Go Wild in the country
Spring usually arrives by mid-March and the frequent sunny days provide the opportunity for an increasing range of gardening tasks. It's time to get busy preparing seedbeds, sowing seed, cutting back winter shrubs and not all ready done so, generally tidying up around the garden.
The long winter that seems to have lasted since way back in August, remember all that cold wet weather. And yet despite the bone chilling east wind through Febuary our gardens are trying to inform us that spring has sprung. Daffodils have been flowering for two to three weeks and I spotted a Forsythia and Prunus showing colour in mid Febuary.
The cold dry weather can provide opportunity to get on the flowerbeds and finish of any pruning and cutting back of things such as perennial grasses like Miscanthus. Spot weeding is also a good idea picking out those weeds before they get chance to flower and set seed. After one has tidied the bed remember if the bed borders a lawn, get out the edging shears you sharpened and oiled last autumn and trim the lawn edge. It is not to early to top off the lawn, leaving the setting of the blades one or two notches higher than your normal summer cutting length.
In the vegetable garden as long as the conditions permit below you will find a long list of tasks that could be undertaken.
I have often been asked when is the best time to dig over the veg patch?
I usually take the lead from the farmers as when, I’m driving along one of the areas many lanes looking at the back end of a tractor and plow, then its time to flash up the Renovator.
Top 10 jobs this month
1. Plant shallots, onion sets and early potatoes
2. Protect new spring shoots from slugs
3. Plant summer-flowering bulbs
4. Lift and divide overgrown clumps of perennials
5. Top dress containers with fresh compost
6. Mow the lawn on dry days (if needed)
7. Cut back Cornus (dogwood) and Salix
(willow) grown for colourful winter stems
8. Weeds come back in to growth - deal with them before
they get out of hand
9. Start feeding fish and using the pond fountain;
remove pond heaters
10. Open the greenhouse or conservatory doors and vents
on warm days
Sowing and planting
- Plant onions, shallots.
- Plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers.
- Chit early and main crop potatoes.
- Sow seed outdoors in mild areas with light soil, eg: broad beans,
carrots, parsnips, beetroot, onions, lettuces, radish, peas, spinach,
summer cabbage, salad leaves, leeks, Swiss chard, kohl rabi, turnip and
summer cauliflower. Be guided by the weather, and sow only if conditions
are suitable.
- Sow seed indoors of sweet peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers,
aubergines, celery, salads and globe artichokes.
General care
- Cultivate and prepare seedbeds, covering them with clear polythene
or fleece to warm up the soil before sowing.
- Protect early outdoor sowings with fleece and polythene.
- Feed crops that have been standing all winter.
- Put supports in place for peas.
- Start preparing runner bean supports and trenches for sowing (in
May) or planting out (in June).
- Try to avoid digging in wet weather, but if gardening on wet soil,
work from a plank of wood, to avoid treading on the bed and compacting the
soil.
