It was all a bit of a struggle in May and I know I am not alone in saying that. This will probably be a shorter-than-usual allotment update as it feels like things went awry last month. However, as I show off the things that go well, I need to admit the failures and talk about what has been going wrong.  

This has been a spring of woes for most gardeners, the weather has been poor, the rain doesn’t stop, and many (including me) are losing the battle with slugs and snails. The wet year so far has meant there are so many slugs and they are eating everything with their voracious appetites. At home and at the allotment I feel that not a single plant hasn’t been eaten and I have lost a lot of plants. Even things I would never have thought they would have munched, such as onions, have been attacked and are showing the wounds. 

Whether it has been due to weather, pests, or bad gardening, anything I have direct sown at the allotment has failed.  I have sown carrots, parsnips, beetroot, radish, and spring onions so far this year and have nothing to show for it. Only the odd beetroot and radish have germinated, the rest has not appeared. That even includes parsnips which I germinated at home and then planted; nothing has come through. I will try again, but it is a real headache. 

I planted some transplants in May, which have been nibbled but, at the time of writing, are still alive. I got in a selection of brassicas – cabbage, cauliflower, calabrese, and Brussels sprouts – and climbing French beans. The cabbages are netted to keep birds and other pests away and the beans will grow up tall teepes made from bamboo poles. I also planted some peas, but they have done terribly and barely grown, and added some tomato plants and a cucumber. The tomatoes and cucumber aren’t particularly happy as the nighttime temperatures really dropped after I planted them, but I am confident they’ll perk up as the varieties are suited to growing outdoors. 

The one major development in May was the start of the cut flowers. I planted a selection of dahlia tubers and also sunflowers, zinnia, and cosmos which I started at home. The plan is for a lot more flowers on the allotment this year and I have dedicated some sections to bring a bit more colour to the plot and give us a lot of blooms to pick. The plants have been given a ring of grit in the hope of deterring any slugs that fancy snacking on them, fingers crossed.  

I have resown a lot of plants at home in the hope of replacing ones that were eaten by slugs. It includes sweetcorn, more beans, lots more flowers, and the squash and pumpkins that were destroyed. I did plant three pumpkins at the allotment before going away on holiday for a week. When I came back the plants were completely gone – no sign they were ever there. Whatever ate them did a great job obliterating them, but it was a bit perplexing and very annoying.  

While my crops aren’t really growing, the weeds are. So that needs to be a focus in the coming weeks. Hopefully there’ll be a lot more positive news in the next update. I know I am not alone and everyone is struggling this spring – but things will get better.