GreenFriends™ UK

Gardening Corner: February/March 2010

« Back to archive

"Nature gives all her wealth to human beings. Just as Nature is dedicated to helping us, we too should be dedicated to helping nature."
From Man and Nature by Amma

Under Snow Again late February - March

The allotment is under snow yet again – so no work on it most of last month. We do plan to replant the garlic as it has not been happy with all the frozen ground and snow cover. We also are going to pot up seeds indoors to give them a warm friendly environment in which to germinate. These include chillis, peppers, aubergines and tomatoes. As last month’s post said, it's best to do this now so they have time to grow before going out to the greenhouse. Make sure the soil you are putting them into is room temperature as well. We then cover them with some clear plastic sheets and keep them moist but not waterlogged.

We have ordered our potatoes and onion sets to go into the bed in April. Now is the time to get potatoes started: take them out into the light and cool so they can grow some shoots. Its called ‘chitting’; the more shoots they have before planting the better.

We also plan to order a lorry load of manure to put in the soil before we put in the potatoes. This is usually rather a messy job and often seems to coincide with rain. We get a friend to help and we spend the day happily slipping and sliding in muck, trying to avoid falling face first into the huge pile outside the allotment door. We have had some near misses. I will try to get a photo so you can see what we have to deal with. The soil is happy and so are all the vegetables.

We are still eating our own potatoes, onions, garlic and roots, pretty amazing really though we have started to buy British carrots to supplement our diets. With food having gone up so much in price growing your own makes even more sense.

Hopefully next month we will be able to stun you with impressive pictures of the allotment and a more helpful article.

Winter Work on the Allotment Early February

Now at the beginning of the year there are a few things you can be getting on with. Firstly, it is a good time to begin to think about what you want to grow this season. What vegetables do you want (or like)? Is there a possibility of fruit? Next month we will talk about what we have chosen to grow and why. Any repair work or general maintenance can be done now. We have some greenhouse windows to repair which we haven’t been able to get to because of the snow. There's some digging to do to expand some beds but again the snow has hindered this. The rain has also not helped as the soil is now very waterlogged. Digging waterlogged soil is not recommended, as it can make the soil very hard to cultivate afterwards, as well as being much harder work.

There is no point in worrying about the weather as you can do nothing about it. You just have to wait until conditions are ready. Amma says that patience, along with enthusiasm and optimistic faith form the mantra for a successful life. When the weather is difficult seems a good time to practise this!

Talking of winter and snow, we were very kindly given a digital camera for Christmas, and so finally have some photos of our allotment to show you. We hope to make this a regular feature of these articles so that you can see how we do things (which isn't necessarily the same thing as the right way!). So here are some pictures of the snow fall in the New Year, showing our allotment at the peak of the snow fall on the 6th of January; and our bird feeders. The poor things have been starving in the cold weather.

Allotment Diary

Now the snow has cleared we are able to continue harvesting leeks, swedes and salsify. The last of these is an unusual root from Europe with a delicate flavour. The kale has recovered from the snow quite well, and the spinach is also looking OK. We are surprised at this as the spinach does not react well to cold.

The exciting news is that our December planted garlic (very late but it worked last year) has started to sprout, even after 4 weeks of snow.

Mid to late February is the time to seed up chillis, sweet peppers, aubergines and tomatoes. This gives them plenty of growing time in the warmth of the house. Seed them up into medium sized pots, 2 to a pot, keep it moist but not waterlogged and wait. Seeds can take 3-4 weeks to germinate. Once big enough (say 4-5 inches tall with at least 6-8 leaves) choose the stronger one and cut the weaker one away. We will talk with you next month about how it is all going. We are continuing to keep the birds well fed.

Happy gardening and see you all next month

- Richard and Kaivalya

For GreenFriends™ events in the UK Click Here for events for everyone and here for Youth events.

To read more about GreenFriends™ click here