Mid February let propagation begin 🌱
Many of us have itchy fingers, waiting to sow seeds, and now is a good time to begin. On the understanding that we are reasonably likely, in temperate climates, to have suitable conditions for transplanting outside around the middle of March.
Homeacres is a temperate oceanic climate. We expect frosts until early May, and no great heat. Therefore, all early plantings are covered with fleece (see Gardening Naturally for all such products) to protect them from cold winds. All sowings now are of frost hardy vegetables.
Find more details in my sowing timeline, and Calendar. And in this newsletter which I published 13th February on Mailchimp.
No dig
With no dig, it will soon be time to pass a rake lightly over beds to knock out any lumps in the compost. Also to disturb weed seedlings germinating. Mainly that is in early March and onwards.
It’s still not too late to make beds. In fact you can make new, no dig beds at any time of year, as in the video.
Older beds and fertility
The beds you see in my photographs are 10 years old. We never fork or disturb the soil. Just spread around 2.5 cm/1 inch of new compost every year. This feeds soil life, and we do it usually in late autumn, before the New Year. If you have not yet spread new compost for a year of fertility, you can do it now.
The depth measurement I give is after compost has settled. When first spread, it’s loose and fluffy and looks more, but then it loses volume. Therefore the 2.5 cm is a decent amount. It’s sufficient for a whole year of cropping with two plantings. We did not apply fresh compost in summer. I use no feeds or fertilisers either.
On pathways is 2cm or so of woodchip, often aged a little. Or you can use fresh.
Hi Charles, thanks for all your help. I’m wondering when you transfer your Rosada tomato cuttings out into the unheated bit of your greenhouse to get more light? I read you planted some in Mid-April (after frost risk I guess), but noticed them in one of your videos on the bench in your greenhouse before then. I’ve taken cuttings for the first time, they have survived well but at the moment they are on my warm kitchen windowsill and I think they’ll need more light to prevent them getting leggy! I think our last frost date in North Wales, close to the sea, will be late March/early April.
Thanks,
Julie
Hi Julie
You have done well there. And one way you can get more light on your plants is to take them to your greenhouse whenever there is a frost free spell of weather. So mine were out there from Christmas to the middle of January for example and that reduces the legginess, having full light. I shall take them out again today, as we are to have a few days without frost again, also you can pinch out the tops of any plant and treat them like a side shoot, put them in a pot to make new plants, which are much shorter! Your old plant might make you more new plants with side shoots, or those could become a new leader. Have fun!
Interesting comment about beetroot and weeds. I have noticed the same thing. I have just harvested more than a handful of small beetroot all surrounded by weeds and they were all delicious. I have also noticed summer rocket ‘coming back’ and those too were surrounded by sneaky weeds.
I never thought I would sieve my own homemade compost but I have just finished doing just that for my seed sowing. I am such a different gardener to the one I was four years ago! Thanks again !
One interesting observation not planned for this winter: I left some beetrooots in the ground over the winter and various weeds grew along with them, including the odd large one which completely covered over the odd root.
After a winter with plenty of frosts down to -6C, all those beetroot which were exposed to the air had died, whereas when I was weeding the bed of some significant sized beasties, I found a perfectly healthy beetroot, ready to eat, protected from the frosts by one of those horrible ‘weeds’.
I’m not saying this should become a preferred growing strategy, merely adding a nugget of information as to how plants can band together to survive the winter frosts….
It’s a bit similar to letting plants grow under fruit trees in dry climates to help preserve moisture – I seem to get better fruit harvests on my cherry and plum tree if I let ‘the weeds’ grow under them up to late May before using them as a compost additive at the time there is plenty of grass clippings, cardboard etc to compost too. No doubt I should be planting a mixture of perennial pollinators under them to have ‘the right sort of moisture retention’….
Nice observations!
I sowed a wildflower mix under apple trees yesterday 🙂
Another interesting observation is that I left a few Autumn King carrots in the ground over winter and harvested them all yesterday to put in the shed for early spring food.
With all the hard frosts, it was nice to see that they were all free of major fly damage. Not yet washed them as they preserve better with soil on them, but no evidence of anything major. I wonder if hard frosts might kill off that kind of pest?