Time To Sort out your Vegetable Seeds

Decide which Vegetables you are Growing this year

Yes it is finally time to think about planting your vegetables and fruit this year.

The first thing you should do is see what seeds you have left over from last year.  Then decide what you are growing and write a list of the seeds or bulbs you will need. 

Some of the Vegetables I Grew last year

I used to buy my vegetable seeds from a garden centre.  Now I buy them online because they are always so much cheaper.

While you are waiting for the seeds to arrive now is the time to plan where you want to grow the vegetables in your garden.  Never plant the same thing in the same area one year after the other. Always rotate your crops.

Prepare the Soil for the New Growing Season

If the ground is still cold prepare it by turning the soil.  Add some fresh compost to feed it too.

Preparing the Garden for Planting Vegetables

In the garden

If you want to plant vegetables in your garden this year it is time to get organised.  

Prepare the soil with plenty of manure and dig over

                                            Preparing the Garden 

                                         

• If the weather permits now is a good time to decide where you are going to plant each crop.

• Rotation of crops is key to a good harvest so no vegetable in the same place as last year

The soil has been dug and loosened and I mixed in some manure

• Put the covers of plastic bags back on top of the soil to keep it as warm as possible.

The covers on the soil keep it warm and stops the nutrients from being washed away by rain

• I also take photos and then decide where to plant each vegetable from my computer 
• Decide which seeds and plants you want to buy for this years crop.
• If you plan to grow some vegetables in containers, pots or bags you can also get these ready.

Tidying the Garden

My front garden was looking rather sorry for itself so I decided to tidy it up

My flower garden clogged up with dead leaves

There were still lots of old leaves on top of the grass and plants.

I had already cleared these away a few times.

But hopefully this would be the last time I had to do this.

All the leaves have been lifted from the plants

Once that job was done I weeded the small front garden and dead headed any winter plants.

My front garden is now weeded and tidied up 

The spring bulbs are coming up.  Some had been covered with the dead leaves.  

So now they can get the light and produce lovely daffodils and tulips.

My garden with spring bulbs showing

This small patch of garden is also ready for the summer planting.of flowers. 

I took cuttings of White Daisies, Lavender and other plants from my back garden. 

This will save me money because I will have less plants to buy this year.    

I am glad that work is done. 

It has been annoying me for a while.

The weather has been too bad these past few weeks to do anything in the garden.  

But it is picking up now so I have more of an opportunity to get the preparation work done.  

How To Grow Potatoes

Growing Potatoes in a Small Garden

How To Grow Potatoes

You can plant potatoes in a small garden by using containers, bags or pots. That way you free up your garden for other less intrusive vegetables.

When To Plant Early Seed Potatoes

Between now and April is the time to plant the seed potatoes.  But be aware of the dangers of frost at this time of year.  Cover the soil with straw if you can get some, if not then use polythene bags.

For these early variety crops you will be able to harvest in about eight weeks.

Seed Potatoes

Second Early Seed Potatoes

Plant in pots or bags from March to April. They will take longer to grow, about 14 to 16 weeks before they will be ready to harvest. 

The extra wait will be it th worth ough.  There will be a lot more potatoes with this crop.

Main Crop Seed Potatoes

Plant around April as like the other seed potatoes.  They will take about 18 to 20 weeks until they can be harvested.

This crop yields the largest amount of potatoes per seed potato.

My Early Potato Crop