Dear Wales Seed Hub community,

May is one of my favourite months – the weather is gentle (we hope) and our plants are growing healthy and strong. Of course, the weather is different every year and this year has been a mixture of heavy rain, extreme heat and cold winds, with some lovely gentle days in between here in South Wales. However, with a bit of shuffling of jobs to suit the conditions we have managed to keep mainly on top of things and only lost a few plants to slugs!

In June, the flower garden is coming into its own and is full of bees and other pollinators enjoying the pollen and nectar and ensuring viable seeds for next year. In the veg garden the Roi de Carouby peas are tall and flowering and the Maggie’s Borlotti beans are starting to clamber up their supports. Things are changing fast at this time of year and the higher temperatures at the end of May gave everything a boost!

Maggie

Wales Seed Hub Director & Grower

More about Maggie…

Maggie has been saving seeds from her plot on the edge of the Loughor Estuary in Carmarthenshire for many years. Alongside the plants that she grows for seed, she has a garden that is packed with biodiversity which allows natural predators to thrive and keeps a wonderful balance of wildlife.

Maggie is one of our seed producers here at the Wales Seed Hub, and you can browse her seeds on our online shop

What to sow in June

Variety spotlight: Late Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Purple sprouting broccoli is definitely one of my top five crops and this open-pollinated variety will keep producing over a far longer period than any hybrid equivalent. Late varieties aren’t as common as their early counterparts, but I prefer to be harvesting the delicious, purple spears throughout the ‘hungry gap’ when there’s not much else around, rather than earlier in the year when the last of the winter veg is still available. This one will give you a tasty spring harvest from mid-March to May. Sowing: Seeds can be sown from March until June and are best sown in modules. They’ll germinate quickly and you won’t need any additional heat.  Pot them on when they’ve got their first set of ‘true’ leaves, then plant them out when they’re about 4-6” tall, at about 2.5ft spacings, after hardening off.  Dig in plenty of organic matter initially, and water regularly throughout the season. Make sure you plant them a little deeper than they were in their pots, and firm them in well, as brassicas hate being rocked about in the wind.  You may want to add a stake if you’re on an exposed site.

Other seeds to sow in June

Lettuce, herbs – and beans, if you’re quick!

Italian Giant Parsley
Grower: Chris

A vigorous and large flat-leaved parsley variety with a great taste! Once it gets going it is fast growing with high yields of luscious dark green leaves perfect for stews and soups, salads and sauces. One of my favourite parsley recipes is chimichurri – a South American salsa with olive oil, vinegar, chilli and garlic used as a marinade or dip.

Little Leprechaun Cos
Grower: Simon

An attractive cos lettuce, with savoyed purple-brown and green leaves. Keep succession sowing through to July to maintain a constant crop; harvest whole or use as cut-and-come-again. This variety does best outdoors throughout the growing season and is slow to bolt.

Looking for new retailers

Can you help? Wales Seed Hub seeds can obviously be purchased from our website and you may have seen our stall at one of the many in person events and markets we attend during the winter and spring, but our seeds are also available at a growing number of other retailers. See our current retailers here.

We offer wholesale prices for larger orders and can provide bilingual, full colour packaging which looks great in a shop. Do you have a shop? Can you suggest anywhere that might be interested in stocking our seeds? Get in touch on: wholesale@seedhub.wales

Tilly highlighted by Land Workers Alliance

One of our growers, Tilly Gomersall, has recently featured in a lovely article over at the Land Workers Alliance. There she tells us, accompanied by  Heather Birnie’s beautiful photography, what she’s up to on her mid-Wales farm, how she got started and how she is driven to produce healthy food for her community and great seeds for the rest of us!

You can read the full article on the Land Workers Alliance website here. To find out more about Cân y Pridd, and follow Tilly’s progress, check out her Instagram.

Thanks for your support

The Wales Seed Hub is a cooperatively run seed company formed by a group of Welsh growers. All our seed is produced in Wales using agroecological methods, and the varieties are open-pollinated and specially selected to thrive in Welsh climates. By buying our seed you are supporting our growers and the important work they do in caring for our land and our food system in Wales and beyond. Thank you! Diolch!