Gloriously days are as long as the nights and you can almost feel summer on the tips of your fingers. We have been treated to rather a spoilt soft start to spring, one may say a fools spring, the weather was super warm and the sun was glowing. It’s all change now though as I watch the snow flurries across the garden, jumper and woolly hat on with the temperatures barely hitting 10, it makes for a strange sight, the cherry blossom in full flower with the prettiest of snowfalls as its backdrop. I have been treated to some wonderful early morning light though while walking the dog, there’s simply nothing nicer than the light streaming through the trees with not a soul about.
Despite the current chilly snap. the garden continues to be full of spring flowers, tulips are coming out, Primroses, Muscari and my favourite fritillaries are very much prominent this month. I’m wanting to get more Fritillaries around the garden, especially the ‘Snakeshead’ variety (above right). There’s a wooded area that’s particularly good for these ones, not much else likes it as it’s under the huge oak but these flowers like shade so they’re very happy. I’ve been harvesting one of my favourite veggies and that’s the Purple Sprouting Broccoli. Its a long game veg this one, get sown in late Summer but you don’t reap the harvest until March the following year so they do take up space. I have just 3 plants though for myself and Nick and that’s plenty. I guess it takes up about 2 or 3 ft of my patch so not too dramatic, in any case the results speak for themselves, the photo below shows my first harvest and I promise you, you’ll never buy it from a supermarket again!. That is what it’s all about for me, harvesting super tasty food that boycotts the huge supermarkets with their forced, tasteless offerings. It really is a no-brainer for me
I just recently visited Great Dixter Gardens in East Sussex for their Spring Fair. I honestly hadn’t intended to buy much but Dixter has a wonderful nursery and I did buy some more plants to infill some spaces in the front garden which we turned from lawn to flower garden last year. With such a big project as it was you have to let the garden organically develop. Some plantings worked well of course, most of them in fact but some have not survived and there are a few gaps where we have moved some around. Dixters plants are so well produced that we always choose this as our first point of call and I am look forward to getting these going. They’re all in the cold frame currently just sitting out this bought of a cold snap.
The kitchen garden always is my pain point of focus, nothing nicer than growing my own food and being able to pick fresh food all year round. It takes some hard work and some dedication, mainly to get a succession of veg through the year is down to timing your sowings and so it’s a little bit of a learned art but one that pays off if you can think about what you are sowing when. Drawing your plot on paper and planning growing areas will save you making mistakes when it comes to planting out, some people follow a rigid plating guide but apart from sowing , my planting is quite fluid. I don’t worry about what follows what or do any rotation of vegetables (shock horror!); I rather just plant where I feel like it and where things have worked. Unless you have had a soil-borne disease then small gardens that are regularly mulched each year really cannot accommodate a 3 year rotation which a lot of books suggest. If you haven’t mulched any beds yet then it’s a very good idea to feed the soil from above by layering some mulch or organic matter prior to sowing and planting. If you are sowing direct then compost is ideal as its consistency is such that the seeds are able to germinate well but if you are planting out, your mulch can be somewhat bulkier like home-made compost or manure. I am a no dig advocate so lay your mulch, approx. 3-4cm and leave it. The organisms in the soil will do the hard work for you, digging soil breaks up vital fungal networks and disturbs the life balance that microorganisms achieve under the soil.
It’s been a crazy time for seed sowing and the greenhouse continues to be stacked full of seedlings. Its also being overrun with rocket that’s now gone to flower and seed, I will collect the seeds later to add into my subscriptions. I adore rocket flowers they’re one of the prettiest in the garden, simple tiny creamy white flowers with a delicate purple veining (Pic. below right) and at this early time of the year provides much needed food for the bees. On that note I do encourage you to leave things to flower, like kale and cabbage, don’t pull it up too quick, or indeed be too quick to tidy the garden. Leaving these things to flower in situ really does help the bees early on, so tidy that all up later once the flowers have spent. My kale has been covered in little bumblebees, such a delight to see.
