Life on The Weald - May 2026

Life on The Weald 

and other distractions - May 2026

Friday 1 May

I pottered about inthe garden, potting up kalettes sown earlier in trays to grow them on before planting out in June.

Saturday 2 May

Whilst emptying out the old compost from pots and containers, I came across the occasional peanut, still in its shell, obviously stored there by a squirrel, but was surprised to find a whole hen's egg!  

2 May - a mysterious find

I cracked it and it was still fresh!  I'm told that foxes often bury eggs for later but I had never come across one before.

2 May - that's cracked it!

I renewed the compost in some of the pots and planted up some tomatoes, putting some horticultural grit and a little bicarbonate of soda at the base of the planting hole.

2 May - Tomato ready for planting

2 May - preparing the planting hole

Sunday 3 May

Another day just pottering and tidying up and potting up the early summer sprouting broccoli seedlings

Monday 4 May

I  planted out the Cobra climbing French beans that has been sown in pots at home. Many of the directly sown ones has never appeared; I suspect the mice or squirrels had them.  Sadly many of those that had germinated had gone to feed the slugs and snails.   In an attempt to protect the ones I had just planted, I put down a mulch of Strulch.  I will also add some garlic to the spray I have prepared to combat blackfly on the broad beans and use this on the French beans too.

At home I added some acidanthera corms to the new flower bed in back garden.

Tuesday 5 May

At home, I planted lilies (tiger babies) and freesias to replace the Amazing Parrot and Brisbane tulips in the troughs in the front garden and added some Acidanthera to the square pot. Acidanthera, also known as Abyssinian gladiolus or peacock orchids grow to a height of app 1 metre and in mid summer should produce fragrant white flowers with a maroon or orange blodge.

Thursday 7 May

The Winter Red onions in both beds had bolted i.e thrown up flower scapes which sadly means they will probably not store well.

7 May - onions winter red 

7 May - winter red onions

The Cobra climbing French beans had survived so far, so perhaps the Strulch was working.

7 May

The potatoes were looking healthy but no sign of flowering yet

7 May -

Friday 8 May 

The tromboncino sown only 5 days earlier had germinated.

8 May - Tromboncino

It will be some time before the Tromboncino and courgettes are ready for the table buit we are picking a steady supply of broad beans.

 

8 May - freshly picked broad beans

At home, I planted more Acidanthera corms in a second square pot.  Acidanthera, also known as Abyssinian gladiolus or peacock orchids grow to a height of app 1 metre and in mid summer should produce fragrant white flowers with a maroon or orange blodge.

At home, I sowed some Teepee dwarf French beans in trays seed trays.

Thursday 14 May

Most of the tulips at home had now finished flowering so I lifted the Rasta Parrot and Fireworks from the troughs and replaced them with begonias and geraniums. I also planted geraniums in the containers in the back garden and sowed some Cobra climbing French beans in seed trays.  I repotted some Kashmiri chillies which had been given to me by the organic gardening group.

It was time to do some strimming around the beds at the plot and I constructed a bamboo "wigwam" in one of the vacant beds where I directly sowed some Cobra climbing French beans and planted some Teepee dwarf beans in another. We also planted out some more wild garlic under the apple tree.

Friday 15 May

Most of the Winter Red onions had grown flower scapes, so will probably not store well and they will need lifting soon.

15 May - Winter red onions

15 May - Winter red onions - flower scapes

The last of the Fireworks tulips that I had picked were still surviving.

15 May - Fireworks tulip

Saturday 16 May

I removed weeds from around my new galvanised bed, laid cardboard and woodchip.  There was a self seeded, and now established, chard plant just outside the bed which I decided to leave and to remove later after harvesting.

16 May - the new bed and self seeded chard

16 May - the new bed

The mangetout in the new bed had done well and it was time to pick them.

16 May - Mangetout

Monday 18-24 Monday 25 May

We were away in our campervan for a trip to the North East, visiting the Yorkshire Coast and then to see my son and family in Northumberland.  Whilst there I visited an old friend, Chris Mullin, to see the walled garden he had reclaimed on the Callaly Castle estate just south of the border with Scotland.

23 May - entering Chris's walled garden - Callaly Castle estate in background

And of course, I had to visit the estate allotments! 

