Vegetables

Gardening at this time of the year is limited, as the winter’s worst weather usually comes in July and August.

Cold, wet days are an opportunity to look through garden catalogues and order seeds or plants.

This is also a good time to plan where next season’s vegetables will be sown or planted, using the practice of rotation.

Although fiveyear garden diaries are valuable, an alternative is a sturdy indexed book.

Record planting and other information under each alphabetically listed vegetable, noting the date when seeds were sown or plants put in.

Note varieties and, after harvesting, indicate how well each did.

This gives a yearbyyear record of the garden, one that is easier to crosscheck than a series of diaries.

Green manures, oats, lupins and the like not yet dug in should be cut and turned into the ground.

Soil cleared of crops such as winter cabbage, broccoli and parsnips benefits if it is turned over, too.

Rough digging is the best treatment at this time of the year, with weeds placed under the surface and any spare compost thrown over the surface.

Complete with a dressing of garden lime.

The rate will vary depending on soil acidity but plan on 50g to 100g per sq m, the bigger amount for heavier soils.

Hedges can be trimmed in warmer areas but should be left until later in the year in districts that experience hard frosts or heavy snow.

Soil can be prepared, conditions permitting, before cloches and cold frames are put in place for growing plants under shelter. If soil clings to tools or boots, the ground is too wet and any work should be postponed.

When the soil has been dug, composted and worked to a fairly fine crumblike consistency, position the cloches and leave them for three weeks before sowing seeds.

This warms the soil under the cloches. The more that are used, the better the lift in soil temperature under the individual shelter.

Cloche gardening is suitable for small gardens and strawberries grown in this way give earlier crops.