Here are a few of Grandad`s garden secrets.
Crushed eggshells around garden plants help keep the slugs at bay.
Sprinkle a few moth balls around to discourage cats from digging etc.
Rot nettles in a bucket of water for a few weeks. An excellent fertilizer especially for tomatoes.
Garlic
If March has been difficult and you've not managed to get much done, you're going to have a busy April. With onions you're really pushing it so if they're not planted make it one of the first jobs of the month
The weeds won't be slow and it's time to sharpen your hoe. A sharp hoe is the best friend a gardener can have. Just slide it back and forth slightly below the surface of the soil and you'll stop the weed seedlings in their tracks.
There's an old saying "Hoe when you can't see a weed and you'll never see a weed" which is very true. Hoeing keeps the top soil broken up so in times of drought water cannot get to the surface by capillary action and evaporate. When it does rain a hoed surface will prevent the precious water running off and ensure it goes down to where it's wanted.
Things to Sow
Beetroot
Peas
Broad Beans
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Kale
Chard
Kohl Rabi
Leeks
Spinach
Beet spinach
Rocket
Lettuce
Radish
Covering your carrots with a fleece and ensuring the edges are buried will stop the carrot root fly from gaining entry to lay eggs by your carrots. The eggs hatch in larvae that burrow into the carrot root, killing the plant or at least ruining the crop.
Plant Outdoors
Onion & Shallot Sets
Globe and Jerusalem Artichokes
Asparagus.
Easter, a variable feast that usually falls in early April is the traditional potato planting time. If you have a comfrey bed and it has sprung back, the first cut laid in the trench under the potatoes will provide nutrition to get them off to a good start.
On the subject of comfrey, if you make a comfrey tea it will help you to a great crop to use it on your potatoes. Many novice growers wonder why they have small crops of potatoes and most often this is just down to lack of food for this hungry crop.
Under Cover in Greenhouse, Coldframe and Polytunnel
Aubergine
Celery
Outdoor Cucumbers
Tomatoes (if you've not already done so)
A good tip in a windowsill is to stick some silver cooking foil onto cardboard and place on the inside to reflect light back onto the seedlings. This will help prevent the seedlings being drawn.
Sow Outdoors Under Cloche
French beans
Lettuce
Sweetcorn
Alternative Method for Sweetcorn
[Chitted Sweetcorn] Sweetcorn chitted and ready to pot up. When potting up, ensure you water in with water at room temperature not cold from the tap.
I like to pre-chit my sweetcorn, I lay the seeds on a layer of damp kitchen paper and then place a layer of paper over in an airtight box. An old ice-cream carton or a Tupperware type box is ideal. Check carefully each day and as soon as the small white sprout appears, plant the seed about half to an inch deep in a 3" pot of general purpose compost in the greenhouse.
When the shoots appear about an inch high, plant out under cloche being careful not to disturb the root (sweetcorn hates root disturbance) under a cloche. Sweetcorn needs a lot of nitrogen and a teaspoon of dried blood per plant or water with urea (this is a chemical, I do not mean pee on them!)
Many of the crops you can sow directly will also benefit from cloching, especially as you move northwards or started off in modules in a cool greenhouse or coldframe and then planted out later.
Fruit
Strawberries can be planted out now, it's best to remove flowers in the first year as you conserve strength for growth and gain larger crops in subsequent years. An easy way to gain strawberry plants is to plant the runners into pots and when rooted cut the runner. The plants don't last forever so you need to rotate them every three to five years.
Hand pollinate peaches and nectarines. Tickle the flowers with a small paint brush to spread the pollen. Cover if a cold spell threatens.
A good layer of compost around the base of fruit trees will ensure they have the nutrition to provide another good crop for you.
Gardener's Pests
I've mentioned the carrot root fly but the gardener's worst enemy is awakening. The evil slugs and snails are coming out to eat entire rows of succulent young seedlings overnight so take action now.
Harvest
We're in the 'Hungry Gap' between the last of the winter crops and start of the early crops but there are still a few things available, late sprouting and chards for example plus you may have some early salad crops from the greenhouse border.
Do re-check your stored crops. On a fine day, empty out the potato sacks and check for any rotten potatoes. If you've strung onions, watch out for the odd rotten one and remove it before it spreads.
EARLY POTATOES are traditionally planted at the end of March but you face a risk of them frosting if you put them in earlier. You can try middle of March and they may be o.k.
The packets encourage you to sow things like beet root and carrots in March but I have lost many a crop by sowing them this early. Leave until about mid April and there's a far better chance for them to germinate.
