Yippee! The weather is getting warmer and it’s time to properly crack on with growing food!! Loads to do in the food garden in March.
Here’s a list of jobs to be thinking about for the food garden in March:
- Cover seed beds (cloches, fleece, plastic) to warm up the soil before sowing
- Sow seeds undercover (sweet peppers, chilli peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, pumpkin, courgette, kale, spinach, chard, summer cabbage, celery, salads, basil, chives, parsley, dill, chervil, coriander, fennel, mint, oregano, tarragon, rosemary, thyme, sorrel)
- Sow seeds outdoors in mild areas (broad beans, carrots, parsnips, beetroot, perpetual spinach, kohl rabi, brussels sprouts, leeks, chard, radish, peas, leeks, turnip, cauliflower)
- Plant artichoke tubers, asparagus crowns, shallots, garlic, onion sets, early potatoes, strawberries
- Last chance to plant bare-root fruit trees
- Feed blueberry plants with ericaceous plant fertiliser and prune
- Cut autumn-fruiting raspberry canes to the ground to stimulate new canes
- Protect new spring shoots from slugs and use fleece to protect from frost
- Protect fruit blossom from frost, but make sure insects can access the flowers or hand pollinate them
- Net brassicas to protect from pigeons
- Hoe and mulch weeds to keep them under control early
- Force rhubarb (cover rhubarb crowns with an upturned bucket, clay pot or layer of straw to force them to grow faster, seeking out light.
- Mulch fruit trees, nut trees, raspberries, blueberries, and perennials (such as asparagus, rhubarb and artichokes). Don’t mulch up too high
- Apply a nitrogen feed to plums, cherries, blackcurrants, cooking apples, pears
- Feed your compost heap with all appropriate waste materials. Aim for an equal mix of nitrogen-rich green materials and carbon-rich brown materials. Turn every one or two weeks.
- Harvest parsnips, leeks, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, swede.