IN THE VEGGIE PATCH

FRESH START
We’re outside creating yet another vegetable garden. It’s the third one in as many years and its house moving that has forced us, or should I say, given us the opportunity…. to start again from scratch. I am certainly not complaining, as I find the design and preparation just as rewarding as watching the veggies grow and mature.

There are so many signs of life outside and it is a real pleasure to be out of the house and away from the computer. Snowdrops are out, pussy willow (salix) is in full dangle mode and daffodils are nearly out. So as the ground has dried off after the snow and temperatures have risen, there is no better time to get the old boots off the rack and head into the garden for a bit of muscle toning.

CHOOSING A SITE
We have chosen an area on three levels near to the house that faces a southwesterly position, so gets the sun for a good part of the day. It’s not a really large area but it is well drained and will give us enough room to build about six good-sized growing spots. This is the start we need in our quest for self sufficiency (well a few spuds and some veg in season to start with).

HIDDEN TREASURES
One of my lads is getting some archaeological digging done as we have unearthed some old crockery and he is having great fun trying to put it all together like a jigsaw. It’s probably only an old plate thrown out when the ashes went out, but it’s still an enjoyable pursuit. One of the fragments says, “will do” which on it’s own is a very pleasing affirmation.

DIGGING…. ON THE DOUBLE
We do also seem to be unearthing a lot of broken glass, so I am happier getting this removed before the lads come in to help. I am not going to be putting all raised beds in like I normally do. I can’t be doing with all of the shifting of horse muck and sea weed for the moment, it’s enough me getting the muscles working going up the patio steps after a winter of hibernating, let alone building up raised beds, so I am opting for something I never thought I would do again, double digging.

Double digging entails a square of grass and soil being dug up to create a trench the width of the bed. This is removed and taken to the end of the bed and in doing so, leaves a trench. Into this, we pile lots of leaf mould, old compost from the compost bin and the shredding we have accumulated over the last few weeks. We then cover up the newly added material by digging another trench and putting this soil on the top.

It appears to be a bit more labour intensive but it is giving us a great seed bed and everything is to hand, which is saving me having to scour Inishowen looking for horse muck.

STAGGERING AROUND
We do have a couple of areas set aside for raised beds and I am going to take John Reilly’s (Culdaff organic vegetable grower) advice when it comes to growing spuds. All I need is a little bit of soil in the bed. Plant the spuds into this soil and when the top growth comes up, add more compost and soil to ridge them up. This will be done at regular intervals over the growing period, which will stagger the need for moving large quantities of bulky matter to fill them up. The crops are far larger for the potato plants too and the yields should feed us well into the summer. We should have these beds ready in no time, which will give plenty of opportunity to get a fresh supply of seeds ready for sowing very soon.

IN THE VEGGIE PATCH

Let us have a look at other jobs we can be getting on with in the vegetable patch:

Collect plastic bottles and make bottle cloches. These mini greenhouses will protect your fresh plants from any adverse weather conditions, and keep the pesky slugs away.

Buy plant labels, as I know only too well that if they are not to hand you will forget what you have planted in the trays. Buy any string and pots you will need whilst you are in the shop.

Check fleece, netting and other crop covers for holes and buy more if they are in tatters.

Scrub old seed trays, modules and pots with hot soapy water and let them dry off before you use them. This will save the compost sticking to the trays.

Buy seed potatoes of early varieties now and place in trays with their sprouting ends uppermost. Keep in a cool but light spot for the shoots to develop, ready for planting out after St Patrick’s Day.

Rhubarb plants can be “forced” now (put a bucket on top of them) to produce crop of delicious, slim, pale pink stems.

Start to dig in over wintered green manures such as grazing rye and winter tares.

If unlike us, you have a mature vegetable garden, you can “top dress” (chuck on old compost, chicken manure pellets or well rotted manure) over wintered crops, such as autumn planted onions, broad beans and spring cabbage, to give spring growth a boost.

If you have a compost trench, continue to add raw vegetable kitchen waste to it and cover it over to keep the dogs off. This will make a great bed for the peas and beans later.

Like our new vegetable patch, these tips only just scratching the surface of jobs to do in the veggie garden this month…what a joy….