March Week 4

Sowing time

Daffodil "Carlton"

Busy busy in the Helmsdale Kitchen Garden this week, this is the time when you sow, sow, then sow some more in the garden, having had the equinox at the weekend the light is now on our side.  

This week we have been sowing; Peas, Broad Beans, Chard, Turnips, Beetroot, Lettuce, Kohlrabi, Broccoli, Tomatoes, Kale, Onions etc.  All within the polytunnel to give them some heat with horticultural fleece over the top. Some we have to put into the propagator to give bottom heat other wise they wont sprout very quickly, these being mainly Squashes, Cucumbers and Tomatoes a similar effect can be recreated with a bright kitchen windowsill.

Within your own garden these are the jobs you should be looking at.

Flower Garden:

Last chance to make sure all your roses are pruned (Except the ramblers). Give a good feed afterwards- manure or a general fertilizer.
Now the soil is warming up, summer bulbs can be planted. These include Lillies, Gladioli and Crocosmia (Montbretia)
Dahlias and Zantedeschia (Calla lillies) that have been in storage can be taken out now and potted up and put somewhere warm and frost free for growing on.

Some Vegetable seeds sown so far.

Sweet peas should be sown now and most other hardy annuals. 
Perennial seeds can be sown indoors for planting out later. These include Rudbeckias, Delphinums, Ornamental Grasses, Hollyhocks and Lupins.

Vegetable garden:

Most vegetable seeds can be sown indoors now for planting out later. Vegetable beds should be prepared (Making a fine tilth on top) and fed ready (Manure is best but whatever general purpose fertilizer you can get in these times) for when the vegetable seedlings are big enough and the weather is warm enough for them or if you want to sow the seeds directly in the bed in another months time.

The above also applies to herbs seeds too.
Potatoes should be being chitted now, this means putting  them somewhere dark, warm and dry usually placed in egg boxes so they start sprouting. This speeds up the growing time when we go to plant them in the next few weeks. 

Foxglove seeds

The bare root season ends with the arrival of April, so any plants you have bought or plan to buy bare root (as in not in pots) please make sure they are planted as soon as possible and given a good soaking too!

House Plants

Spring is when we need to show a bit of love to our houseplants after the long winter. A lot of them will need a repot into a bigger pot if they are getting quite root bound (Orchids will need special compost to do this).
You can start feeding houseplants again, babybio or something similar every 2-4 weeks. Orchids need a very light fertilizer, either special orchid fertilizer or half the baby bio recommended on the instructions works well about once a fortnight.

Dust tends to gather over winter on our houseplants too so give them a bit of a wipe and they will thank you for it.

Lots to be done in your own garden at the moment so get sowing!

Radish "Cherry Belle"