Blog

March has arrived, and after the mild warmer days at the end February the soil is starting to dry out. Although spring has arrived there is no need to panic as there is  plenty of time to get on outside once the weather and soil conditions improve over the coming weeks. Plus there are still some jobs you can get on with undercover.

1. 1. When the soil on my vegetable plot is dry and workable, I will be planting my onion sets. These will be planted into 9cm (3inch) deep drills, spacing each set 10-15cm (4-6inch) apart. But if the soil is still wet and cold all is not lost! I have had very successful results over the last few years by planting onion sets into small pots filled with multi-purpose compost, and grown on in a cool greenhouse or in the cold frame. This way they get a start and can be planted outside once the sets have green shoots on them and a good root system, at a time when the soil is in a better condition. This method helps you get started without you losing any growing time.
   
   
2. 2. This month is a busy time for my heated propagator set at 21C (70F), or on a warm windowsill. It is the perfect time to sow Asters, Antirrhinums, Gazania, Salpiglossis, Verbena, Stocks, Mesembryanthemum, Nemesia, Salvia, Statice, Lobelia, Nicotiana, Ageratum, Dahlia, Cleome, Impatiens and Petunias. Sowing now will mean you have good plants for planting out at the end of May, giving you colour all summer. You can also sow seeds  in the heated propagator of Tomatoes, Aubergines, Peppers, Celery and Celeriac. Always sow seeds into a good seed sowing compost and water using clean tap water. If you use water saved in a container or waterbutt, this can contain harmful pathogens which can affect germination.  Have you tried Kings Seeds new peat-free seed sowing & cutting compost? In our trials this performs as well as peat, with equal seedling emergence and development.
   
   
3. 3. An important job this month is to get on with pruning any bush roses, as March is the traditional time for doing this job. Bush roses can be pruned quite hard; I usually prune mine down to 3-4 buds, making sure the final cut is just above an outward facing bud. How hard you prune will depend on the age of your bushes. At the same time, prune out any old or diseased wood or weak thin branches from the centre of the bushes. After pruning, feed around the base of the plants with a good rose fertiliser, and work this into the soil, then apply a good layer of well-rotted manure or compost as a mulch. You can now sit back and wait for those glorious flowers.
   
   
4. 4. Autumn bulbs are starting to bloom, as soon as you can get on the garden, work in some Blood Fish & Bone fertiliser around the soil near the bulbs. This will help feed the bulbs as they start to die down after flowering, and will put energy into the bulbs ready for next year’s display.
   
   
5. 5. If you want a few very early Potatoes, now is a good time to plant some tubers into pots. Ideally you need to plant first early varieties. Plant a single tuber per 10 litre pot, or 3 tubers per container that holds up to 40 litres of compost. Simply half fill each pot with a good multipurpose compost with some Perlite added to keep the compost open, plus a sprinkling of potato fertiliser, then plant each tuber. The reason I only half fill the pots is because as the potatoes grow the pots can be gradually filled up with more compost, similar to earthing up when grown in the ground. Once planted water the compost and place them in a frost-free greenhouse or Polytunnel. These should be ready to harvest as new potatoes in about 10-12 weeks.
   
   
6. 6. This month, I will start to sow under glass into small pots filled with seed sowing compost, my Brussels Sprouts, summer Cabbage, Calabrese and Cauliflowers. Once germinated these will be pricked out (transplanted) into modular trays, until they make good size plants for hardening off, ready for planting out at the end of April. It may seem early but Brussels Sprouts need a long growing season to ensure they produce some good quality tight buttons in time for Christmas. My first sowing of outdoor lettuce will also be sown. I like to sow a few seeds every 2-3 weeks into pots as above and then prick these out into modular trays. Sowing regularly in succession will give plenty of fresh leaves to harvest throughout the year.
   
   
7. 7. On a dry day give your lawn a cut to tidy it up, but don’t make this first cut too short. After cutting the lawn, if you didn’t get around to scarifying or aerating your lawn last autumn, this can still be done now, provided the soil is not too wet. Simply rake over the lawn with a spring rake, pulling out any old dead grass (thatch) and moss, then aerate the lawn by going over the lawn and inserting a fork as deep as you can. This will help let air into the lawn and improve your grass. After doing this, if you have any bare patches these can be re-seeded next month when the soil is a little warmer.
   
   
8. 8. Once the soil has warmed up and hopefully dried out towards the end of the month one of the first vegetables I will be sowing direct into the soil are Parsnips. I like to punch a hole into the ground with a crow bar, fill this with some sandy compost and sow 3-4 seeds per station. Then once germinated they can be thinned out to an individual seedling, which will produce some spectacular long roots to harvest by the autumn. As Parsnips can take a long time to germinate, I like to sow a few Radish seeds in-between the parsnips to get an early crop and help identify the row, making it easier to keep the ground clean from weeds.
   
   
9. 9. For an early crop of Peas sow seeds into lengths of guttering filled with compost, spacing the seeds in a domino patten down the guttering. Take care in case any mice are in the area as they will love to feed on these. Once germinated, gradually harden off before drawing out drills in the plot and sliding the contents of the gutters into the drill on the plot in April. If you don’t have guttering sow 2-3 seeds per module of small pot, and these can be planted out once hardened off and established.
   
   
10. 10. Towards the end of this month if you have a Buddleja shrub in your garden this will benefit from being pruned. These shrubs can be cut back quite hard as they flower on new shoots produced this year. I like to cut the old shoots back down to 2-3 shooting buds from the base of the plant. This may appear drastic, but they will soon recover, and you will end up with a more manageable shrub, which will be of a far better shape. If plants have been neglected over many years don’t worry, after a hard pruning; the plants will soon regenerate, even after cutting back into very old wood.