As we officially move into spring, what are the key vegetable gardening tips we need for the weekend ahead?
See: Kitchen garden ideas – easy ways to get started
TV gardening guru Monty Don to the rescue, as he shares the five key kitchen garden jobs to do this month on his website.
These include things you can do on warm or cold days, wet weather tasks, indoor jobs, and seed sowing, too. These five jobs will help to ensure a tasty and varied harvest from your vegetable plot this year.
1. Sow lettuce, tomato, beetroot, cabbage and celery seeds
At this time of year, Monty Don advises sowing these seeds under cover. So until the weather warms up sufficiently, start them off either in a greenhouse or on cool windowsills.
'Do not sow any seeds outside if the ground feels cold to touch,' he says. However, if the weather is warm enough you can sow beetroot seeds outside, see below.
See: How to grow tomatoes – the best ways to grow your own tomato plants
2. Sow broad beans, rocket and spinach outside if the weather is warm and dry
Feel the soil in your hands, says Monty. If it feels warm enough, you can also sow beetroot, radish, mizuna, winter lettuce and parsnips straight into the ground.
See: Raised bed gardening mistakes – and Gardener Scott's advice on how to avoid
3. Start seed potatoes
The TV gardener says it's time to 'chit' potatoes (allow them to sprout).
Egg cartons make perfect containers for seed potatoes. Place them somewhere cool and light until the shoots are 1-2cm long. The seed potatoes can be planted out in the vegetable plot at the end of March or early April if the ground is dry enough.
'Planting potatoes is dead easy,' says Monty Don in an episode of Gardeners' World. 'I start by drawing a deep drill and add a few inches of compost along the bottom of it.'
Next the expert places the seed tubers on the compost about 18 inches apart, and draws the soil back over the planted potatoes. 'The rows do need to be far enough apart to allow for earthing up later on when the new foliage appears,' he adds.
See: How to grow potatoes – an expert guide
4. Plant out shallot and onion sets
Photo by Quin Engle on Unsplash
Until firmly rooted, newly planted shallots and onions remain vulnerable to birds pulling them from the ground. Monty Don advises covering them with fleece for around two weeks after planting to protect them.
5. Prune red and white currants and gooseberries
Photo by Jeremy Zero on Unsplash
It's time to prune gooseberries, and red and white currants. The aim is to have a good open, cup shape to the bushes.
'To start with, prune away the middle, because the big problem with redcurrants, white currants and gooseberries is sawfly and mould,' says Monty Don as he demonstrates the pruning technique in a video from Gardeners' World. 'And both of them are best dealt with by good ventilation.'
See: Monty Don shares his top tips for pruning hydrangeas in spring
Once you have the desired open shape, feed them with chicken manure pellets and add a thick layer of garden compost over the roots.