March is also the time to sow peas and Broad beans and planting onion sets.Try sowing peas at fortnightly intervals and broad beans at monthly intervals for succession of picking. M.B..
Tony Hardy says Use WINTER WASH for your fruit trees. Young trees can be burnt if too strong a dosage is used so read instructions carefully.
When pricking out young seedlings for potting on into larger pots use CHESTNUT MIX this is watered down and stops dampening off. Read Internet for explanation of dampening off.
Also when planting out onion sets leave about eight inches between each onion set. This will enable the onion to have plenty of room to grow, and it will be easier to hoe in between.
March 20th
Tony says I start my shallots off in trays in multi purpose compost just dampening the soil. Shallots do not get neck rot like onions. Don't forget when lifting garlic and onions to turn them upside down on netting. This reduces the amount of sap and they will keep longer.
April 20th. If you are planting out Brussels, cauliflowers or cabbage make sure the ground is very firm and it might be best to walk on it to tread it down. Firmly tread the plants in and do not give them too much water as this will loosen the soil. Plant them up to the first leaf and add lime if your soil is on the acidic side.
May 2nd I sow my runner beans this time of year, I know a lot of people plant theirs out but this way has never failed me. By sowing three beans around each stick if some fail you will still have plenty when they come up. I also soak them in water for a couple of hours before sowing. Sow them about 4 inches deep. If you find too many have, come up you could also make a wigwam for the surplus plants. M.B.
I have to retract this statement as for the first time ever since Ihave sown runner beans , they have not come up, only only a few. I can only think that this is due to the very cold May that we are having.
June 28th. Potatoes have not cropped so well this year, possibly due to lack of rain when they needed it most. It seems to be a constant battle nowadays of either too much rain and then not enough. Saying that it might be because I grew them in the same ground as last year, which you should not do. M.B.
Don't forget to pinch tops out of broad beans to deter the black fly.
SOWING PEAS? BEWARE OF MICE OR EASTER BUNNIES TRYING TO EAT THEM TRY TO COVER THEM.
Clubroot Plasmodiophora brassicae
A Guide to Club Root Plasmodiophora brassicae
[Club Root]
Club Root - Plasmodiophora Brassica
What is Clubroot?
Clubroot is a serious fungal mould type of disease that affects the brassicas (cabbage tribe) and other members of the crucifers, the family to which brassicas belong. There are about 300 species of plants susceptible to club root
Clubroot has been known about since the 13th Century but wasn't named until the 19th Century. A severe outbreak decimated the cabbage crop in St Petersburg, Russia and the Russian Gardening Society offered a prize to anyone who could identify the cause and suggest a control for club root. Woronin, a Russian scientist successfully identified the cause of club root as a "plasmodiophorous organism" in 1875, and gave it the namePlasmodiophora brassicae.
Although usually described as a fungal disease it is, in fact, more related to a slime mould.
What Causes Club Root?
It is caused by a soil borne organism Plasmodiophora Brassicae. The organism produces cysts (zoospores) that remain in the soil until a suitable host is available to infect. It then develops and grows, producing more cysts and starting the cycle again.
How does Club Root Spread?
Clubroot is easily spread by transfer of the cyst in soil. Just walking from an infected plot to a clean patch of land with infected soil in the tread of your boots is enough to infect a plot. It is also spread by plants themselves, so only accept brassica seedlings and plants from sources where the land is known to be clear of clubroot
Identifying Club Root / Symptoms of Clubroot
The first sign of clubroot is a wilting of plants, especially in dry weather. As the season progresses, the plants fail to develop well and often fail to develop a crop. These symptoms are quite similar to cabbage root fly attack so a definitive answer will be found by lifting a plant and checking the roots. Clubroot infected they will be swollen and knobbly, like advanced arthritis which is where the old colloquial name of 'fingers and toes' comes from.
How Long does Clubroot Last in the Soil?
The cysts can live for up to 9 years in the soil. If, however a plant is infected towards the end of the period, it starts again. Remember it's not just brassicas but also weeds that are members of the Crucifer family who can be infected.
So once in the soil it can effectively remain a problem permanently with weeds carrying the infection cycle on, even if the plot does not grow brassicas and is well tended.
Crop Rotation and ClubRoot
Because of the lifespan of the cysts, to be effective you would need a totally weed-free plot and a cycle of at least 10 years. Since some people claim a lifespan of 20 years for the cysts, arguably rotation is not a practical way to eradicate clubroot.
