As March gets going, the soil warms up and so
does the pace in the veg garden.
But don't be fooled,
as we can still get some really bitter
cold weather at this time of year,
so only sow the heartiest veg outdoors.
However, in the greenhouse
there's plenty you can get sowing
to make a great start to the veg growing
year.
In February, we planted an early variety
of potato
in a pot for growing in the greenhouse.
The plant's now emerged,
and so it's time to cover it up
with some more compost.
These are the carrots that we sowed
in February.
Now, carrots can be a bit nerve wracking
to sow as they take a few weeks to come up,
but as you can see in the end they get there.
They don't need any thinning out, though,
as what will happen
is the carrots will sort of push each other
apart and make room to grow.
Sow Brassicas in the greenhouse now
or in a sheltered spot outdoors.
It's best to use seven centimetre pots
or modular trays.
Now you'll find that Brassicas tend to be F1
hybrids nowadays, and so they're a bit
expensive.
However, if you reseal the packets,
you can use them again next year.
Sow lettuce in pots every two or three weeks
from March onwards.
I recommend only sowing about 5 to 10 plants
at a time.
Then you've got the plants ready
and waiting in the greenhouse
to fill any gaps that appear in the vegetable
garden, so you are never without a crop.
By sowing only about 5 to 10 plants at a time
you'll find you have a much more manageable
amount of lettuce, and you're much less
likely to get gluts.
Put two or three seeds in each module.
Then cover the seeds with a little bit
of compost, not too deep.
Then label them with the varieties
so you remember which one it is,
and pop them into your propagator.
In a few weeks time,
you'll have little seedlings like this.
These are still too young to go outside.
We're waiting for the true leaves to emerge
from the centre there, and for them to be
just a little bit bigger before they're ready
to go outside into the garden, or even
in ornamental pots or flower borders.
Now these are the courgette plants that I
sowed back in February.
If you remember, I sowed two seeds in a pot.
And now's the time to take out this weaker
seedling to give this big one more room
to grow.
In February, we sowed some early salads.
As you can see, you can do it in a pot,
and this is a mixed variety
of different salads here.
Or if you've got a greenhouse border,
it's a lovely way to get a sneaky crop
in at the early part of the year.
Here we've sown single varieties of salads,
and they'll be ready to harvest
in the next few weeks.
And so we'll get a great crop
before the tomatoes are ready to go in
in late April, early May.
I like to sow my tomatoes for growing
in the greenhouse in March,
as I found if I grow them any earlier they'll
get tall and leggy.
I'll wait until April, though, for sowing
the tomatoes that go outside.
You may be tempted by adverts
for grafted plants, but at Which? gardening,
we don't think they're worth the expense.
You'll pay as much as five pounds per plant
for a grafted one, while a packet of seeds
will cost you just about two pounds for 50.
However, we did find that grafted cucumber
plants are worth the expense if you grow
cucumbers in the same spot year
after year, as grafted plants are less
likely to succumb to root rots.
These are the broad beans that we started off
in the greenhouse last month.
They've made great progress
and are ready to plant out.
You could sow a second batch directly
into the soil now as well,
but unless your soil is particularly well
drained, you're probably better off sowing
those in pots, too.
Put in the plants at around 15 to 20
centimetres apart.
If you've got enough plants for more than one
row, put the rows 25 centimetres apart if you
don't need to walk between the rows,
of 45 centimetre apart where you do
want to walk between the rows.
In March you can start off some new herbs.
Tender ones, such as coriander and basil,
can be grown in the greenhouse,
but hardy ones, such as parsley,
can go directly where you're going
to be growing them outdoors.
You might have heard that parsley can be
tricky to grow from seeds.
When Which?
Gardening trialled different methods
of sowing veg outdoors, we had most success
when we covered the seed drill
with clear plastic, pinned down at the edges.
This consistently gave the quickest and most
successful germination.
Keep an eye out on the bed
and remove the plastic as soon
as the seedlings appear to avoid cooking
them.
These are the peas that we started off
in the greenhouse in February,
and now's the time to plant them out.
Make a trench so it's the same depth
and length as the gutter.
To get the peas from the gutter
into the trench, you might need to give them
a little bit of a shake.
Once they're in,
draw the soil around the roots
and water them in.
Don't forget to include some support
for your peas so they've got something
to hold on to as they grow.
Traditional twiggy sticks are ideal,
because when the peas have finished cropping
later on, you can just chuck the supports
in with the compost, too.
Try to match the height of the support
to the height of the variety
you've chosen to grow.
Put the pea sticks along the length
of the row so they'll support the plants
as they grow.
Start off another row of peas from seed
at the same time.
They'll be ready about three or four weeks
after the ones from the guttering.
Plant early and second early varieties
of potatoes from mid-March outdoors,
or up until mid-April in colder areas.
We've had these in the windowsill
in the house, and you can see that they've
started into growth,
so they're ready to get going.
Plant the seed potatoes 15 centimetres
deep with the majority of the small
shoots facing upwards.
The rows should be about 45 centimetres
apart.
Apply a mulch of well-watered compost.
The worms will drag it into the soil
themselves, and also it will go in when
you're earthing up the potatoes.
Potato foliage is very sensitive to frost.
You'll be covering it up as the potatoes grow
as you earth them up with soil.
But when you're finish doing the earthing up,
it's a good idea to have some garden
fleece handy
so you can cover up the foliage if a ground
frost is predicted.
Shallots have a sweeter taste than onions.
They may cost more to start with,
but they'll store for ages.
Plant the shallots roughly 25 centimetres
apart in rows that are 40 centimetres apart.
Plant them so the tops are just
under the soil surface
to stop birds from pulling out the sets.
Alternatively, sow banana shallots from seed.
It's a lot cheaper doing it this way,
and each plant should bulk up and make
a single large bulb.
Start the seed often early March
in the greenhouse in a modular tray,
and they should be ready for planting
outside in late April.
A good tip is to invest in a soil
thermometer,
as it will let you know when the soil is
ready to sow in.
Put it a few centimetres deep into the ground
in the early morning,
and when the temperature is consistently
above about 5 degrees,
then it will be safe to sow some hardier
vegetables, like carrots, radish,
and lettuce.
That should be enough to keep you
busy for now, but don't forget to come back
in April when the longer days and warmer
temperatures
mean there's even more we can be planting
and sowing outside.