Page 44 - Simply Vegetables Spring 2025

Seasonal jobs
DEREK BROOKS FNVS
April
This is just about the busiest month in
the year as there is a whole range of
seeds to be sown both direct in the beds
and in the greenhouse and also plants to
be planted assuming, of course, that you
have your beds ready for planting.
There are vegetables that are tender, or
half-hardy which means that they won’t
stand any frost. They can’t be planted
outside till late May or June but now is the
time to sow the seeds in the greenhouse
to give then an early start. Put them in a
propagator if you have one, as I do, They
will be alright just in the greenhouse but
obviously they will take longer to grow. If
you haven’t got a greenhouse they can be
sown in the beds where they are to grow
but, in this case, you need to wait till May.
The vegetables we are talking about here
are runner beans, French beans (both
dwarf and climbing), marrows, courgettes,
pumpkins, squashes and sweet corn. I sow
them all in three and a half inch (9cm.)
pots, one seed per pot except for sweet
corn which go in drinking cups, one in
each. Don’t forget that all plants raised in
greenhouses like this need hardening off in
a cold frame before planting out.
This is the month I sow my peas they are
not tender like those I have just mentioned
so they can be sown direct where they are
to grow, about 9 inches (22.5 cm.) apart.
Tomato plants ready for planting
However, I prefer to sow mine in drinking
cups, but they don’t need extra heat. This
also applies to sweet peas; I mentioned last
month that I sow these in April.
Whatever you are sowing or planting out,
rake in some general fertiliser such as fish,
blood and bone.
Cabbages, cauliflowers, calabrese and
Brussel sprouts can still be sown direct
where they are to grow but I said last
month that I prefer to sow them in 3-inch
Onion sets ready for planting
44 Simply Vegetables
KEY TO SUPPLIERS
D – Dobies
S – Suttons
B – Browns
F – Fothergills
R – Robinsons
Sh – Shelleys
M – Marshalls
T – Thompson
and Morgans
(7.5 cm.) pots, in the greenhouse, 3 or 4
in each and thinned to one when they
germinate.
Salad crops such as lettuce, beetroot,
rocket, spinach, endive and salad onions
can also be sown direct or in cell trays, as
I do. I told you last month that I grow my
long carrots and parsnips in tubes or large
drums with bore holes in and stump carrots
in buckets or bore holes and these can still
all be sown. Crops that I think are better
sown in drills are swedes, turnips, radish,
salsify and scorzonera. Rake the soil as
fine as you can and make drills about half
an inch (one cm) deep and sow the seeds
thinly along them and cover with soil.
Broad beans can also be sown as I
described last month, 2 inches (5 cm.)
deep and 8 inches (20 cm.) apart in rows. I
always sow a few in pots in case any don’t
germinate.
I wrote last month about sowing annual
flower seeds both hardy and half hardy and
they can still be sown now. Hardy ones can
be sown direct in the beds or in trays in the
greenhouse, as I do but they don’t need
the extra heat of a propagator. When the
seedlings are large enough to handle, they
need transferring to other trays of potting
compost, spaced one and a half inches
(4 cm.) or 2 inches (5 cm.) apart. This
process is called “pricking out”. They still
need to be kept in the greenhouse for a few
weeks then hardened off in a cold frame