MayAfter the Ice Saints, everything goes out
May is the pivotal month in the Belgian vegetable garden. Until mid-May, the Ice Saints (mid-May frosts) can still spring a night frost on you; after that, the way is clear. Then you plant out everything that has been growing indoors: tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, peppers, aubergines, basil. Outdoors, sow beans, sweetcorn and pumpkins. The garden changes scale in a fortnight, and the watering can comes back into service.
Tips of the month
- After 15 May, plant out tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, peppers, aubergines and basil.
- Sow dwarf and climbing beans, pumpkins, courgettes and beetroot outdoors.
- Transplant summer leeks, brassicas and lettuces.
- Earth up potatoes and peas.
- Thin the carrots, beetroot and turnips sown in April.
- Mulch the planted beds generously to hold the water in.
- Net the cherry trees and strawberries, and pinch out tomato side shoots.
In the vegetable garden and orchard
What to do in may
Sow under cover
Sowing in the ground
Plant
On the plate
Eating in may
May is the month of the first real harvests: radishes, lettuces, spinach, rhubarb, asparagus and, at the end of the month, the very first strawberries. Eat green and raw, with fresh herbs: chives, mint and parsley cut just before sitting down to eat.
Living well
Planting out the tomatoes is a ritual: you choose your day, prepare the holes, and set each plant in the ground like a promise. It is one of the moments when the vegetable garden gives back the most, even before the first harvest.