April: Sow exciting!

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April 7, 2013 by Mrs W-M

You may have noticed (or not!) that I didn’t write a blog for ‘What to do in your vegetable garden in March’ as frankly, you were better off tucked up with a blanket over your knees reading seed catalogues. All I did in March was to cover the beds in tarpaulin (cheaper than polythene) to warm up the soil, chit the first season potatoes and watch the little broad beans very gradually sprout, so not really enough to blog about.

Anyway – here we are in April and I can’t wait any longer to get started so here are the jobs for this month:

1. Sow broadbeans close together ( if you didn’t do it in November like what my dad says)

Broad beans planted back in Nov, some are growing faster than others

My broadbeans are very patchy as I think the mice munched up some of the seeds, I’m very tempted to plant some more but ‘Dad the gardening consultant’ said, don’t bother as they will only get black fly and your other more hardy plants will be infected.

Toilet rolls find new purpose

2. Sow leeks and pop in coldframe
Monty Don recommends we get on with this now, but as it’s still so cold make sure you keep them in a coldframe to protect from frost. As I don’t have a fancy coldframe, I found some bricks and an old window for a homemade version. The toilet rolls all came in handy and it was surprising how many I got through. I’ve sown organic leeks called Hannibal! rharrr!

Economy range cold frame to keep frost off m’seeds

Debut tomato seed growing

3. Sow tomatoes and put in heated propagator or on windowsill with radiator
I haven’t grown toms from seed before so I’m not sure how well they’ll do, especially as our house is quite dark. But I’ll give it a go. Sow the tom seeds in potting compost and rest the tray in another tray of water to soak up. I’ve sown Gardners Delight and Alicante.

Pots desperado to get into the ground, but it’s still a bit chilly for them

4. Order more potatoes
I bought some Charlotte first earlies to chit (aka left to sprout – see pic left) last month, as apparently we don’t need to chit seconds or main – which is great news. So I can order more when I have a bit more spare cash!
There is a great website I’ve found call Low Cost Living and also does good month by month veg advice, which is helpful as you might not be growing the same things as me.

Hopefully it’ll warm up in the next couple of weeks and I’ll be back with sowing and planting tips I’ve picked up and will be putting into action..

Happy soil temperature checking!

Mrs W-M