John's Gardening Diary (15/05/20)

Cold days and colder night have slowed down the hardening off process. With the benefit of overnight heating when required tomato plants are motoring on, however. Sungold on 2nd truss and Shirley on 1st.

On sunny mornings (so that they dry off quickly) they get an overhead spray with the watering can to help set the fruit. My aim is to keep the soil damp but not waterlogged.

I prefer canes for support rather than twining them round a length of string for more stability when the fruits start swelling.

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Frost protection for still nights was inadequate for the wind assisted, below zero temperature we had for two nights this week. The dahlias and begonias have had a fair scorching but they will recover - it just delays planting out a bit.

Pieris and pyrethrum in borders have also been knocked back.

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The centre of that early strawberry flower has been frosted; when it turns black you know it is not going to swell and form a fruit. The fruit agronomists used to tell us that the plants compensate by producing more flowers. I will go over them and snip off the flowers with the dead centres, hoping to stimulate them into producing more. That plant is a Sonata; the Florence are a bit later and the flowers aren't out yet. Keeping the dutch hoe going in these dry conditions because when the straw goes down shortly, weed control is very difficult.