Page 31 - Simply Vegetables Winter 2024/25

Swedes
Most half-hardy annual flower seeds are sown in March but if you have a propagator there are a few that benefit from an earlier start. These are lobelia, petunia, and salvia. Fill a seed tray with seed or multipurpose compost and level it. I have a flat board with a handle on it for the purpose. Water it and sow the seeds thinly over the surface and cover lightly with sieved compost and level again. Cover with a sheet of glass. I have sheets cut at the right size for this. Put a sheet of newspaper on the top and put the tray in the propagator. To save space, trays can be stood on top of each other but after three days you need to examine them every day because as soon as the seeds germinate, they need full light so they need taking from the propagator and the glass and paper removed. If you haven’t got a propagator, you could put them on the kitchen windowsill or wait till March before sowing. When the seedlings are large enough to handle, they need pricking out into other trays spacing them 2 inches (5 cm.) apart which will be late March or April.
If you grow Chrysanths and have
kept your stools over winter, it is time to start them into growth to take cuttings
if you have a propagator or a warming bench. They should have been planted in boxes when they had finished flowering last October or November. I have three warming benches that I put the boxes on with warming cables between layers of sand. They will be alright in a propagator but if you have neither they will still grow but the cuttings will be later and, of course, so will be the flowers.
If you grow dahlias and have kept the tubers over winter, you can also start them into growth to take cuttings as I have said for Chrysanths. Don’t bury the tubers, plant them in boxes of compost with their tops just showing above the compost. Put them
Winter onions growing
Manure forked into veg beds
on a warming bench or in a propagator.
If you haven’t got these facilities, you can plant the tubers outside where they are to flower but not till May.
Apples, pears, autumn raspberries, currants, gooseberries and roses can all be pruned as I described last month, and winter heathers can be given a trim.
Another job for the fruit garden now is
to tidy the strawberry bed by removing all dead or dying leaves. Also, it is a good idea to give fruit trees a mulch of well-rotted manure or compost. Just spread it around the tree and let the worms work it in.
Last month I mentioned buying seed potatoes and putting them in boxes to chit. If you didn’t get them then, do so this month.
Some vegetable crops are perennial which means that they stay in the same position for several years. They include
asparagus, rhubarb and Jerusalem artichokes. It is a good idea to give them a mulch as I have said for fruit trees.
If you grow perennial flowers ,cut the plants back to keep them compact and allow them to re-grow in the spring. You can increase perennials by taking root cuttings if they have fleshy roots. Dig up
a plant and cut some of the roots into sections about 2 inches (5cm.) long. Plant them in pots or trays to half their depth . Make sure you keep them the right way up. You can put several cuttings in each pot but keep them a few inches apart. Put a layer of coarse sand on the surface .Pot them individually when they begin to grow.
Spring cabbage would benefit from a feed with a food high in nitrogen
Last month I mentioned washing seed trays and pots so finish them this month if you didn’t do so then.
Simply Vegetables 31