THIS MONTH IN THE GARDEN (March) by Derek Cox

On Tuesday 30th March at 7.00pm you will find me in the Syston Library in Upper Church Street, where I shall be giving a talk about growing vegetables in containers. The talk is to demonstrate how even a beginner, or person with a small garden or even just a paved area can produce a crop of delicious, homegrown vegetables.
Seed potatoes are now available from a number of garden centres or super stores. I have received six each of seven early, or mid season varieties and all will be grown in 25 litre black plastic pots. When I received the seed potatoes, I set them up in either egg trays or plastic cell trays, the crown of eyes being uppermost. Seed potatoes should be chitted in a cool, but frost-free place; I use the bench in my garage and cover them with horticultural fleece at night. Potatoes will chit faster in a warm environment, but then the emerging shoots will be very soft and more prone to fungus and slug problems. During late March, I find children will love to germinate mustard and cress and this is an ideal way to introduce them to gardening. If you have a cold greenhouse during late March, you can also sow the seed of a number of salad type vegetables and even short horn carrots. Lettuce ‘Little Gem’ and ‘Tom Thumb’, radish and spring onions are ideal to grow in grow bags, or thinly in 10/15 litre pots. I sow carrot ‘Adelaide’ in 25 litre black tubs containing John Innes number two compost. I sow thinly over one-half of the tubs, the other half being sown a month later. This will ensure you have young carrots over a three-month period. Seed should be sown over the surface of level compost, then lightly covered with Vermiculite. Freshly sown seed and young seedlings should be kept moist, but not wet. Over watering is the main cause of seed or young plants rotting. Although my snowdrops started to poke their heads through the ground during late January, the cold frosty weather brought them to an abrupt holt. A few mild days during February brought them back into life and by late February they were at their best. I have 29 different varieties of Snowdrops, this might sound a lot, but one of the large gardens at Wellington in Shropshire has 500 different types, but some are so alike I would find it hard to tell the difference. As soon as they have finished flowering and in full leaf, is the time to divide, or purchase snowdrops. Small dry bulbs purchased in the autumn, although cheap, will give you very disappointing results. Odd though it may seem, many plants will only germinate when the seed has come through a period of cold temperature. A good example of this is the Helleborus hybrids, in my garden hundreds of tiny seedling appeared beneath existing plants during early January and the long period of frost does not seem to have affected them.