| Fulham Horticultural Society Newsletter March 2024 March to do list 1. Cabbages - Pick spring cabbages while the leaves are still loose. To harvest, cut them off the stem using a sharp knife and make a cross in the top of the cut stem. Sometimes, if you are lucky, mini-cabbages, or ‘spring greens’ will grow from the cut stems. 2. Seed potatoes, particularly earlies and second earlies, benefit from 'chitting' before planting to encourage strong shoots, fast growth, and heavier cropping. From late January into February, 'chit' your seed potatoes by setting them out in seed trays, shallow boxes or empty egg cartons in a cool, bright, frost-free position (10C/ 50F), to allow them to sprout. You'll notice that the immature 'chits' form at one end of the potato – called the 'rose end'. Place the rose end upwards and let the 'chits' grow to 25mm (1") in length. Rub off all but the three or four strongest chits before planting, or you'll end up with lots of potatoes, but they'll be very small. During the 2nd World War it was common practice to cut larger seed potatoes in half or even smaller divisions to make them go further. The cuts should be left to dry out for 3 or 4 days before planting in the usual way. Provided that each piece has an eye or two for the new growth to develop, these tuber divisions will still crop well. Dig a trench to a depth of about 10 cm (4") and place the seed potatoes into the soil with the rose end pointing up. Fill the trench with soil to cover the potatoes and, if required, scatter potato fertiliser along the top of the trench. To protect young potato plants from frosts which blacken the shoots, it's important to 'earth them up as soon as they emerge above ground'. Simply draw some soil over the top of the shoots to cover them again. When the stems reach a height of 23cm (9"), earth them up again to stop tubers near the soil surface turning green. Unless there's plenty of rain, first early and second early crops will need watering, especially when tubers are developing. Harvest times vary depending on the growing season, weather conditions at harvest time, and the size of tuber you want. Because tubers tend to grow larger over the growing period, start harvesting first earlies as 'new potatoes' when the plants begin to flower, about 10 weeks after planting. Maincrop varieties are best left in the ground for at least two weeks after the leaves and haulms (stems) wither, to allow the skins to set. Cut down the stems with secateurs to just above soil level as the leaves wither and yellow, or if they show signs of blight. Second cropping potatoes are best planted outdoors in early August and no later than the end of August. If planting in a protected environment like a polytunnel or greenhouse, you can delay planting by a week or so but, to avoid disappointing results, you must have done it by the end of the first week of September. There is no need to pre-chit these seed potatoes as this happens quite naturally after planting. 'Ping-pong ball' sized tubers should be ready for harvesting approximately 10 to 11 weeks after planting. Cut back the stems to just above ground level and dig up your spuds as you need them. Protect late crops from frost by covering them with a thick layer of straw and/or sacking, and although they'll be more susceptible to attack by slugs and wireworm, you should be able to continue harvesting until around Christmas time. After harvesting, leave the tubers on the soil surface for a few hours to dry and cure the skin. Once dry, store them in paper or hessian sacks in a dark, cool but frost free place. Avoid storing in polythene bags as potatoes will 'sweat' and rot. 3. Getting the timing right on preparing seed beds can be tricky. The soil doesn't want to be so wet that it sticks to your boots, nor so dry that it takes a lot of effort to break it up. Break larger lumps of soil down by bashing them with a fork, then use a rake to smooth out smaller lumps and create a fine tilth, pushing and pulling the rake back and forth over the surface of the soil to a depth of about 2.5cm. Tread the soil to firm it, and apply an organic fertiliser, such as one based on seaweed, about two weeks before sowing. 4. Sow in rows in the open ground seeds of round seeded spinach, Swiss chard, early types of beetroot, carrots, parsnips, lettuce, Spring onions, peas, broad beans and turnips. Try sowing the seed of the white form of kohl rabi towards the end of the month. 5. Plant out onion sets, shallots and garlic before they start to produce shoots. When buying reject any that are shooting they will only bolt during the summer. 6. If you have the protection of a greenhouse sow the seed of celery, celeriac, French beans (they are hardy enough to be planted out before the runners), and cauliflowers to transplant on the open soil next month.. 