The Potting Shed March can be a busy month for sowing, particularly indoors – aubergines chillies and peppers –indoors or heated greenhouses – brassicas such as Brussels, sprouting broccoli cabbages, summer autumn and red. Cabbages can be given a head start by sowing the seeds under cover and planting on when all frost risk has passed. Keep the weeds at bay and hoe regularly.Don’t forget to feed your over-wintered crops such as onions, kale, spring cabbage - use blood, fish and bone meal, chicken manure or seaweed-based organic fertiliser. Also, herbs such as rosemary and sage will benefit from a good trim, and chives and mint can be propagated by dividing them and re-planting. If you have chitted your first early potatoes and the ground is not frozen, they can be planted out from mid-March or early April but it is well worth covering them to protect them from the late frosts. Don’t forget to add a light sprinkling of fertiliser to the trench and plant earlies about 30cm (12inches) apart with 40-50cm (16-60 inches) between rows, with the shoots pointing upwards. Second earlies and maincrop need more growing space, so plant them about 38cm (15inches) apart and 75cm (30inches) between rows. When the shoots appear, earth up each plant by covering it with a ridge of soil. If you want to grow asparagus, now is the time to prepare
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your bed and plant the crowns by digging a trench 12 inches deep and adding some well-rotted manure. Make a 4 inch ridge at the base and spread the roots of the crown over the ridge, replace the soil, leaving the tips just visible. Water in and add mulch. Don’t forget to leave the asparagus for two years before harvesting –it’s well worth the wait! Other jobs for this month include: • Lettuces and other salad crops can be sown, either indoors or outdoors, under cloches or in cold frames. Tomato and cucumber seeds can be sown indoors but wait until the end of the month. • Plant out onion and shallot sets. • Early varieties of carrot, beetroot, spring onions, peas, chard, parsnips, spinach and broad beans can be sown into the open ground. • Last chance for planting bare-rooted fruit trees and bushes. • Feed and mulch fruit trees –fertilise the base, water in and then cover with well-rotted manure or compost to act as a mulch. • Check cabbages for caterpillars and pick off. • Remove dead leaves from cabbages and Brussels.
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