It’s going to be a busy month in the garden.
Sowing & Transplanting
Outside: Broad beans, beetroot, kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, calabrese, carrots, cauliflower, celery, coriander, lettuce, onions, parsley, parsnips, peas, mange tout, potatoes, radish, spinach, swiss chard, turnip.
Under Glass: Alpine strawberries, basil, French beans, runner beans, courgette, cucumber, tomatoes, marrow, pumpkin, sweetcorn.
Pest & Disease Control
Use copper fungicide such as Cheshunt Compound to prevent seedlings ‘damping off’. Damping off is a fungal problem that causes seedlings to collapse and die. Watering from below, making sure there is good drainage and ventilation also help to reduce the problem.
As the weather warms up then slugs and snails will start to cause damage to young plants and seedlings. See our article on slug and snail control for ways to keep them at bay.
Cover brassicas (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, swedes, and turnips etc) with fleece to protect them from flea beetle attack.
In The Greenhouse
Bring a few potted strawberry plants into the greenhouse and you’ll get an early crop.
Check for early signs of red spider mite, aphids and caterpillars.
Make sure you have good ventilation in the greenhouse to stop grey mould becoming a problem.
Pruning
Prune plums and cherries as soon as the leaf buds open.
Water Conservation
Make sure you have enough water butts to keep you supplied in the summer.
Other Jobs
Prick out tomato seedlings i.e. transfer healthy seedlings to individual pots. Handle the seedlings carefully by their first leaves.
Put supports in place for peas and beans.
Protect apricot, peach and nectarine blossom from frost damage with horticultural fleece.
And the fun bit…Harvesting
Spring onions of course! Spring cabbage, caulifowers and radishes.