Gardening Diary
A gardening diary is very flexible especially during the next few months. This is mainly because of the weather - if there has been a lot of rain and the ground is sodden, the soil is best left alone as treading on it in such condition could cause more harm than good. Similarly with frost although if the soil has been turned over before the extreme cold, the frost will help break down the soil clods. However some preparatory work can be done.
January/February:
Wash down greenhouse kith diluted Jeyes fluid to sterilize it. Start tomato, cucumber and pepper in small seed pots in a heated greenhouse.
Cut dead wood off fruit bushes - raspberries, currants, tayberries etc Clear out remains of winter greens and root crops, soil condition permitting.
Later in February, if soil is well drained and crumbly, prepare for planting onion and shallot sets and early potatoes. Marie Bard for first crop and Kestrel for second are good strains but there are many varieties of early potatoes.
Lettuce seeds and early greens can be sown under cover.
March:
It's all go now, conditions permitting.
Fertilize autumn sown greens and onions and give fruit bushes a feed of potash and general fertilizer.
Plant second early and main crop potatoes at intervals, as with shallot and onion sets.
Winter greens can be sown for transplanting later in the year. Radish and spring onions can be sown at two week intervals to ensure continuous cropping.
Prepare ground for future sowing and, of course, weed and generally tidy plot.
April:
Transplant tomato and cucumber seedlings into gro-bags or large pots in greenhouse.
Carrot seeds can be sown under cover - fleece sheets will help deter carrot fly - also second crop peas. Later prepare trenches with rotted compost - this ground will
be used for runner beans. When these seedlings are 6" high, they will be staked with bamboo canes.
Continue sowing summer and autumn greens. for transplanting in June/July.
Happy digging!