I’ve checked the BBC weather app and it looks like we are not due anymore frost which is brilliant. This means a couple of things…..firstly Summer is very nearly here thank goodness, and secondly I can start to plant out my tender crops!! Yay!!

Tender crops are plants that don’t like frost and will wilt and die if there is any about, so beans, tomatoes, courgettes etc. All the plants that on the label it says “Do not plant out until all risk of frost has gone from your area”. Yup those are the ones.

So with no frost forecast and the night time temperature not getting below 6 degrees I could start getting some out today.

Having constructed my bean frame a few days earlier I decided to start with some climbing runner beans. These have been growing amazingly well in my greenhouse for the last 3 weeks and are already about 12 inches tall.

This video was from 5 years ago, and I’m planting out French beans, but the principle is the same for either French or Runner beans.

When I sowed my beans this year I didn’t sow them in half toilet rolls, I sowed 2 seeds in square plastic pots.

I also planted our my dwarf French and Runner beans. These don’t need staking and are perfect for either growing in pots or as I have done this year planted them around the outside of the raised beds so they’ll fill in any little gaps between the other plants. They seem happy so far and because they’re at the edge of the bed they’ll be easy to harvest.

The next job was to fill up the space next to the Runner beans, so I planted out some pumpkins and butternut squash. I was also going to plant out the sweetcorn, but it wasn’t growing as well as I had expected and they needed a couple more weeks in the greenhouse, so I decided to leave some space so when they were big enough I could just pop them in.

I also planted out a couple of Gourds and courgettes, but these need to be planted out in exactly the same way.

The Kale then needed to go in, I’ve not got enough room in the cage with the other brassicas, so they’re having to grow outside the cage. I’ve put some loose netting over the top, so hopefully that’ll keep the butterflies off them.

The onions and and leeks are growing well and everything else seems to be happy in my little piece of calm.

Hope everything is going well for you all as well this season. Finally I feel like Summer is here, let’s hope it stays for a while.

Happy gardening!