Good enough to eat

Early veg in the greenhouse If you want to steal a march on summer, start sowing some delicious crops in your soil border in your greenhouse now and you should be harvesting them long before some of your neighbours.

You shouldn’t go far wrong if you sow produce which is going to remain under cover throughout its life. Vegetables such as French beans carrots and baby beetroot are great for this and you’ll be harvesting them much earlier than if outside.

Check on the seed packet that you have a greenhouse variety. With climbing beans, sow two bean seeds per pot and place them on greenhouse staging in a frost-free greenhouse. When they have filled their pots with roots, plant them 20cm apart in the greenhouse border enriched with organic matter and put in a stake between each plant.

Make sure you save space for later crops such as tomatoes, which can be planted in late April or May.

Baby root vegetables and salad crops including radishes, spinach and lettuce, can also be sown thinly in the greenhouse border.