New growth seems to be in the air and everyone's gearing up for sowing their spring seeds. The problem for gardeners, as everybody acknowledges, is that you want to get started, but you also know that there could be bad weather around the corner. And this morning, weather websites and redtop newspapers alike have been confirming that we are in for a cold, cold Easter.
Easter is as early as it could be this year, as I finally found out how they calculate it from Charles Dowding's organic website.
Charles Dowding also points out that lunar movements are such that - if you believe in the power of the moon - Wednesday the 19th this week is a particularly propitious moment for sowing your vegetable seeds. Consult a lunar calendar if you don't believe me!
So in light of the bad weather, consider holding back on starting off the outdoor peas and beans. But tomatoes and chillis can get going on a windowsill with all the lunar forces to wish them on their way.
I'm a bit new to the allotement game and this is my first year proper - is it too early to put onion sets in?
Posted by: Jakers | Tuesday, 18 March 2008 at 09:48 AM
No, not necessarily. What's your soil like? And are you North or South? If it's dryish, southern, thoroughly David Cameron soil, it's probably okay to do it now. Damper, clayier or old fashioned Labour up north soil may need a bit longer.
One tip - cover your plot with plastic for a couple of weeks or so (torn up bin bags or the special stuff from garden centres) and then plant - it'll get the soil warmer quicker, which is the thing you need.
Eco warriors may prefer to use cardboard, but it's a bit less insulating and consequently slower. Incidentally I have noticed that the best source for allotment cardboard is bike shops, which throw away stacks of huge big boxes with nice flat sides every evening.
One more thing: if you are a COMPLETE beginner, you might also need the following patronising advice, but don't kill me if you already know this. My auntie made the following onion mistake the first year of her allotment - the old buggers at her site all laughed at her for planting the sets under the soil as if they were bulbs. I could try to explain onion set best practice, but why not just consult this handy website:
(Sorry, no timelapse...)
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Advice/profiles0306/plantonions.asp
Posted by: emma townshend | Tuesday, 18 March 2008 at 10:14 AM
Thanks for that. Not patronising at all, much better to have more advice than less. I wasn't going to plant them deep but my book says that birds like to nick them out of the ground so there shouldn't be much tip showing - the pix from the rhs have plenty showing so I'm guessing I should follow them.
Off to find a timelapse of onions now...
Posted by: Jakers | Wednesday, 19 March 2008 at 10:39 AM
Birds nicking onions? whatever next.
On purple sprouting broccoli, or some other super food I grew last year but can't remember, I experimented with sticks with very fine thread wound round them - which I'd seen in Juliet Roberts' kitchen garden book. You dot the sticks about and then wind the thread a bit randomly, to make a sort of invisible skein of trouble. This seemed to dissuade fat pigeons quite nicely. Maybe try that?
Posted by: emma townshend | Wednesday, 19 March 2008 at 07:56 PM