Green Fingers: Spring all up in the air
Last year one of our boys grew a pot of peas by the back door and had a snack all summer long, so you see, even a small section can bring satisfaction.
There is a long held tradition of ‘spring cleaning’ once the winter is over. I guess it is based on the fact that we had spent most of the duller months indoors and then, once the warmer months come around, we give our homes a good clean out for the summer.
The spillover of cleaning up and preparing for the summer also applies to our surrounding areas where we want to clean the shed, paint outdoor wooden fences and furniture and, of course, all the other activities associated with gardening.
But the growing season is short so I would prioritise getting ready for planting and sowing as soon as possible.
Growing some of your own edible crops is an amazing experience and can be carried out by most people regardless of how much space you have.
In practice in our own situation, we use raised beds, have a homemade glasshouse composed of Perspex for growing tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, and numerous containers of all sizes from old buckets, broken fish boxes, wheelbarrows and containers from packaging. They are all used to grow a selection of vegetables.
Last year one of our boys grew a pot of peas by the back door and had a snack all summer long, so you see, even a small section can bring satisfaction.
You can still grow nearly all types of vegetables and have a good harvest and that can continue until the end of June, after which the choice will be reduced every week.
Sunflowers are a fun plant and one of the easiest plants to grow. You can buy seeds or use some from the wild bird mix. It is quicker to start them in a small container or pot on the windowsill and leave them there until May when you can plant them out into the flowering position.
On a similar theme, there are many flowers that can be sown out directly into the ground, without the need for sowing indoors in trays. They include calendula, cornflower, godetia, larkspur, nasturtium, nigella, stock (night-scented) and sweet pea. All you have to do is put a layer of compost on the ground, sow the seeds thinly, rake in and water now and then if dry, until they have germinated but maybe put some slug protection until established.
An added bonus is that the majority of these flowers are good for pollinators, including bees.
If you fancy the thought of enjoying some home-grown fruit, then you can do no better than growing some strawberries. These can be in a dedicated bed or grown in a container of some sort and then placed outside, or for earlier crops in a covered tunnel, sunroom or conservatory. You can obtain some fruits within weeks but the bigger crops come in the second and third year.
Summer bedding and patio flowers are on offer in most garden shops now and can be planted up but keep them protected and out of cold winds and possible frosts for another week or so.
We place them in a group together in a sunny spot so they can harden off, be fed and cared for together conveniently and then move them into their final summer positions after the first week of May.
If you have any queries or comments you are welcome to share them with me on 051-384273 or orchardstowngardencentre@hotmail.com and if of general interest I will include them in a future article.
