Everyone wants to crack on in the vegetable garden in March, as the birds begin to sing and the days get longer – but the ground is still cold, and will be until it dries up. So don’t go mad and sow all your seeds – just put a few in and leave the rest until the soil has dried out.
- Sow:
early beetroot, carrots, lettuce, radish,spring onions, perpetual spinach directly into the ground
- peas & broad beans in pots
- celery in trays on warm window sill & keep moist
- leeks in a tray to thin later and leave under glass
- plant onion sets, garlic, Jerusalem artichokes & shallots if not already in
- plant early potatoes as soon as the ground is dry enough
seed-potato-in-hole
Crop:
Finish harvesting cabbages, leeks, parsnips, kale and sprouting broccoli.
sprout-row-February
Other jobs:
- mulch soft fruits with organic matter
- weed asparagus
- lift mint every 2 years & divide
- hoe weeds regularly before they get too big
- be on constant alert for slugs
black-slug
The vegetable garden in March is the start of the gardening season!
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Spring care of the asparagus bed involves weeding and feeding.
Weeding:
- spray the asparagus bed with glyphosate (Roundup) in early spring (as long as no asparagus have emerged).
- after a few days, when all weeds are dead, cover the bed with mulch to stop more weeds growing.
- keep the bed weed free by hand weeding – do not hoe because asparagus are shallow rooting.
Feeding:
- Feed asparagus with a general purpose fertiliser in mid-March
fresh-asparagus
Giving the asparagus bed proper care in the spring will allow the asparagus to fruit to its full potential.
Get creative in the kitchen and the garden, and enter the Love the Garden competition for the best vegetable recipe! The prize is a meal for two at the restaurant of your choice in the UK worth £200!
Every two months Love the Garden will select a new seasonal vegetable to feature in their Vegetable Garden Competition. This month its cabbage!
If you’ve got a great recipe featuring that vegetable, then all you have to do to enter is post the recipe on your blog. Then email Love the Garden the link at entries@lovethegarden.com to let them know. All the entries will be listed on the vegetable garden competition page and the recipe with the most votes wins!
If you think you’d like to enter or even just vote you can read all about the competition here: http://www.lovethegarden.com/blog/cabbage-recipe-competition
To vote for your favourite recipe go to the vegetable garden competition page .
At the end of the competition the vegetable recipe with the highest number of votes wins a fabulous dinner for two at a restaurant of the blogger’s choice!
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Growing peas just for shoots is a quick way to grow fresh veg & it can be done inside.
Pea shoots are the leaves & stem from the top 2 to 6 inches of a younger pea plant, & include two to four pairs of leaves and immature tendrils. They sometimes have small flower buds amongst them.
Two or three cuts of shoots are taken from each batch of seeds.
peashoots-in-pot
How To Grow Pea Shoots:
1. plant in early spring or late summer as peas grow best in cool weather. Young pea plants can withstand a little frost, though frost may damage the flowers and pods. As a winter crop, peas tolerate temperatures down to 28°F (-2°C) in the seedling stage, but top growth may be damaged when the temperature falls below freezing.
2. choose varieties suited for this such as:
- Oregon Sugar Pod
- Sugar Snap: Cascadia
- OR…buy some dried peas in the supermarket & try those – very cheap alternative!!
3. plant:
- 1 inch deep
- 2 – 4 inches between peas (much closer than if growing for actual peas)
- in compost or crumbly soil
- water to dampen soil
- leave in warm spot – windowsill, or outside under cloche
4. clip off the growing points plus one pair of leaves to encourage branching, when plants are 6 to 8 inches tall. These clippings are the first pea shoot harvest.
5. every three to four weeks – clip the top 2 to 6 inches of each plant.
6. keep harvesting until shoots taste bitter, late in the growing season. Three cuts per batch of seed is average.
7. wash and spin dry harvested pea shoots as you would lettuce.
The picture below shows a peashoot attached to the seed pea. Below the pea is the long taproot.
pea-shoot
Use pea shoots:
- in salads
- as a garnish
- lightly steamed and eat as a hot vegetable
Pea-shoots are a good source of vitamin K, C and are especially high in vitamin A.
Growing pea shoots inside is an easy way to produce fresh vegetables full of vitamins.
