In the garden: Dealing with the surge in growth 

And just like that it is the longest day of the year! How did that happen so quickly?

It is a common occurrence - once growth begins the time just starts to gallop along. To say the garden is heaving with growth is an understatement right now.

The heavy showers and favourable temperatures are making for some seriously good growing conditions, particularly in the polytunnel and glasshouse.

Staying on top of the surge is the challenge right now, removing spent crops, sowing new ones, and transplanting winter crops to their spot for the next few months, like kale, Brussels sprouts, and purple sprouting broccoli are just some of the jobs for this time of the year.

The garden is getting full, it is looking great, and there is plenty to look forward to this summer.

Still plenty of seasonal jobs as bedding fillers go out to fill any gaps that may be appearing in the borders, and of course weeds are making their presence felt with the favourable growing conditions also.

Hand weeding just after the rain is great timing as it is easier to remove the root completely, and hoeing during dry weather will ensure exposure of the roots of weeds and drying out on the surface so that they will not simply re-establish in the soil!

Successional sowing is important for fast-growing salad crops like lettuce, radish, beetroot and spinach.

They grow quickly once the temperatures increase and mature, run to seed or succumb to greenfly and are no longer usable for human consumption.

They are great to supply chickens with a healthy snack or to add to the compost heap.

The great thing about the leafy crops is that they are cut and come again, so harvesting can happen over a few weeks as needed.

Sowing a fresh row every 4-6 weeks is ideal as the new crop is germinating and maturing, as the previous one is harvested, and no gap in supply needs to occur.

When a row is sown too thickly, if they are carefully thinned, then the thinnings can be replanted, creating an additional row which will be a little slower maturing as a result of transplanting, which will be helpful for staggered harvesting.

It is very important to water before and after transplanting to achieve the best results and reduce stress on the plant.

It is also worth trying to transplant it on a cloudy day when the sun is not too intense or perhaps in the evening when temperatures are starting to drop.

The biggest challenge with lettuce is the lack of germination when temperatures get too high.

The seeds will not germinate over 20 degrees Celsius, so keep this in mind and take advantage of any cooler spells this summer.

Tomatoes are establishing well now, but were slow to get going earlier in May as night time temperatures dropped, which checked their growth, particularly when growing outdoors.

An interesting staking method observed at Lismore Castle gardens could be useful.

It involved using rebar and sheep wire to allow a tubular space for growing and a pot sunk to ground level, which can be used to provide a reservoir of water for plants.

It is great to get out and visit other gardens for ideas and innovations that can be adopted for our own gardens.

Regular watering, feeding and side shoot removal, as well as removal of some of the lower leaves as the plant gets taller, will help with ventilation and light reaching the fruit to hasten ripening.

Is there anything so anticipated as the first tomato of summer? It all lies ahead!

The cut flower area at Lismore gardens was looking great a few weeks back, as a lot of annual bedding has been planted out in rows and looked very ordered.

There is so much planting inspiration throughout this garden from trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants, cut flowers, vegetables and wildflower areas.

The orchard was looking particularly pretty with ox-eye daisies just about to create a snowy show of white through the long grass under the apple trees.

The mown paths creating circulation through the orchard area work so well and give us all hope for relinquishing the lawn!

Plant of the Week 

The California poppy or aptly called cup of gold (Eschscholzia californica) is looking well after the month of sunshine May provided this year. The funnel shaped flowers open whenever the sun shines.

The flowers come in shades of orange, white, pink, yellow, red, ivory and coral, and they can be double or single.

The flowers are followed by distinctive curved seed pods. They also have attractive feathery blue/green foliage.

Native to southern America and Mexico, they are the state flower of California, and so the source of one of the common names.

They require full sun and free-draining sandy soil; they will do best on a poorer soil in a sunny and dry corner of the garden.

They also grow well in coastal locations and are an ideal plant for rockeries. They will freely seed themselves around the garden once they are growing in soil they like.

A short-lived perennial in their native origins, but generally we grow them as annuals in Ireland. Getting to a height of 40-50cm with a similar spread, this is a great plant for a pop of summer colour which will lightly persist in the garden down through the years in a self-seeding capacity.

They can often appear in cracks of the footpath or growing out of a wall, providing a cheery addition to the garden.