Spring is coming and you can do this now in your garden
Sleds and snow plows aside: the garden season is starting to tickle again! You can now do this in your garden.
And read here all Barts Outdoor items, from plant cuttings for dummies to a completely 'edible' garden.
In February we start making a plan for our vegetable garden. We order the seeds and are increasingly excited to get started. We make compartments that are separated with roses: roses attract aphids and we hope that they will stay away from the vegetables. When the weather is good, we clear the soil of weeds.
Peas and peas can be sown as early as March, so we will do that first. Peas and peas fix nitrogen in the soil. We then sow crops that use that nitrogen, for example kale or endive.
We make three boxes, but if you also want to grow potatoes, it is better to make four boxes. We sow the peas and beans in the first box. In the second compartment all carrot and onion crops and in the third compartment all cabbage varieties. Every year we move everything up one subject. That is good for the soil. By the way, arugula is one of the cabbage varieties, so you know. We sow lettuce and the like where there is room. We also sow a lot of flowers that attract insects (now, in February, it is still too early for that, but it is possible in March).
We throw a large layer of compost in the compartment where the peas and beans come and in the cabbage compartment we sprinkle lime. What else? At the beginning of March we can sow the following: cress, onions, carrots, arugula, summer lettuce, pointed cabbage, flat-leaf parsley, radish, leek, beetroot, Swiss chard, spinach and broad beans.
Indoors (in a greenhouse) we can sow the following: summer cauliflower, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, fennel, basil and zucchini. It is very tempting to start sowing indoors very enthusiastically, but we know from experience that this can be disappointing. The plants then become too long and too weak. So we sow a little bit of everything and not too early. These plants can be moved outside in the second half of May. But most plants will have to be pricked out at some point.
We can now very well sow peas indoors. Buy a pack of green peas (from which you make pea soup: whole peas. Not split peas). Soak a handful of peas in water overnight. Take a flat container with garden soil. Place the peas on top and cover them with a layer of soil. Keep the soil moist. After about a week you will see the young peas emerge. When they are about 10 cm high, cut them and use them in a salad or smoothie. After the haircut they simply grow back. This way you can eat or make a drink from the same culture multiple times.
Container plants must be regularly checked for fungi and pests. We start with regular watering.
Early March is the best time to prune roses and butterfly bushes back to 10 cm above the ground. Lavender may be pruned back to the woody part. We can use branches of the butterfly bush as support material for plants that easily fall over.
In rainy weather we can sprinkle lime on the lawn for a good boost.
Shrubs can still be transplanted in March. Trees with bare roots can also be easily planted or transplanted this month.
If we haven't pruned the fall raspberries yet, we need to do so now. If you do not have such a large garden, we would choose the autumn raspberry rather than the summer raspberry. They often contain worms. With the autumn raspberry you don't have that problem. And you still have your own fruit until the end of October. There are also yellow raspberries. We don't like them that much ourselves. Very sweet, but no raspberry flavor. Raspberries can still be planted throughout the month of March. Raspberries can grow quite well in the shade.
Finally, a few edible plants: the olive willow. It is not self-pollinating, so you have to plant two different varieties for fruiting.
Stauntonia: you can sow it yourself.
Dogwood: attracts bees.
Acca Sellowiana (pineapple guava): should be kept in a dry, warm place out of the wind. Is not self-pollinating.
