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February 27, 2018
March '18: sowing undercover, no dig feedback, a mound, stored veg, pea shoots

Cold conditions in Europe mean a slow start to spring: it's -7C/19F with windchill, as I write this. On the other hand there is more time to mulch and feed soil, if you have not already. Early sowings of frost hardy vegetables are fine undercover, overwintered salads and many veg are surviving outside. I am sowing tomatoes around 20th March.

Overwintered mustards, corn salad, rocket which have grown well under mesh and yielded 3kg saleable leaves so far


The propagation hotbed after 7 days, already sunken, core temp. 73C/163F and seedlings emerging


Broad beans from a sowing in early November, well frozen and reclining!


Kale resists frost but loses some leaf quality in the case of Cavolo Nero

Early propagation

We sowed thousands of seeds on 20th February, a day after assembling the hotbed, and some are emerging such as lettuce, cabbage and radish. We have sown only vegetables that are frost hardy, because after 2 weeks or so on the hotbed, they move to a bench in the unheated greenhouse, where it’s icy by night in this weather.

Likewise after they are planted outside in 4-5 weeks, the fleece covers give protection from wind, but do not protect from frost by night.

You can still sow all these seeds (onion, spinach, lettuce, coriander, calabrese etc) now and into March. now, late February is auspicious by the moon with full waxing energy.

I was asked this question: “Do your sowing containers have drainage holes?” and yes they do! as large as possible. Seedling failures are more common from compost being too soggy than from dryness. Water your trays thoroughly but not every day at this time of year, until the plants are larger, and it’s sunny weather, and you probably do need to water every day if you are using electric heat mats, which cause dryness underneath where you don’t see it.

First wheelbarrow of stra and horse droppings, from Jenny’s heap and it’s very fresh manure


Josh trampling it as much as possible, we add a lot of water too so the straw is moist


The next day and c. 4000 seeds in the trays, many multisown, also trays for pricking out


Drainage holes in the polystyrene and plastic trays, which we reuse time and again, no cleaning needed

The cold weather

Gardeners in the USA and Canada may smile at how we are suffering sub-zero (C not F) temperatures, because it’s not that cold compared to what they endure. However the difficulty is that our coldest weather of the whole winter is happening in early spring!

Some vegetables are fine with it - Brussels sprouts, curly kale, Claytonia salad, broad beans, leeks and parsnips. But for new sowings it’s more difficult, even in a greenhouse where it’s icy inside by night. If you are following my sowing timeline, this year it makes sense to wait 2 weeks before sowing in southern UK and up to 4 weeks in northern UK. Potato seed for example is better chitting (sprouting slowly) on a windowsill than planted in cold soil: I expect to plant first earlies at the end of March this year, not mid March.

See also the comment on propagation if you have no undercover space, at the end of this blog.

Potato seed in a box on the windowsill


Doric F1 Brussels sprouts have again given many meals of high quality

No dig bliss

A comment on this thread from Allan Took in the Peak District:

I converted to no dig last year and for the first time in 40 years of growing veg I never had the hoe out and the plot is 25x12 yards.

I knew the standard system I was following was failing year on year. When I discovered your methods on social media last year I knew it must be the answer. I converted the whole plot last February with 5 tons of composted manure and had the best year ever.

And I received this mail from Monica Wagtendonk

Years ago we had a vegetable garden but we stopped because of all the digging and the weeds.

I just love to hear how no dig allows people who would or could not otherwise be gardening, or are losing enthusiasm, to succeed and enjoy it again.

Harvest on 22nd February from a 5x5m no dig garden at Homeacres, is mostly salad leaves at the moment

Seasonal and other videos

Many of the new How to Grow series of videos are in season now, such as spinach, beetroot, onions and early calabrese + cabbage.

My You Tube channel is attracting a lot of interest, and the Fourth Summer video of July 2016 continues to gain 2,000 views every day, is at over 900,000 views. We shall celebrate the million when it happens. Channel subscribers are 43% N America (including Canada), 22% UK, and 19,000 spread around the world.

The thumbnail for my latest video on sowing broad beans either in the autumn or spring, and how they grow differently, and you see various options for harvests

An experiment for early pea shoots

I have experimented with overwintering pea plants, variety Alderman, for early pea shoots. All were sown in the greenhouse, 3 seeds per module, and planted a month later, from sowings in October, December and January.

They have been under protection of a mesh cover, partly against rabbits who love pea shoots! The October sown plants are certainly larger and we could pick a few shoots now, but because of the cold & non-growing conditions, I am leaving them for now. In fact their stems are turning brown, and It’s too early to say if such an early sowing is viable.

