The allotment is coming to life for Terry Walton
It’s when nature and even some gardeners wake up for the year!
Oh, what a time of great expectation is the month of March! Stop, look and admire how nature has come through the long, dark days and is ushering in a whole new season. This is the time that the ‘latent’ winter gardeners reappear on their plots. They’ve polished their spades and forks, flexed their muscles and are raring to go! The major catalyst for their renewed optimism can be seen all around us.
Look carefully at the hedgerows and no longer will you see barren branches, but the faint glow of acid-green as the hawthorns unfurl their tender new buds to bathe the scene with a misty, fresh, new look. This is a sure indication nature has recognised that the warmer, good times are beginning.
March is also a time that colour returns to the garden, albeit dominated by yellow. The daffodils are reaching the perfection of their flowering season and move in unison in the wind. The pale yellow blooms of the primroses as they flower in the shelter of banks and trees are also evident.
Having kept my patience and not peeked under the drum at my rhubarb, I could resist no longer. There, to my surprise, was a good growth of new shoots in tip-top condition. These tender shoots are the first harvest of the new season and will make a nice treat when my wife converts it into a delicious rhubarb crumble.
If you’re trying this method of getting an early crop of tender rhubarb, remember that this ‘forcing’ takes a lot out of the plant. After harvesting, give it a top dressing of blood, fish and bone and let it make some leafy growth to feed the root. Then don’t force it again for at least three years.
Time for a sowing session again. This time my attention turns to herbs and one of my favourites, basil. I’m sowing a variety called ‘Sweet Green’ in a 10cm (4in) pot of good compost. The seeds are spread thinly on the
surface and covered with a sprinkling of sieved compost, Water lightly with tepid water, cover with a plastic bag and keep at about 20C (68F). Seeds germinate in about three weeks. Remove the bag then allow them to form true leaf. This pot sits on our kitchen windowsill to grow to maturity, and is on hand when required in recipes.