Planning for May holiday

[caroline7758]

I'm going to be away for the first 3 weeks of May and am not sure what to do. I hope I can get someone to water the plot and the greenhouse, but I was wondering, is there anything I could put off sowing until I get back and still get a good harvest? I was thinking of courgettes etc which I usually plant out in May. Not sure I'll have room in my greenhouse if I sow before and put off planting out until I get back. What do you think?

[caroline7758]

[Squash64]

A few years ago we had a very heavy frost on the night of 29/30 May which killed a lot of my courgettes.  I sowed more seeds in the greenhouse the next day and they soon caught up.

So no, it wouldn't be too late to sow seeds when you get back.

[Digeroo]

One year I took some courgettes and bean seeds on holiday in May and chitted them in damp kitchen roll while I was away so they were ready to pot on when I got back. Depends on where you are going.  You could perhaps put some direct into the soil and hope for the best.

You could plant out some courgettes under bottle cloches or fleece particular if someone will water them.  

I found the biggest problem with a holiday in may is that while you are away the weeds really get going and you come back to a carpet of green.  Somehow I spent the rest of the summer trying to catch up.  I would suggest everything is mulched up well.