Ahem, March seems to have passed me by in a flurry of seed packets, but here we are anyway!
March
- if you have a greenhouse with a little heater, you may be able to start off some summer veg, as long as the temperatures are kind. Try starting tomatoes, cucumber and courgette plants early. Most cues and tomatoes will need continuing glasshouse care throughout their lives, but courgettes thrive outside. Without a greenhouse, you can always buy these plants in from early April.
- Northerners might start to warm up soil with clear plastic or glass now.
- Sow broad beans in March, early in the south, later in the north.
- begin to sow Chinese greens like mizuna and mibuna.
- Late – wait til late March to sow celeriac (and celery if you like) in the warm or in a frame. Plant in beds in May.
- Sow turnips, a very few, then a fortnight later a few more (and so on), so you will have tasty, sprightly roots to eat in succession.
- maybe sow parsnips now (‘Gladiator’ resists canker well), for winter eating, but don’t hoard any seeds for next year, use them all, as it won’t keep at all.
- plant early potatoes, four fingers deep, but try to spare them from frost as much as possible – either by choosing a warmer site, or by covering them on cold nights. If you can be bothered with growing your own potatoes (I resent the amount of space they take up, the toil of putting them in, earthing them up, taking them out, especially as they are cheap to buy!) earlies are a good bet, as you are less likely to be disappointed by potato blight, a vile and putrid affliction which will destroy an entire crop and spoil your week.
- if you are lucky, start to harvest broccoli shoots now. Otherwise, make do with the flowering shoots of the sprouts if you allowed them a stay of execution after the Christmas period- really quite pleasant. The same can be said of lingering turnips – the tops are peppery and delicious.
- winter salads planted last August should be ready for cropping now.
April
- early: or even late March if you are brave: plant out the first rows of peas, and watch carefully to see if burglarious rodents make gaps by stealing the seed – just pop another in (perhaps soaking in deterrent paraffin this time) –it will catch up! Follow these rows with repeat sowings until May, to ensure a continuous crop.
- sow leeks for next year’s spring and plant out in July
- Continue to sow salads, which will probably cope outside now – maybe with a little cover if you are kind.
- Broad beans sown now should have few problems, and can go straight into the ground.
- say goodbye to the parsnips, if you have any left in the ground– once the sunshine encourages them to grow new shoots they will be quite unpleasant.
