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Kitchen Garden - March
Vegetables
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You can really get going with sowing seeds this month. Lettuce, salad leaves, radish, turnips, beetroots, salad onions and broad beans can all be sown. Start by sowing in any soil that you previously warmed with cloches or fleece. Water before sowing as this will prevent tiny seeds being washed away. Ideally you should try and sow short rows every 10 to 14 days – this will ensure you have a succession of vegetables rather than a huge glut.
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Plant out young vegetable plants that you sowed indoors earlier. It’s a good idea to harden off the young plants in cold frames first. Plant them under cloches especially if the weather is cold. Prepare the ground by applying a general fertiliser – J Arthur Bower's Fish Blood & Bone or New Horizon Organic Poultry Manure.
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Plant early potatoes towards the end of the month. Delay until April if you live in the north of the UK. If you’re growing potatoes in the ground dig a trench about 12 cm (5 inches) deep. Fork in some J Arthur Bower's Blended Farm Manure and sprinkle some New Horizon Organic Poultry Manure into the soil removed from the trench. Plant the tubers about 30cm. (12 inches) apart with 45cm. (18 inches) between rows. Cover with soil.
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Potatoes can also be grown in raised beds or even large containers if you don’t have a lot of space. They need a minimum depth and width of 30cm. Half fill the bed/container with Multi-Purpose Compost of your choice, then plant the potatoes and cover leaving some space at the top.
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Feed winter lettuces and spring cabbages that were sown in September using a general fertiliser - J Arthur Bower's Fish Blood & Bone or New Horizon Organic Poultry Manure. Water in if the soil is dry.
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Prepare a seed bed for sowing winter crops such as broccoli, kale and sprouts. Rake the soil to a fine tilth and apply a general fertiliser
Fruit
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Feed all your established fruit bushes and trees with J Arthur Bower's Sulphate of Potash if you didn’t do so last month. This will help set a good crop of fruit. Scatter the feed in a circle around the tree at the rate of 35 grams a square metre (one ounce a square yard). Water in if the soil is dry and mulch.
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Plant container-grown fruit bushes and trees. See our planting guide for further tips. Water in well and mulch.
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Feed pot-grown strawberries every two weeks with J Arthur Bower's or New Horizon Liquid Tomato Food.
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Now’s the time to think about growing some herbs. If you haven’t got space for a separate herb garden, don’t worry. Many herbs can be grown in pots or dotted in among other plants. Seeds to sow this month include borage, chervil, chives, coriander, dill, fennel and marjoram. Sow in the ground or in small pots filled with your chosen Multi-Purpose Compost.
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If you have trouble germinating parsley, try this foolproof method. Fill a small shallow pot or tray with J Arthur Bower's Perlite. Water and allow to drain then sprinkle parsley seeds over the surface and cover with a thin layer of perlite. Keep covered with cling film in a warm place. The seeds should germinate within two weeks and can be carefully transplanted into Multi-Purpose Compost.
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Shrubby herbs that are slow to raise from seed, such as rosemary, mint, thymes and tarragon can be bought from garden centres. Mint is very invasive and is best planted in pots filled with your chosen Multi-Purpose Compost.
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Chives tend to become very congested and are best divided every couple of years. Lift them with a fork and split into small clumps. Fork some New Horizon Mulch & Mix plus a general fertiliser into the soil and replant the chives. Alternatively they can be grown in pots filled with Multi-Purpose Compost.
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