoe between rows of onions or newly sown seeds will save you a lot of work later.
🍇 Gooseberries – Watch for Sawfly
Gooseberry sawfly caterpillars appear this month and can strip a plant in days.
- Check plants regularly
- Remove caterpillars by hand or use a spray
- Be vigilant — there can be up to four generations each year
🥕 Parsnips – Still Time to Sow
I sowed parsnips in a raised bed a month ago and only three have germinated — so don’t worry if yours are slow.
You can still sow more:
- Direct sow in rows 30cm apart
- Keep the soil moist in dry weather
- Use fleece or fine mesh to protect seeds from birds and cats
🌼 Broad Beans – Blackfly
Blackfly often appear suddenly on the growing tips and pods.
Unless the infestation is severe, there’s usually no need to intervene:
- Small birds feed them to their chicks
- Ladybirds (both adults and larvae) consume thousands of aphids over their lifetime
Avoid spraying — it harms the beneficial insects doing the real work.
🧄 Garlic – Remove the Scapes
Elephant and hard‑neck garlic will soon send up flowering shoots (scapes).
Snap these off where they emerge from the leaves.
This redirects energy back into the bulb, giving you a better harvest later in the summer.
🌱 Plants for Sale
Any remaining plants will be at The Hut this weekend — though there are very few left.
Thank you to everyone who donated spare plants.
They’ve all found new homes and helped raise a little extra for Willen Hospice.
🍺 Thatchers
Unfortunately, there will be no Thatchers available this weekend due to supplier shortages.
💷 May Offer – 10% Off
Our monthly offer is back.
For May, all mainframe products are reduced by 10%.
Happy Gardening
Mick Goodman
Membership Secretary
