What you can sow in the UK ,14 May to 1 June 2013

What you can sow this week and till the end of may 2013 .

Easter was early , so don’t rely on folklore that says sow by Easter. The season is about a month behind what we have become used to over the last 20 year of so .. it could turn warmer . I’m thinking it will be like last year cool and plenty of rain till end of June then a short luke warm summer .

For the next 14 days or so in the Uk you can sow the following or in lots of cases use purchased plants in pots etc .. if it is potted stuff soak it well for a couple of hours before slipping it out the pot in the planting hole .


Asparagus seed , All beans , Beet leaf , Beetroot , All broccoli & calabrese , you might be lucky with a few sprouts but it is a bit late to sow seeds now .
Too early for spring cabbages for next year , It is toward the latest time to sow the seeds for summer cabbage sow time use plants instead .
Good time to sow for winter and Savoy cabbages , red cabbages , Chinese cabbage & all sorts of carrots , except early forcing ones which are sown in a glasshouse in Feb and under cloches in March.

All yr cauli still just about sow-able ... April is the main month for successional sowings .
Sow Endives , kale , kohl rabi , lettuces ( like the cabbages and kales cut a few leaves of a pair of plants for a long season of lettuce ..but don’t let the spike in the middle grow , keep it cut down )
Sow marrow out doors or in pots , spring onions for salads can give you six months of them from around now till the first frosts. Quite a few peas varieties can be sown , you will be risking it for late potatoes ..but if you have space perhaps worth a punt with some of the supermarket salad ones in heavy duty black poly sacks filled with MM
All sorts of radishes ( 30 days from sow to cropping ) , spinach , Swedes , sweet corn , some types of tomato in pots inside and plant out when four inches tall . Outdoor sown tomatoes in about six days time ( HA HA .... if it is warm enough ) ,
Sow Fennel , Nasturtiums for salads , Turnips

Most of the info given is collated out of a book called “ The Vegetable Expert “ by DR D G Hessayon
The book is usually for sale in any decent sized garden centre & is also available on Amazon I think it is almost classed as essential to have one even if it is just a prompt for what crops you can sow .

It was my mainstay for cropping info when I came back to live in the UK in 1980 and restarted gardening again. Every now and again I get the latest up to date copy as it usually has the latest names for the more successful seeds that are pest resistant or grow pest resistant crops.
Though when you get well into gardening I’d say Mels’s charts are even better for planning successional crops to see you have veg through the whole year ..

wonderful information as always Plantoid thank you soooo much