No, not an April fool, but I would be if planting seeds just now!

We’ve had a cold period since early march so nothing much doing in the SFG. The onions sets and garlic are just showing through and the seedling onions (see photo below) seem to have survived. No sign of the broad bean seedlings yet.

One problem is what to do with the transplanted French Beans, rocket etc. Well, it’s far too cold to plant out tender seedlings so I’m going to keep them growing in their pots, indoors, until it’s warmer. Don’t worry if you haven’t managed to plant anything yet, it’s far better to wait until the ground and air temperatures warm up, then the seeds will germinate quicker and plants grow stronger and faster.

If you’re really bursting to plant something and don’t have a lot of space, how about a small herb garden?

My neighbour’s daughter bought a flexible, circular, plastic container from a supermarket, filled it with a sandy growing medium (from a garden centre) and divided it into six segments for different herbs. This container is indoors but could be outside, in a sunny sheltered place, in a large plastic bag (its own greenhouse), until the weather gets warmer.

The SFG will have to do without me for a couple of weeks, so I’ve asked a friendly neighbour to keep an eye on the seedlings and everything else will have to look after itself...

Have a good Easter break!

Milk containers to protect my onions

First a couple of points relating to the previous March report. In the photo showing the planting of the onion sets I should have pointed out that the white marker indicated where I had ‘pushed in’ the first of the sets; the other two await being pushed in. All that should show is the very top of the onion.

Secondly, I suggested that you ‘chit’ your potatoes in the dark. That was an ‘old codgers’ tale gleaned from someone who used to put them under his bed to chit! It is really much better to chit in a frost free daylight position as the sprouting ‘chits’ are far stronger. Mine are in a porch; windowsills are a good alternative.

On to today's update now.

The weather is warmer and forecast good so I’ve taken another chance today and planted out the onions I’ve grown from seed, in modules, over winter. They had good roots and were getting too big for the modules.

However, as the SFG is on my exposed allotment I have protected them for a while with cut-off milk containers. These will be removed in a couple of weeks when the onions have hardened off. Note: the container is not yet over the onion in the photo below.

The French beans I sowed last week have germinated and then grown quickly into tall, almost ‘leggy’, plants. It’s too cold to plant them yet, so to establish good roots I’ve planted them on into individual pots.

Do the same for other seedlings as they germinate while waiting for the warmer, frost free, weather. If you have too many seedlings, some plants, like rocket, lettuce, coriander etc could be grown to maturity, two or three to a pot, on the windowsill.

Feeding the soil and planting some more

The ground’s a little warmer so I’ve been doing a bit more work. Bearing in mind that the produce we grow feeds us, we need to think about feeding the soil. As an organic gardener I tend not to use chemical fertilizers. I make my own compost and I buy some well rotted manure every couple of years. I’ve put some of this onto the SFG (see photo below) and dug it into all but the corner SF where I have planned to grow carrots (They don’t like it). The advantages of incorporating organic material, compost or manure, is that it helps the soil structure and water retention and worms love it.

The broad bean plants are still alive and today I’ve planted three more. This time I’m planting seeds which are quite hardy. Just make the holes with something like an old broom handle, about 2cm deep, about 10cm apart, pop them in and cover.

In the next square I’ve planted 3 onion sets. Really easy; ideally space them about 20cm apart, but as space is limited I’ve squeezed them in 10cm apart along the north-east edge of the SFG. In the centre of the SF I’ve pressed in a single garlic clove to see what happens! (see photo 2) This leaves a bit of space in that SF for some onions I have been growing over winter from seed, I’ll wait until it warms up a bit before planting them out.

Indoor preparations

It’s still too cold to plant much outside but we can compensate for this by planting indoors, on a window sill or in a small propagating unit.

The first job is to get a potato ‘chitting’ or beginning to sprout. I’ve chosen to plant Pink Fir Apple, a nice waxy potato. Children like the shape because it’s a bit rude! The photo shows a large 5 tuber spud from last year and the one by itself which I’ll chit and plant this year. To chit simply put somewhere dark, and some say warm, but I leave mine in the garage. If you don’t want to plant more than one just pick an old potato from your veg cupboard and chit that.

The other job was to plant some seeds to germinate in pots on the window sill. I’m using an ordinary, peat free, seed and cutting compost. I’ve just under-filled a 100mm pot, watered it and planted 5 dwarf French bean seeds, then covered with a few mm of compost. In the smaller pot I’ve scattered about 20 cut-and-come-again lettuce seeds and covered lightly. This variety will give mixed leaves and produce a crop for some time.

In the picture below, I have included "one I did earlier", a small pot of rocket seedlings to plant out when it gets warmer.

Planting in pots means an earlier crop and less chance of frost or slug damage. An alternative to pots are modules in a mini-greenhouse which sits in the porch or window sill.  I’ve started some tomatoes and peppers in these modules (for pots in the garden) but there is just space for the pots just planted.

Keep an eye on the seeds, when they germinate and pop through they can easily grow really fast and become ‘leggy’, tall and spindly. Try to avoid this by moving pots to somewhere cooler until ready to plant out.

Soon, I’ll be planting a few onion sets and two or three broad bean seeds to go with those planted earlier (and have survived the cold snap last week). Watch out for more photos.

Initial plot and planting

Lured out by the sun I marked out the Square Foot Garden (SFG) on a bit of allotment I had dug over in the autumn. I reused some old door frame, chopped into sticks, and a length of redundant clothes line (reusing things to ensure sustainability of resources).

I’ve avoided a wooden frame as I find that these get wet, remain damp in dry times and provide a lovely home for slugs and snails!

Then the sun really went to my head and, maybe foolishly, I planted 3 broad bean plants that were getting too big for their pots (roots about 8 inches/ 20cm long and out of the bottom of the pot) and have left room for a few broad bean seeds in case the plants are frosted beyond recovery.

As the ground is still quite cold I‘ve covered the rest with a bit of black sheeting which will help the soil to warm and discourage the weeds from germinating. (Black dustbin liners or similar will do). I’ve held this down with wood etc. to avoid it being blown away by the wind.

When the seeds arrive I may well plant a few French beans, some rocket and lettuce in pots on a window sill, ready for transplanting when it’s a bit warmer (broad beans are hardier).

Don’t worry if you can’t start yet, there’s plenty of time and you may well miss another cold spell.