Another trial on this bed is of Thermacrop which I have purchased as a fleece-alternative, because it’s suddenly difficult to buy 25gsm fleece. The nearest equivalent is 30gsm and I use that, but I think the Thermacrop may be as effective and also should last for more years’ use, because it’s more the texture of mesh, yet softer.

See also this page for information on multi-sowing.

Pea plants through the mesh, all raised in the greenhouse in modules for a month before planting


Nearest camera is the sowing of four months ago, seems a long time!


February planting (sown 16.1) of Alderman peas with thermacrop over

An experimental mound

I have fond memories of my first ever bed in February 1981, based on a German booklet I had come across. I dug out the soil, laid woody bits (twigs not logs!), then leaves, grass, then compost and finally the soil back over. It worked well and I had carrots by May. The fine woody bits decompose during a couple of years to maintain fertility.

Yesterday on the spur of the moment, I decided to create another, but a no dig mound. It’s absolutely not a “hugel” in the modern sense of a word that I feel has been changed in meaning by Sepp Holzer’s use of logs as base layer, and usually soil is dug out of big holes to place them in. Holzer happened to have spare tree trunks!

Josh and I went foraging in the nearby wood for some old twigs and small branches, then some finer twigs to place on them, then some old (half decomposed) grass & moss, then some soil/compost from a waste heap where a neighbour had thrown her grass and weeds over the fence, then some old cow manure, homemade compost, green waste compost and mushroom compost.

In volume terms, the soil and compost is around 80%.

One barrow of half-rotted small wood, dropped on the grass weeds


A barrow of fine twigs on the wood, then cardboard around


A barrow of rough soil/compost from garden waste thrown in the woods


Four and a half barrows of different composts on top, and we walked on it at all stages

Stored vegetables

The harvests that one puts by in summer and autumn are coming into their own now. My root vegetables are either in sacks or crates in the brick lean-to (house annexe) which has an earth and brick floor: it’s not frosty and mostly damp + cool.

Vegetables such as onions, garlic and squash store best in dry air, so in the house is fine. I have not seen mould on any squash yet and they should stay usable until late April, unless we eat them before. A few onions are sprouting and they are nice as spring onions. My Diary includes information on storing vegetables at different times of year.

From the shed, 23rd February, top left is celeriac Prinz


From the conservatory 23.2, garlic were harvested 8 months ago, all firm


Squash and their seeds: the green and hull-less seeds are from Pumpkin Nut/Gleisdorfer, whose flesh is much less sweet than the Marina di Chioggia on left

Learning

We are loving the response to courses here and to lectures around the country. Due to the strong demand, I have posted a new course date of April 4th. At all my events I value the chance to meet gardeners and discuss their successes, problems and what advice they most value. My sowing timeline is much used and I was impressed to see how the Butlins from Birmingham had printed and laminated it, for reference in their allotment shed.

Later in April I am doing an East Midlands mini-tour with a talk in Southwell, Notts on 25th April, then a talk in Sheffield on 26th as part of the city’s debate week, details still tbc. On 27th I am giving a day course at the Steiner school in Kings Langley, Herts, more details to follow.

It’s national bread week so I took this photo, my sourdough rye bread from fresh-ground grain


Course group of the February weekend


Susan Butlin’s laminated timeline to hang in the shed

A comment on propagation from the forum, by pmshrink (Penny)

I haven’t started sowing as it’s such cold weather. Waiting a little while I find better as things catch up with the warmer lighter days. When I sow I sow on my allotment in covered seed trays with fleece over the top. This seems to prevent legginess. The seedlings get maximum light being outdoors and the plastic cover and fleece are enough to keep the cold off.  In a normal February I would be just starting now but it’s about to get even colder so I’m going to wait a couple of weeks.

I also sow in the autumn in boxes, with fleece or double fleece over the top.  I have overwintered lettuces now which are about 5” tall and should grow well when I plant them out under a mini tunnel in a couple of weeks. They have survived winter ok - despite the boxes being blown off the table in a gale and having to be replanted!

For tomatoes I germinate them indoors then treat them as above. Courgettes squash and runner beans outside as above but much later.

I never get legginess problems with this method- which came about as I have nowhere suitable at home.

[caption id="attachment_45212" align="aligncenter" width="900"]

Most curly kales are hardier to frost than flat-leaf kale. This is Lerchenzungen from Bingenheim Seeds

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