Page 38 - Simply Veg Issue 1 2016

Seasonal Jobs
by Derek Brooks FNVS
January
You can only sow seeds this early if you have a heated greenhouse (or use somewhere light
in the house) and preferably with a propagator. If you have these facilities
you can sow onions and leeks to give them a long growing season. Sow thinly in trays of any proprietary seed or multipurpose compost and when the seedlings are large enough prick them out into small pots or cell trays. If you don’t have these facilities you can of course buy in your plants but you may have to order them.
Garlic can also be planted this month if you have not already planted it. Set the cloves in pots or cell trays into your usual multipurpose compost in the greenhouse. Once they start growing harden them off ready for planting outside when the weather has warmed up a little. Garlic are hardy so can be planted out during mild spells if they have been properly harden off.
At this time of year I have a load of manure delivered at the allotment which I barrow onto the beds and fork in, weather permitting of course. Don’t attempt any digging if the ground is either too
Bedding plant seeds germinated
wet or frozen. I grow
onions and leeks in
the same bed each
year and also the
runner beans. For all
the other veg crops I
use a four year crop
rotation so that no crop occupies the same ground for four years. This is mainly to avoid a build up of particular pests and diseases that affect certain crops. The four crops I rotate are potatoes, root crops (other than potatoes), brassicas and “others”. This last bed contains broad beans, French beans, peas, courgettes and sweet corn. All these beds are arranged so that the crops grown
important in attracting pollinating insects which some of our crops depend on. I grow sweet peas on the same structure of canes as the runner beans for this reason.
For the runner beans and sweet peas I dig parallel trenches the depth of a spade and about a foot wide, fork over the bottom then half ll the trenches with plant material such as spent annuals and dahlia stems.
Before I manure the beds I take a
sample of each one to test the pH (acidity or alkalinity). pH 7 is neutral and anything below is acid and anything above is alkaline;
in each bed need similar treatment. Each
of these beds is manured each year except the root crop bed. This is important because these crops don’t need manure.
The dahlia, chrysanthemum and gladioli beds are also manured each year. I am, by the way, writing about owers in these notes as well as vegetables as I think everyone on our allotments grows some owers. They are
Garlic are hardy so can be planted out during mild spells
38 simplyvegetables
Chrysanth cuttings on warming bench
Chrysanth stools on warming bench
Fruit tree planted with graft union a few inches above ground