A
VERY BUSY SPRING
I
have always tried to work to a plan for sowing and planting on my
allotment, with timing based on previous year’s experience. Last
year we had a mild winter followed by an early warm spring so plans
were brought forward by two weeks with potato planting starting at
the end of February.
This year we still got a mild winter but ending
with continual rains keeping us off the wet ground so gardening has
been put back by a few weeks. Potato planting started in mid March
with my first early Casa Blanca though the ground is still very slow
to warm up. To give the spuds a good start I take out a furrow, add
good garden compost along the bottom then plant my sprouted tubers a
foot apart along the row. After covering over the row I add some
potato fertiliser. Second early and maincrop potatoes will go in
towards the end of March.
 |
| Planting early potato Casa Blanca |
Pick a few dry sunny days and
start with some outdoor seed sowing. End of March is a good time to
sow a row of Leek Musselburgh. Sow thinly so the small plants have
room to grow and make a sturdy plant for transplanting in a couple of
months time. Late March is also a good time to sow some annual flower
seeds such as poppies, godetia, candytuft, cornflowers and Livingston
daisies. Annuals are great for adding some colour and interest where
ever you find a bare patch of ground.
 |
| Polyanthus ready to plant out |
Land set aside for courgettes,
pumpkins and sweet corn will lie bare till the beginning of June as
these crops are all very sensitive to cold weather and frosts, so
take this chance to increase the soil fertility by sowing down a
green manure crop of clover, ryegrass, vetches or field beans, or
even mustard if you do not have a clubroot disease problem. These
grow fast so are ready to trample down and dig in about three weeks
ahead of planting.
Outdoor
tasks are now getting underway with the first cut for lawns now the
grass is putting on a fair bit of growth. Raise the blades for the
first couple of cuts and check for weeds and moss if you want the
perfect lawn. However ignore the weeds if the young kids are still
around and prefer a lawn with daisies, buttercups, dandelions and
other interesting weeds, sorry, flowers!!!
 |
| Windowsill propagation |
Harvesting
last years cabbages, sprouts, kale, leeks, swedes and parsnips is now
scaling back as crops become depleted, but now young rhubarb clumps
are in full growth and soon pulling a few sticks for dessert is very
welcome. Give the clumps a feed of fertiliser and a mulch of well
rotted garden compost to retain moisture.
Early
strawberry Christine can be encouraged to flower and fruit two to
three weeks ahead of
normal
by erecting a low polythene tunnel over the row, but make sure all
the weeds are removed first as well as any old straw left over from
the previous year.
Check
over outdoor spring flowering pots and tubs and replace any failures
with fresh spring
 |
| Field beans green manure |
bedding
plants such as pansies and polyanthus.
Now
is the time to sow crops for this year’s vegetable patch and
greenhouse. These need warm
conditions
so windowsills facing south are very handy. Cabbage Kilaton,
cauliflower Clapton and sprouts Crispen (all clubroot resistant for
my soil), kale, lettuce, spring onion, can all be sown in shallow
seed trays
then pricked out later into cellular trays. Beetroot has
to go in  |
| Putting polythene tunnel over early strawberries |
 |
| Greenfly on roses |
Wee
jobs to do this week
Greenfly
have come through the mild winter in top form and now we are seeing
some warm dry days they could not wait to get started. Roses have
also made an early start with plenty new young soft shoots emerging.
Greenfly spotted these and quickly build up to plague proportions. At
this early stage it is easy to rub off small infestations, but if
they become a real nuisance then it is out with the sprayer and some
rose insecticide.
END
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