More photos of our trip can be found at

There was really bad weather for the early part of our trip with strong winds, hail and heavy rain but at the tail end the sun cameout and we drove home on the hottest day of the year!

Tuesday 26 May

Fortunately all our plants at home had survived our absence, including the chillis that my neighbour, Tonino, had given me.

26 May - Yellow bonnet, scorpion and chillis

On the plot, there were peas to be harvested - a bit past their best but still delicious.

26 May - Meteor peas

Wednesday 27 May

After a period away, I was pleased to see that all crops had survived (and so had the weeds!) and ther was a plentiful harvest of radishes, broccoli, peas and broad beans.

27 May - the harvest

Friday 29 May

The self seeded Nigella - love-in-a-mist - had dominated the area around the pond and were very popular with the bees.

29 May - Nigella

29 May - Nigella

Friday/Saturday/Sunday 29-31 May

My granddaughter's 26th birthday andon Friday night family descended for a weekend of celebrations - and no work on the allotment!

Life on The Weald April 2026 -

and a few distractions

I had a cataract operation on 31 March and had instructions to avoid gardening for a month - so this was potentialy bad news for the allotment.  I was also told no bending or heavy lifting!

Friday 3 April

Supposedly Good Friday but it was anything but – it was very wet with cold winds.  The temperature was 10C but with windchill felt like 1C.  A good day to stay indoors.

Saturday 4 April

There was time, however, to admire the tulips.

4 April - Tulip One Direction

4 April - Tulip Lemon Beauty

Monday 6 April

The mangetout peas sown at home had germinated and were beginning to show through the compost.

6 April - Peas

On the plot the plum trees were in full blossom....

6 April - Plum blossom

....and the potatoes were beginning to show and would need earthing up.

6 April - Red Duke of York potatoes

Together, we assembled a newly acquired galvanised raised bed – well, Sylvi did most of the work as it required a lot of bending down which my eye surgeon had warned against!  The construction was a success and I spread a layer of twigs and branches at the bottom. Sylvi emptied the contents of several trays of worm compost and added these to the bed.

Tuesday 7 April

The Camellia was in full flower in the front garden with no sign of the fungus that had infected it in previous years.

7 April - Camellia

Wednesday 8 April

At home, I potted up the delphiniums that Briony, one of the plotholders, had given me as seedlings.

8 April - Delphiniums

And I sowed some cavolo nero, summer purple sprouting broccoli, Kalettes and  Boltardy beetroot in trays indoors. 

Thursday 9 April

The later sown broad beans were now flowering and, in the picture, you can see our new galvanised raised bed behind them.

9 April - Broad beans (raised bed behind)

Sylvi had spent several days sifting the soil from an old pile of grass that had been dug up months ago and we began to add this to the new raised bed together with a mixture of compost and well rotted horse manure.

After a hard day's work there was time to admire more tulips at home.

9 April - Tulips

9 April - Tulips

Saturday 11 April

In tidying the garden shed, we came across the elephant garlic that we had stored last year.  It was in perfect condition.

11 April - Elephant garlic

Sunday 12 April

Another day away from the allotment as it was the Brighton Marathon.  The supporting crowds get better each year and the Men's race was won by last year's winner, Sam Cook from Horsham, in an improved time of 2.29.48

The Women's race was won by Brighton Phoenix's Amy Harris in 2.49.48

It would have been a good day for gardening!

12 April - Sam Cook wins the Brighton Marathon

Monday 13 April

The purple sprouting broccoli sown a few days earlier, on 8 April, had germinated but no sign yet of the kalettes or cavolo nero.

13 April - purple sprouting broccoli

Tuesday 14 April

All the broad beans, sown from October to December, were now in flower and some pods were setting on the earliest sown ones, and fortunately no sign of blackfly.

14 April - broad beans in flower

I emptied some half rotted compost from one of the bins and together with some of Sylvi's sifted soil, put a layer in the new galvanised raised bed.

14 April - some half rotted compost

We added a final layer of bought compost and the bed was ready for planting.

14 April - filling the new raised bed

The red Duke of York potatoes were looking healthy and in need of further earthing up.

