Page 45 - Simply Vegetables Winter 2021/22

February
The few subjects that I mentioned last month for planting can still be planted now, fruit trees and bushes, rhubarb, shallots and garlic so please refer to those notes for planting methods.
Also, all that I wrote last month about clearing the ground, weeding, and getting the beds ready for planting still applies this month. You should make every effort to get this work finished this month. If you have not yet dug trenches for runner beans and sweet peas, do it as soon as you can
to give the soil time to settle before planting.
I mentioned sowing onions, leeks and broad beans last month. These can still be sown but there are other vegetable crops that can be sown if you have a heated greenhouse with
a propagator, namely tomatoes, peppers, aubergines celery and cucumbers. Cucumber seeds are large and so I prefer to sow them singly in small pots. The seeds of the others are not as large but, apart from celery, are large enough to space out. Sow them in trays of a good seed or multipurpose compost, about an inch (2.5cm) apart and cover lightly with more compost. When they germinate and are large enough to handle they can come
out of the propagator and be potted singly into small pots. Celery seed is the smallest of all vegetable seeds. Sow them as thinly as you can on the surface of the compost, just press them in but don’t cover them. When they germinate, transfer them to other trays and space them out about an inch (2.5cm) apart.
Lettuce and beetroot can also be sown but they don’t need a propagator. I prefer to sow these in cell trays, 3 or 4 in each cell and reduced to one when they germinate.
I have written before about the
Chrysanth stools
importance of flowers in vegetable gardens to attract beneficial insects so I make no apologies for writing about then again. So, while we are on the subject of sowing, it is time to start sowing half hardy annuals. Most of them will be
when they do, just use a fine spray so that you don’t disturb the seeds. After 3 or 4 days, look at them every day because as soon as they germinate you need to remove the glass and newspaper and take them out of the
alright sown in March
but there are some
that benefit from an
early start. Those I sow
this month are salvias,
petunias, and lobelia.
There are also some
perennials which flower
the same year if sown
early, such as achillea, penstemons and dwarf delphiniums. I put all of these in a propagator and sow them thinly, as I said for celery. Lobelia
and petunia seeds are small so don’t cover them, but just press then into the compost. Salvia seeds are slightly bigger so cover them lightly with fine compost. With all these seeds that I have mentioned, I water the compost before sowing and cover the trays with sheets of glass cut to the right size and sheets of newspaper. They shouldn’t need watering again for a few days but
propagator.
Still on flowers, if
you grow Chrysanths and dahlias it is time to start them into growth if you have a propagator or a warming bench. Chrysanths should have been planted in boxes last year when they had
finished flowering. Dahlia tubers should have been dried over winter and they can be planted in boxes now. Don’t cover them, leave the top of the tubers just visible above the compost. I stand the boxes of Chrysanths and dahlias on warming benches with warming cables between layers of sand to start them into growth. If
you have no propagator or warming bench, leave the dahlias till next month before boxing up. Alternatively, don’t box them up at all. Leave them till late April or May then plant them
Celery seed is the smallest of all vegetable seeds
Leeks potted up
Onions germinated
Simply Vegetables 45