What to do in the garden this week
Comb the catalogues
Seedlings in punnets are convenient and quick, so why go to the bother of sowing from seed? Because the range you can grow from seed is amazing and watching them germinate and grow is so satisfying. Plus, dipping into a seed catalogue is a marvellous way to spend a rainy afternoon.
The new Kings Seeds catalogue is out now. The pictureperfect veges and mouth-watering descriptions had me planning a dream garden 10 times the size of my inner-city plot, bursting with luscious veges with not a snail or psyllid to be seen.
These are just a few of veges that caught my eye.
■ Cucumber Crunchy is a small snacking cucumber that’s thin skinned, sweet and crisp. It’s seedless too, if it’s isolated from the pollen of different cucumbers. Sow a few plants every three weeks from late spring to early summer for a continuous harvest.
■ Lettuce Red Gem (organic) can be harvested as baby leaves or allowed to mature to a upright rosette of colourful leaves with a crisp, juicy texture. Ideal for smaller families with limited garden space.
■ Greenfeast peas are a wellknown and reliable variety. Although they are dwarf plants, they do grow to 90cm so need a trellis to scramble up. Plant a short row every couple of weeks for snacking.
■ Squash Butter Baby (organic) are a convenient size for smaller families as the fruit are about 15cm long and weigh 300-600gms. The vines are resistant to powdery mildew and the fruit store well.
■ Tomato Rosella has large trusses of 15gm pink to purple fruit with firm tasty flesh and few seeds – ideal for eating fresh or turning into rich dark red tomato paste. Give it a stake or trellis as it is an indeterminate variety that grows to 2m high.
Prep vege beds
Use what’s known as a false seedbed technique to get on top of weeds before they get established.
There are lots of ways to do it and many involve working the soil to bring deeply buried weed seeds to the surface to germinate and then hand hoeing them out while they are small.
But as you know working wet soil will lead to compaction, heartbreak and muddy gumboots, so if your soil is wet, just add any necessary soil amendments (such as fertiliser, gypsum or compost) and rake the surface smooth, then use plastic row covers (polythene over hoops works well) over the bare soil.
The warmth causes a flush of weeds to germinate, and when they are about as tall as your thumb, use a small sharp hoe to slice them down just below the soil line (be careful not to go too deep, or you’ll risk bringing more buried weed seeds to the surface and destroying your soil structure).
If you can repeat this process twice, or even three times, you will greatly reduce the time you need to spend weeding for the rest of the growing season.
If you planted cover crops last autumn chop them down before they flower and in time for them to break down before planting spring and summer crops. I prefer to chop and drop the cover crop onto the beds as mulch, so the soil structure is not disturbed. Dig them in if you like but wait until the soil has dried out.
Design tricks for vege plots
As there’s less space for growing edibles on most properties now, the kitchen garden can no longer be kept out of sight and needs to look good all year round.
Garden beds don’t have to be square. Circular, rectangular, even triangular gardens can look interesting. Decorate with additional elements such as large feature urns and pots, bird baths and garden art.
Raised vege beds make sense practically for their ease of use, soil warmth and drainage. But they also add a strong structural dimension to the kitchen garden, particularly if they are painted or stained the same colour as surrounding fences or even the house.
Use freestanding vertical elements such as obelisks that will enhance the atmosphere of your vege garden while providing support for peas, beans, courgettes, tomatoes, and other plants.
Watch weeds for planting clues
Celebrate the first flush of chickweed. It’s a little green signifier. If the chickweed is growing, so will most other things. Take it as a sign that soil temperatures are warm enough to start sowing seed in earnest.
While you are weeding pick some crispy new chickweed leaves to eat. It’s a healthy, tasty green that will refresh and enliven your salads and smoothies.
Weed by hand if the soil is wet to avoid compacting the soil.