My tender heat loving seedlings like aubergine, melon, sweet pepper, and chilli have now been potted on and are still on the hot bed and will remain so for a while yet. Other seeds, lettuce, spinach, beetroot, celeriac, celery, leeks, early cabbage and broccoli are on heat to germinate then get removed to grow on elsewhere. Heat definitely helps with germination so if you sow now it definitely helps, but if you don’t have any then just wait until warmer weather to germinate your seeds. Herbs you can keep sowing through the year for a steady supply, a new perennial to me this year is Sorrel ( left pic above), it’s sort of Lemony/Applely flavoured, delicious and I am look forward to adding that to the kitchen garden stock, being a perennial it will come back each year too.
I don’t know about where you are but it’s been quite dry far in Sussex which has made it very pleasant to work in. April is a fab time where what we do now will see us through the remainder of the year (for the most part anyway so it’s worth putting in some effort now as its prime time sowing heaven. March and April are top months for sowing and by May things will be really speeding along so get started this month and it will be less hectic in May. It takes 4-6 weeks from sowing to planting thereabouts so April is a busy month if you want things planted out in May you will need to get going now. As regards of what to sow in April, it really depends on if you are sowing indoors or outside. Indoor sowing you can sow almost any vegetable crop, winter leeks, cabbage, cauliflowers, kohl rabi, rocket, swede, turnip, lettuce perpetual spinach, chard and sweetcorn are all fine to sow now; direct sowing outside you will need to wait until May except peas and broad beans ( they’re hardy so fine to be outside). I sow my peas into a piece of guttering filled with compost and then once they’ve germinated slide them out into a trench, on Instagram there’s a reel showing how i do just that. It’s a simple way to sow and fun too. The photo on the left above shows the peas that are now in the ground, I have made a teepee this year due to space. This variety is ‘Alderman’ and can reach 6ft! I know its going to take over this space and I can’t wait to be picking the fresh pods! To be honest they barely make it inside, fresh sweet peas are one of the ultimate joys of gardening. The other picture is of our new greyhound Sophie, she loves to ‘help’ – in this case squashing all the self-seeded Limnanthes. These beauties really give some good food for pollinators, especially hoverflies, they’re also known as the ‘Poached Egg’ plant as they’re white with a large yellow centre.
Years ago if you had asked me about flowers I would have said ‘ not interested, I just want to grow veg’ so much has changed since those early days, I now realise the importance of biodiversity in your garden. I grow a lot of flowers from seed and companion plant in my veg beds. Not only do they give colour but more importantly help all our beneficial insects. That’s reflected in my subscriptions where you’ll receive a mix of vegetables herbs and flowers seeds to highlight importance towards a biodiverse habitat. Flowers attract insects that take care of our pests. Nature has a way of looking after itself so I believe that if you don’t interfere with the garden’s natural ecosystem (no chemicals or nasties) and you provide a diverse habitat your plot will be healthier, the pollinators will be attracted by flowers and in turn they’ll take care of the pests. You can also make a start on sowing gorgeous annual flowers for summer like cosmos and zinnia this month. These are easy to sow and grow but do like warmth so keep them growing inside until late spring and plant out when risk of frost has passed. You can also germinate these on a sunny windowsill with good light. I’ll be showing how I grow them on and pinch them out later on encouraging them to be stocky and bushy resulting in more flowers, hooray!
Of course this month for me is all about tomatoes, sowing can start anytime from end March to end April and I find they’re one of the most rewarding things to grow, I adore tomatoes so starting to sow them really makes me smile, that promise of sweet tasty fruits through summer just cannot be beaten! Roll on salted tomato toasted sandwiches, yum yum! If you have the option to sow tomatoes on a heat mat they should take about a week to germinate and they’ll need to stay on heat until much later in the year, May would be a good planting out time ( after last frosts). For those of you that are on my seed subscriptions then you’ll already have received my sowing tips for tomato growing success, they’re easy really but a few pointers goes a long way. Joining up to a subscription is easy just visit the website and click the subscriptions at the top of the page, they’re a super way to get seeds every month and no need to get stressed about planning what to sow when, I do the work for you and simply send them at the right time to sow.
My tomatoes were sown on 20th March (pic. below) and I have just moved them into small pots to continue growing. They’ll stay on heat for the time being and their final planting place will be in the greenhouse borders. I have 30 varieties this year so too many to fit in but I am hoping a miracle occurs and I find some more space somewhere. I have got hold of some heritage varieties which in turn I will be able to pass onto my subscribers next year. There are an amazing variety of colours and shapes so I’m really looking forward to seeing how they do.
