A busy time of the year! This weekend we’re pricking out our tomato seedlings into their own individual pots.
Use straight potting mix – no need to sieve it. It’s best if the punnet soil is a bit dry – this way the roots will come out more easily with a good clump of soil on them. Use a knife to carefully cut out each seedling. I’m going to leave the ones that haven’t formed their second leaf (or first true leaf) yet as transplanting when they’re at this stage knocks their growth rate a bit. Make a hole right to the bottom of the pot and plant the seedling nice and deeply. Roots will grow out of the stem and help form a good size root ball.
Water and leave in a sheltered place to grow on.
Next, we’re sowing our cucurbits… zucchini, cucumber, pumpkin, rock melon and watermelon.
As the seeds are so big they’re going straight into their own individual pots from the start. And straight potting mix again. Push them down to the width of the seed and firm in. Water and leave in a sheltered spot. The melons are super slow to germinate and grow, so be patient.
Label everything carefully. Ultimately you’ll find out what it is you’ve grown even if you do lose a label, but in the case of the tomatoes, it’s nice to know what to expect.
Peas and beans (and sweet peas) can be sown now too. We sow ours in the recycled 6-cell punnets you get from the garden centres because the plants are not as big as the cucurbit ones. Straight potting mix as the seeds are big enough.
Sweetcorn seeds are sown now too – same as for the peas and beans – 6-cell punnets or similar. Rob will recommend putting two seeds in each cell and if they both germinate, he just cuts one off, but I’m true to my Scottish ancestry and put just one in – if it doesn’t germinate I pop another seed in to replace it.
And just a note to remember to sow marigolds and basil as companion plants for tomatoes. Both are slow to grow from seed.
Our strawberry plants were new last year so they’re established in our garden but they need to size up. Being established means they’re putting out flowers, now that the temperatures are increasing.
For me, it’s better to have the plants a good size, so that they support a good crop during summer, so I’m taking all the flowers off and giving them a side dressing of Blood and Bone (which has no potassium in it, potassium being the mineral that stimulates flower growth). In a couple of weeks’ time I’ll give them a boost of chicken manure and that should ensure good size plants and a good yield around the beginning of November, lasting through most of the summer.
Our fruit trees are just budding up now with the odd blossom appearing, so that means time to get the codling moth traps in the trees.
Ingredients are:
5 cups warm water, 1 cup cider vinegar, ½ cup molasses, dash of ammonia, dash of detergent. Mix together well and fill milk bottles which have had a circle cut out on either side (this is the entrance for the moths). Tie to the tree between two branches using the handle of the bottle.
Our seed potatoes have germinated and we need to do our first hill-up. Gently move the soil from the mounds over the new growth and create a trough where the mound was. Cover a good part of the foliage but not all. Those of you in cool climates will just be planting yours in the Full Moon phase coming up next weekend.
And lastly, just like zucchinis in the summer, you need to check your asparagus patch for new spears every second day – make the most of this exceptional vegetable at this time of the year!
Happy Spring gardening!
From Jan and Rob
5 Responses
Potato can be planted from June as long cardboard covers them when frosty.
Great tips, thanks Jan!!
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Hi
Can you please advise how often the codling moth traps need to be replenished
Not that often Linda – maybe a couple of times during the warmer months. Really only when they evaporate away.