7. Clear the old leaves off strawberry plants and clean up the ground in between the plants before giving them a top dressing of a general fertiliser. Keep some fleece handy to protect the developing strawberry flowers from frost. Any frost damaged flowers are easily identified as they display a tell-tale “black eye” at the centre of the dead flower. 8. Weed and tidy the soil before mulching with organic matter - well-rotted farmyard manure, garden compost, cocoa shells, or chipped bark. Soil in borders left bare will very quickly loose water in dry spells. Covering with a thick layer of organic matter will cut down the rate at which water evaporates from the soil. A mulch will also suppress weeds. Never put a mulch on top of dry soil: if the soil is dry, water it first. 9. Cover rhubarb with large pots or buckets to exclude light and force an earlier crop. 10. A different way to deal with snails and slugs is to use copper piping to enclose a cabbage patch and apparently not a single slug and snail will cross the boundary throughout the entire growing season. It hardly needs saying that you need to check that there are none inside the enclosure before you start, also that there are no overhanging leaves that make a handy bridge as slugs and snails are surprisingly athletic. Unlike the expensive copper tape sold in garden centres to keep them off your Hostas, you can buy copper piping quite cheaply from plumbers' merchants with the added advantage that it will last for years. 11.Growing tomatoes from seed is easy. In a greenhouse, sow seed now; to crop outdoors, sow late March. Fill 9cm pots or a small tray with moist seed compost. Space seeds 1.5cm apart and lightly cover with vermiculite or sieved compost. Place in a propagator or cover with a clear plastic bag. Seedlings should emerge in about 5 days at 21degrees C. Move them to a well lit place such as a heated greenhouse or windowsill at 18degrees C. After two weeks prick out tray-sown plants into 9cm pots. Once 15cm tall, keep above 12degrees C, ideally at 16degrees C. Wait until the first flowers show colour before planting out, into grow bags, larger containers or beds. Harden off plants well, and do not plant out until after the risk of cold nights has passed. This is some helpful advice from a website called Garden Organic. They have all sorts of useful tips . . . https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk Soil Matters Good soil structure is the key to growing healthy vigorous plants. If your soil is still wet from winter rains, avoid walking or standing on it until it's had a chance to dry out. Use planks to spread your weight. Once temperatures warm up, spread compost, well-rotted manure or other soil- improvers onto the soil. The organic material will stimulate the billions of micro-organisms that maintain health and fertility. If you know you have a patch which won't be cultivated until later in the summer, sow a green manure to benefit the soil. Fenugreek or Phacelia tanacetifolia will germinate this month. The former gives the soil a quick fertility boost, the latter will provide beautiful blue flowers loved by pollinators. Give your compost heap a 'spring turn' to aerate and stimulate the contents. But if you heap is open, take care - hedgehogs, slow worms and other creatures often creep in to hibernate. Check you are not disturbing them before turning the contents. March is also a good month to empty out any compost that is already well rotted. Store in bags ready for use around the plot where needed. If you have a worm bin, it can be put outside at the end of the month. Vegetables Use this month to pre-warm soils with a cloche or sheet of plastic for a week or two before sowing or planting. 'Top dress' overwintered crops, such as autumn-planted onions and cabbage, with some rich garden compost, or well-rotted manure. This will give them a boost for spring growth. Don't forget to plan a crop rotation for your fruit and veg. This helps prevent disease and makes best use of the soil's nutrition. If you have had rye growing as a green manure over winter, It is important not to follow it with a direct-sown, small-seeded crop, such as carrots or parsnips. The decomposing rye foliage can temporarily inhibit germination. Wait 2 or 3 weeks after digging the rye in, then sow. Dig up any potato plants from tubers left in the ground from last year, they could be carrying the potato blight fungus. They can be composted, but smash them well first. Bury stems and stumps of overwintered brassicas in the compost heap as soon as they have finished cropping. This will help reduce the population of mealy aphids and whitefly which otherwise would simply move on to your spring planted crops. Fruit Without bees there would be no fruit, so it pays to make your organic garden bee-friendly. In sunny spots, sow clumps of bee-attractant flowering plants. There are lots of annuals you can sow now including borage, Californian poppy, bronze fennel, and poached egg plant. The latter is useful sown around fruit bushes to attract aphid-eating predators. They will control currant