Finally planting out – Diary of a Rocket Gardener

Well, I had planned to plant out by now, but those crazily strong winds and cold daytime temperatures last week/weekend put me off somewhat, so I waited even longer. But, the day has finally come and I’ve been getting all my veggies planted up as quickly as I can.

I am glad I waited – there is no way the beans or squashes would have tolerated the 50mph winds – and I’m feeling quietly confident that all will be fine now, and they will all grow quite quickly. I was, in honesty, getting a bit concerned about the winter squashes – will they have time to ripen if planted now? I spoke to a neighbour who has been growing his own veggies too, and I remembered that last year I saw him planting a whole batch of winter squashes some time in June. I asked him how they had done – he said he’d had an amazing crop from planting the 2nd week of June! Amazing!! I feel relieved about that, and hopeful that I’ll get a good yield myself from the squashes I’ve just planted now – I might even get a few extras and pop them in the ground for good measure, as I really do love having them in the house over the winter months as a fab source of homegrown to go with all the kale that I grow…

I guess the point of my post this week is to encourage other people to plant out now that the weather is warming up, and don’t be too disappointed by any time that has been lost from the cold weather – we’re still in with a good chance of a good, productive year!