Watercress
"Go Wild in the Country", The Dartmouth Gardener
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 seeds, cutting back winter shrubs and, if not all ready done, generally tidying up around the garden.
The long winter seems to have lasted since way back in August - remember all that cold wet weather? And yet despite the bone-chilling easterly winds of February, 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 some colour in mid Febuary.
The cold dry weather can provide an opportunity to get on the flowerbeds and finish off any pruning and cutting back of plants such as perennial grasses like Miscanthus. Spot weeding is also a good idea picking out weeds before they get chance to flower and set seed. 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 too 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, if conditions permit, you will find a long list of tasks opposite that should be undertaken.
I have often been asked when is the best time to dig over the vegetable patch? I usually take the lead from farmers - if I’m driving along one of our local lanes looking at the back end of a tractor and plough, then it’s time to fire up the rotavator.
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, e.g. 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.
First Published March/April 2013 By The Dart