aphids, the cause of red currant blister leaf damage (shown). As the soil warms up, apply mulches around/under established trees and fruit bushes. First remove existing weeds, then hoe carefully (avoiding roots) to expose pests to birds. (This is particularly useful to get rid of the gooseberry sawfly cocoons. Sawfly will eat and eventually defoliate the bushes.) Wait a few days, then mulch with well rotted manure, garden compost or straw and hay (up to 10cm deep). Herbs It is so easy to grow your own organic herbs. Many are annuals, growing from seed each year. Check out the Herb Growing Cards to help you get growing. If your soil is heavy and water-retaining, lightly fork in some horticultural grit over the whole area, to improve drainage. Perennial herbs will benefit from some garden compost or rotted manure. Flowers Hard-prune roses and clear away lingering dead leaves to clear away remaining black-spot spores. Give established roses, herbaceous plants, climbers and bulbs a spring feed with garden compost. If you only have farm manure, make sure it’s well-composted, use at half the rate of garden compost, and keep away from plant stems. Fork in lightly, or just leave on the soil surface and let soil creatures take it down. Whatever you plant this month, tree, shrub, or perennial, don’t over-feed. A couple of handfuls of garden compost in the planting hole is enough, plus a light mulch around the newly-planted. Hoe weeds on sight, especially annual weeds before they can seed. If a frost is forecast, be sure to protect any tender plants. Keeping the Garden Healthy Aphids of all sorts will be on the increase this month. Before summer predators such as ladybirds and wasps are ready to eat them, use hand picking/squishing to control an infestation build-up, rather than resort to toxic sprays. Flowers in all parts of the garden will attract beneficial predators, such as hoverflies, and thus avoid the need for harmful pesticide sprays. The poached-egg flower, Limnanthes douglasii (pictured) will provide an early feast. The sooner you fill your garden with the pest-eaters, the sooner you'll get the pests under control. Insects to encourage are ladybirds (will eat aphids), beetles (will eat slugs) and wasps, which will devour hundreds of grubs and flies in the course of a summer. A healthy garden is filled with a huge range of wildlife, ugly and beautiful, a balance that keeps the garden flourishing. Cut out any branches showing signs of coral spot and clear away dead plant tissue where this disease can take hold. Dieback appearing on woody plants after the cold season should also be cut out, down to healthy growth. Put out slug traps a week or two before making new sowings and plantings and check them regularly - especially in damp weather - to keep topped up with bait such as beer or formulated bait. Make sure your greenhouse is clean and washed down. Hang sticky traps to catch flying pests such as whitefly and sciarid fly. Temperatures are too still too low for biological control, so traps will keep pest levels down until predators can be introduced. Squash or rub off aphid colonies as they arrive. Feed your organic lawn if it grew poorly last year. Alternatively, scatter sieved garden compost over the lawn, and brush or rake in. A patch of unmown long grass adds to the bio-diversity in your organic garden. Butterflies, for instance, like to lay eggs in flowering grasses. Feed any hedges with a garden compost, or well-rotted manure mulch. Carefully remove any decaying plant debris. Frogs will arrive soon to breed. Make sure they have plants nearby to shelter in. Recipe of the Month Sweet Sesame Beetroot on a bed of Lemon Labneh  serves 4 300g thick yoghurt 1 lemon, juice & zest handful of lambs lettuce (or similar greens) 4 large beetroots, peeled & cut into quarters 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp thick honey 1 tsp sesame seeds salt & pepper 1 preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper, put your beetroot in the oven with the olive oil, salt & pepper and roast for 20 minutes 2 while the beetroot are roasting make your labneh by draining all the liquid from the yoghurt (through a muslin cloth or tea towel). Mix with the lemon zest & lemon juice 3 take the beetroot out of the oven and mix with the honey and sesame seeds and then put back in the oven for 10 minutes 4 now start spooning out the labneh and smoothing is out, but leave a few lumps and bumps. Add the greenery next and then once the beetroot is cooked, top the dish with the beetroot and finish off with a sprinkle of sesame seeds, salt & pepper The monthly recipes come from @milliesdishes follow on Instagram for more fabulous recipes All Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair The bees are stirring, birds are on the wing And Winter slumbering in the open air Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring Samuel Taylor Coleridge Keep gardening Fulham Horticultural Society 2024 |