Allotment Growing	Friday 25 July 2008 Allotment Diary

Allotment & Vegetable Gardening in March

Allotment & Vegetable Gardening in March

There is no such thing as an absolute set date for a job in gardening, for a start temperatures vary according to where you are in the country.

Winter comes earlier to Scotland than Devon. Next, each year is different; some warmer and some colder although the trend is toward warmer the exception proves the rule.

So, adjust for where you are and the weather

March is the month when things really start to move in the growing season, in fact the start of the year used to be The Feast of the Annunciation, 25 th March until 1752 in Britain when we adopted the Gregorian calendar and started our year on the 1 st January.

Harvest

Any leeks left standing should come up now – you can freeze them for use in soups and stews.

Parsnips too should come up in early March before they try and re-grow.

You may have spinach beet and chards available, the last of the late Brussels sprouts, winter cauliflowers, kale, swedes, salsify and scorzonera.

Don't forget to keep checking the purple sprouting!

General Jobs in the Garden

Have a good tidy up and finish those odd construction jobs because you are going to be busier still later in the year.

If you have any horticultural fleece, you can peg that onto the ground a week or so before you plant. The small rise in temperature of the soil can make a big difference

Sowing, Planting and Cultivating

If the weather permits you can plant your onion and shallot sets. March is usually the right time to establish an asparagus bed if you are starting from crowns. Mid March should let you start planting those early potatoes you've had chitting and talking of root crops, you can plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers now.

Things to Sow

Beetroot
Broad Beans
Early Peas (but they may do best started in a gutter in the greenhouse then slipped into a trench)
Brussels sprouts – early varieties like Peer Gynt will be ready in September
Kohl Rabi
Leeks
Lettuce
Radish
Parsnips
Spinach Beet
Early Turnips

Sow in Heat

Windowsill or a propagator in the greenhouse will come into use now to start off your tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and cucumbers.

Under Cloche

Summer cabbages and early cauliflowers, early carrots will get away best under a cloche. If you set your cloche up a week or two beforehand, it will warm up the soil so you will get even better results.

Many of the crops you can sow directly will also benefit from cloching, especially as you move northwards or started off in modules in a cool greenhouse or coldframe and then planted out later.

Fruit

Planting & Pruning

There is still time to finish planting bare rooted fruit trees and bushes, especially raspberries and other cane fruits.

Early this month you can still prune apple and pear trees while they are still dormant. It's also time to prune gooseberries and currants. With currants shorten the sideshoots to just one bud and remove old stems from the centre of the bushes.

They'll benefit from some compost spread around the base as well