Spring has sprung and it is the perfect time to get lots of planting and gardening done! You are in luck now as we have lots to be doing in our gardening clubs to ensure we are ready for harvesting before the VegFest event.
While the weather may be improving and temperatures warming, we are still at risk of frosts in April. This post should help you navigate the world of gardening in this transitional period.
Outdoor Sowing
With spring well under way, it is now a great time to get sowing a variety of seeds, particularly the hardy ones! If the weather is still fairly chilly then lots of our seeds can be sown under cloches (a cover for plants) or fleece to give them some added protection and warmth.
- We can start to sow a variety of root vegetables and brassicas, such as carrots, parsnips, cabbage and leeks.
- If you haven’t already got them in, this is the time to sow your beans and peas, and prepare to set up climbing structures for them to grow up.
- Many wildflower seeds and seed mixes can be sown now to create a haven for pollinators and wildlife in our gardens.
Planting out
- If you have been chitting your potatoes and can see lots of sprouts growing from them, then these can now be planted out into your beds.
- We can also dig in our garlic, onion, and shallot sets
Indoor sowing
Many of our seeds still require warmer conditions than we have outside in the UK at this time of year. As a result, we can sow these into pots and trays to keep indoors (in greenhouses, propagators, or sunny windowsills) to provide them with the optimal conditions to get started, before we can transplant them outdoors later on in the year.
- We can start aubergine, beetroots, cucumbers indoors.
- Our tomato and pepper (sweet and chilli varieties) seeds can be sown in pots and kept indoors at this time of year- then we can take them outside once the weather improves and gets warmer
Additional jobs
- Continue to weed our plots and cover cleared areas with materials (such as cardboard or hard plastic) to prevent the growth of any further weeds before seeds are sown in the bed.
- Use our compost (taking the top layer off and using the rest) to provide our plants with vital nutrients to grow.
- We can prune our strawberry plants and remove any dead leaves. Around May we can replace any straw around our strawberry plants with fresh straw to suppress weeds and prevent any growing fruits from lying on the ground.
- Dig up ‘volunteer’ plants which have survived over the winter but we have not deliberately planted.
Examples of top Gardening Jobs over the Spring months:
| March | April | May |
| -Hoe and mulch weeds -Plant shallots, onion sets, and early potatoes -Plant summer-flowering bulbs | -Sow hardy annuals, herbs and wild flower seed outdoors -Increase water given to houseplants -Start to feed citrus plants | -Watch out for late frosts. Protect tender plants -Open greenhouse vents and doors on warm days -Earth up potatoes, and promptly plant any still remaining |