14 April - Red Duke of York potatoes

14 April -Red Duke of York potatoes

Wednesday 15 April

Our raised brick bed in the back garden had been used as a herb garden but the oregano and garlic chives had taken over and the other herbs disappeared.  We decided to clear the bed and plant herbs in separate pots near the back door. We will use this bed for an ornamental display.

15 April - the old herb garden now cleared

We planted 3 dahlias - 1 Labrynth, 2 Penhill Watermelon, 3 The Phantom  as the central feature, surrounded by poppies (papaver orientalis), Iris (Purplelicious), Lupin (Mosaic mix), Rudbeckia (Goldsturm), Echinacea (Sweet Meadow Mama) and Delphinium (Magic Fountain). At the front we will be planting some Acidanthera (Murielae), sometimes called Abyssinian gladiolus.

15 April - the plan for the new ornamental bed

Thursday 16 April

Each day different tulips come into prominence at home

16 April - Tulips

And on the plot the wild garlic (Ransoms) was in full flower.

16 April - wild garlic

Friday 17 April

In the garden, the Serbian Gold quince was in flower....

17 April - Quince blossom

....as was the apple tree on the plot.

17 April - Apple blossom

Saturday 18 April

The seedlings, mangetout peas and rhubarb chard, in the seed snails that I had made last month were looking healthy and in need of planting out.

18 April - Seed Snail

18 April - seed snail

There was a healthy root system on the mangetout, and the snail, when unrolled, made it easy to separate the seedlings....

18 April - Mangetout seedlings

....which we planted out in our new raised bed.

18 April - mangetout seedlings planted out

We also planted out the rhubarb chard seedlings which had also been grown in a snail.

I pinched out the tips of the early broad beans.  This helps prevent blackfly which are particularly attracted to the tips. If left, the tips will continue growing and produce flowers, but too late for any new pods to ripen, so pinching out enables the plant to put its energy into swelling the pods already set.

Usually the tips go straight in the compost bin, but I was told they are edible and good in a stir-fry.  We wilted them in butter and garlic and they were delicious and had a taste of cucumber and fresh peas.

18 April - Broad bean tips

Saturday 25 April

I cleared more weeds around some beds and renewed the paths with a layer of cardboard and woodchips.

25 April - layering path with cardboard

25 April - topping with a layer of woodchip

Sunday 26 April

Another day lost to the allotment as it was the London Marathon. And what a day, as records came tumbling down.  It was a Bannister moment! (In 1954 Roger Bannister had done what many said was physically impossible when he ran a mile in under 4 minutes).  And today Sabastian Sawe did what many said was impossible, becoming the first person ever to run a Marathon in under two hours in a competitive race, winning the 2026 London Marathon in 1:59:30, and establishing a new World Record.  One has to feel for the Ethiopian, Yomif Kejelcha, running his first ever marathon, coming second but also in under two hours, crossing the finish line in an astonishing 1.59.41, while Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda finished third in two hours, 28 seconds also breaking the previous world record!

In the Women’s race, Tigst Assefa defended her title and shattered her own women‑only world record in 2:15:41, with the first three women breaking 2:16 in one race for the first time in the history of the sport. 

And the UK’s Richard Whitehead broke his own World Record for athletes with a double above-the-knee amputation in an astonishing time of 2:40:25.

The London Marathon itself broke the world record for the most finishers in a single marathon event. A total of 59,830 participants crossed the finish line during the historic 2026 race, breaking the record previously held by New York City.

What a day!

Monday 27 April

Time to relax and recover from the previous day's excitement. At home the Cobra French beans sown 6 days previously were emerging and more tulips were in flower.

27 April -

27 April - Tulip Fireworks

In the evening, Luke helped Sylvi in removing unwanted plum trees and Nicole did a magnificent job weeding the onion beds that I had allowed to become overgrown with weeds.

Tuesday 28 April

The tulips had closed overnight but were still looking gorgeous the following morning.

28 April Tulip Fireworks

Thursday 30 April

We made a trip to Roedale Allotments to collect more woodchip and, back on our plot, we harvested some broad beans.

30 April - Broad beans

It had been a good month and we are looking forward to more spring-like weather in May.

John Austin

Hove, April 2026