Getting the upper hand...
Spring should really be on it’s way by the end of this month and there’ll be plenty of jobs to keep you busy in your garden or allotment.
There’s nothing quite like sowing seeds and the thrill of watching those first tiny seedlings appearing just a week or two later. Weather permitting the soil should be warm enough to be sowing outdoors in March. Your new seedlings will need all the help that you can give them if they are to flourish so don’t forget the weeding and pest control too!
Most seed packets give you some guidelines as to which month/or months are best to sow in but personally I think that it’d be a lot more helpful if they gave a little information about the temperature required, not to mention just how long germination is likely to take. Soil temperatures of at least 6º are needed for most seeds - if you don’t want to guess at this you can get a soil thermometer to check. Don’t forget that by using products such as fleece, or cloches, over your beds you can raise the temperature. Some seeds, such as parsnips, are notoriously slow to germinate taking up to 3 weeks for seedlings to appear - a good idea with slow starters like these is to sow quick growing crops such as radishes on either side of the row. This will help mark the rows out until your parsnips appear and the radishes will quickly be grown and ready to harvest.
Take note also of the depth that the different seeds should be sown at - too shallow and they’ll either blow away or be eaten by the birds,
too deep and you may bury them alive! Try to space seeds evenly, though if you 22
sow too many you can thin out the weaker seedlings after they appear.
Do remember that with many crops it is better to sow just a few and then sow again in a few weeks time to avoid having too many ready to harvest all at once. Salad crops such as lettuce will bolt if left too long, and other vegetables which may have a short harvesting period can be enjoyed for much longer if you save the seed and sow a few in succession every few weeks.
For many people part of the attraction of growing your own is eating chemical free produce and organic methods of pest control will therefore be preferred.
To advertise in thew
Little and often is
best - take a quick walk around the veg patch each morning and hand pick any emerging weeds. Hoeing also works well and if you are careful not to let weeds set seed you’ll avoid a long-term problem. Of course the situation isn’t helped by the fact that your patch is likely to have large amounts of bare soil on it between widely spaced rows at this time of year. Some crops, such as potatoes will obligingly grow to ultimately block out the light and deter weeks, but if you’re really having problems then think about putting down a thick, organic, mulch to cover the bare soil.
Slugs will also emerge to attack your young seedlings - there’s no end of organic ways to do battle from hand picking at night and beer traps to watering in nematodes. Strike early and gain the upper hand!
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