Well, would you believe it. Despite writing in the papers and going on national television via the Beechgrove Garden television programme telling everyone else how important it is to have some horticultural fleece at hand and keep an eye out for damaging frosts on early plantings of veg, I’ve only gone and got caught out myself. Gutted!

            It’s annoying but thankfully not the end of the row for my first early potatoes. Although the foliage is brown and unsightly looking, it doesn’t mean I need to now go and dig them up. It will have set their grow back a little bit and slowed them down but the actual potatoes will be fine. I wouldn’t want to get caught out again though.

            The annoying thing is, I knew it was coming. The forecast said that the temperatures were going to be low enough that there was a chance of frost, but the skies were cloudy so thought it would be fine. To be honest, it was the back off nine at night and I just couldn’t be bothered getting off the sofa to nip out into the garden for what would only have been a two minute job. Slap on the wrists for me.

            Although the plants are growing away nicely, I’m certainly feeling the cold this spring. Just the other week there we had that blast of cold air coming down from the north showing us that we gardeners really do need to treat the month of May with caution, waiting until the end of the month into the start of June when the risk of late frosts should have past before putting out tender plants such as summer bedding found in hanging baskets or vegetable plants such as courgettes and pumpkins.

            It’s not as if I’m not being over cautious, elsewhere in the veg plot I have the same fleece covering my first sowings of carrots I made three weeks ago. The white material is lightweight but does make a difference protecting plant foliage and even warming the soil every so slightly.

            The value of the cloche protecting the larger plants of lettuce is proving its worth now too. I have a small greenhouse which back at the end of March was used to make early sowings of lettuce into small pots. At the stage of still being too tender to place outside properly, this miniature polytunnel like protection was placed over my small plants allowing them the best of both worlds. I’m now able to enjoy pickings from my cut and come again varieties on my sandwiches.

            I’ve removed the fleece from my onions though, most of these have up to 20cm of growth now showing that they are well and truly rooted into the ground, less chance the blackbirds pulling them out for a bit of fun.

            This mid to late May period in the veg plot is the most exciting time for me, the point in the year when it really comes to life and the potential of enjoying lots of home grown food becoming real. Don’t stress, if you haven’t yet started and fancy giving it a grow this year as there’s still time for lettuce, beetroot, spring onion, carrots and radish to be sown direct to the soil. If you’re lucky the garden centres will still have small plants of cabbages, kale, sprouts and cauliflowers for planting but ensure they are covered with some sort of net over them to keep the pigeons from them and also the cabbage white butterfly that if gets a chance to lay eggs on the plant, the resulting caterpillars will devour them.

            It’s also time if you wish to sow some peas and beans. Beans need the support of the likes of a bamboo cane to grow up, you can place these like a wigwam which itself makes an attractive feature. A wee tip is to place the seeds on the inside of the cane, not the outside which may be our initial reaction, as they beans shoot up they will eventually find the cane before then making their journey to the top and start producing lots of long thin beans.

            Peas on the other hand have tendrils so a net of sorts for them to scramble up is best for them, they may need initial encouragement to gain a hold but after that will be off. Get your net in place first then plant a row of peas along each side of the fence following the specific variety instructions for spacing found on the back of the packet.

            A couple of things to watch out for. Mice is the first, they just love the dried peas so keep an eye out for any damage which sometimes you don’t notice until realise nothing is growing . The second is our good old friends the pigeons again, at least I can’t fault their healthy diet just not on my peas please. Again some horticulture fleece will do the trick to get them up and running or sticks and twigs from branches are not only a good deterrent but can also make great supports if you’d like to give your veg plot a more natural look.

First published in The Weekend supplement of The Courier and Press and Journal newspapers Saturday 23rd May 2026