Gardener’s Diary – March 2014

Plant Summer Flowering Bulbs

Now is the perfect time to plant bulbs for a wonderful summer display. Summer bulbs should be planted in spring as the soil begins to warm up. The ideal soil temperature is 13 degrees C as in colder soil, bulbs will not start to grow and they may rot. We have a lovely selection of Bulbs including Iris, Lilies and Freesias.

Know Your Onions

Onion sets are now available in-store for spring planting. Onions require a well-prepared bed to achieve good growth, so make sure you have thoroughly dug over the site with a fork. Remove any weeds from the site and add general fertilizer to improve yields.

Plant Your Early Potatoes

You should have already prepared your seed potatoes earlier in the year for planting now. Planting can take place as soon as the risk of frost has passed during spring, March – May. Harvesting can take place at different times of the year depending on the type of crop. To get your potatoes off to a good start, it is recommended that you ‘chit’ them before planting. This allows strong chits (sprouts) to develop on the tubers before plating. This process is not essential for Main Crop varieties but is strongly recommended for First Earlies and is advised for Salad Varieties and Second Earlies.

To ‘chit’ seed potatoes, place them just touching in a seed tray with the ‘rose’ end (where most of the ‘eyes’ are) facing upwards. It is these eyes that will form the chits. Place the trays in a cool, frost-free environment with a temperature of around 45 degree F / 7 degree C.

The aim of chitting is to produce plump, dark green or purple shoots about 1in/2.5cm long.  Long, white shoots are a sign of too much heat and not enough light.  If shoots are slow to appear, about 3 weeks before planting, move the tubers to a warmer position for a couple of weeks and then back to the original, cooler place for the final week

          Harvesting

First Earlies: June – July

Second Earlies: July – September

Main Crop: September – October

Get Sowing

Many flowers and vegetables need germinating now so choose your favourites and start sowing. Choose a suitable seed compost such as John Innes Seed Soil-Based Compost – this is suitable for flowers, herbs and vegetables and is finely textured to suit seeds and cuttings. Start by sowing indoors or in a heated greenhouse and begin planting outside once the risk of frost has passed.

Deal With The Weeds

During spring, weeds will start to come back into growth. It is advised to deal with them now before they get out of hand. TumbleWeed is a strong, systemic weed killer that can be used on general and stubborn weeds. Available in a ready to use 1 litre spray bottle and as 500ml concentrate for mixing with water.

Start Feeding Fish

Use a low temperature Wheatgerm food such as Hikari or Tetra. Wheatgerm is easier for the fish to digest as it is rich in fibre is highly nutritious. Don’t forget to protect your fish from hungry Herons with a pond net.

Come down to our Leicestershire Garden Centre and speak with our helpful team for more advice.

Published March 5th, 2014 by Joshua. Article ref 2484

Tags: bulbs, Fish, flowers, garden, gardening, march, spring, summer

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