MARCH IN THE VEGGIE PATCH

Photo: It's time to prune those fruit bushes.

It’s time for me to look at my imaginary vegetable patch. I will have the real thing in a while but for now I will have to pretend that I’m planting things. My back garden is drying out a bit so it won’t be long before I can go out there and build some raised beds and get rid of the old carpets that are keeping the mud from seeping under the door.


If I were in a position to plant something then now would be about the time to put in rhubarb, horseradish, asparagus and artichokes. These are all perennial plants so plant them around the edges of the beds or put them in a clump on their own, that way they won’t be an obstruction when it comes to getting the beds ready for seedlings.

Seed potatoes should be coming out soon, especially early varieties. The seed potatoes tend to get too hot and get soft quickly in the shops. Sometimes the roots have grown and tangled together, so it’s a good idea to get them early, even if it means keeping them in the dark in a cool place for a week or two. It’s better than them spoiling in the shop. Spread them out in a box or cardboard egg box and sprout them in a shed or on a cool windowsill in the house in a few weeks when the ground has warmed up.

SEED SOWING
Start onions from seed in trays or pots later on this month, I personally like the single cell trays as there is no root disturbance when it comes to planting time. Put them in a sunny spot indoors. Keep trimming the tops to about four inches (put them in your soup) and plant them out in March or April.

Here’s something even I can do now as I have some fish boxes. Plant lettuce and radish seed and cover with clear plastic or glass and put in a sunny spot outside. Keep the frost off the plants by covering them with a blanket or something similar if a cold spell sets in.February is the time to prune fruit trees. Cut back old or diseased wood from pear, apple and cherry trees and cut back overlapping branches which will cut out light to the centre of the tree in summer.



Fruit bushes such as grapes, raspberries and blackberries could also be pruned now. Make sure that you use sharp tools for cutting. If you cut cleanly there is no need to use any pruning paint or sealer after the job is done.

Horticultural.

SPRING BULBS

( Click on the title for the Royal Horticultural society website)


CARNDONAGH GARDENING CLUB
I mostly shy away from anything that resembles a club. I suppose the phrase by one of the Marx brothers still rings in my ears about not wanting to join a club that would have me as a member. The last club that I went to was the cub scouts when I was eight. I left after the second week after a tall person with a woggle told me that I had to buy a uniform. Me in a uniform? No way, I was going to wear what everyone else my age was wearing and be different!

When I got to the Wesley hall, thankfully no one was in a uniform. There was a good turn out of about twenty or so people and after a brief introduction where the minutes of the last meeting were mentioned; it was down to business with some seasonal tips. One that I liked was about putting leaves in dustbin liner bags to rot down as compost for next year. The woman that mentioned this stressed that you should always remember where you leave them as she lost hers in the garden last year!

The speakers name was Derek Turbett and he was here to talk to us about spring bulbs and to give us a slide show of the pictures he has taken over the years, which were very professional. I confess I did fall into a daydream a few times during the evening (some people might say that I fell asleep, which I strongly deny!) When Derek started to talk in-depth about daffodils, in which he specialises, I found I drifted off a bit but thankfully I didn’t fall off my seat.

Here are a few topics that Derek covered.

SNOWDROPS AND CROCUS
One of the earliest bulbs to flower are the snowdrops. If you want to have some for the garden you will be better to wait until the beginning of march and approach a friend with some in their garden. When the flowers have gone over, or finished flowering, a clump can be dug out to put in your own garden, the technical term is getting them “in the green”, dig down about six inches, this will stop you chopping into the bulbs. Derek recommended that you didn’t buy the bulbs from garden centres if they have dried up as you wont get good results. Sometimes specialist bulbs are available and you can pay up to 4 euro for a single bulb.

Crocus bulbs will go to seed in April to May and if you are ambitious you can plant the seeds straight away. You have to be patient though as it takes up to four years before a flower appears.



Bluebells are a welcome sight in woodland areas in the spring. Derek told us that he dug some up from a spoil heap a few years ago and has been trying to get rid of them ever since. He has light, sandy soil and they are quickly taking over his garden. An interesting point that I wasn’t aware of is that there are two different types of bluebell, the native one that has the bell flowers on just one side of the stem. The other is a very invasive fast spreading one that originated from Spain; the bells on these stems go all the way around.


DAFFODILS
As I mentioned earlier, Derek is a specialist in daffodils. He is a member of the Northern Ireland daffodil group and has travelled the world with his bulbs. One bulb that he produced is called the Causeway sunset and each bulb costs 80 euro each to buy (if you are interested)! You can’t mass-produce daffodil bulbs, you have to plant a bulb and dig it up the following year and hope that the bulb has divided. The process is then repeated until you have built up a stock. The reason these bulbs are so expensive is because there were only ten to sell. There are 24,000 different daffodil bulbs that are registered (you can read the list if you go on to the R.H.S site). Anyone can grow his or her own unique daffodil. Take the fluffy bit from the centre of a daffodil and use this to tickle inside the flower of another different type of daffodil and wait until the seeds are ripe. Grow the seeds and after four years of waiting patiently you will have a few bulbs that will produce original flowers. The reason for the 24,000 different types is that the slightest difference between a flower, be it a slightly thicker stem or the head tilting a fraction more than another would make it different from any other.

When putting daffodil bulbs into pots for a spring display, they can be put in at different depths and as long as you plant the same variety they will all flower at the same time. The bulbs can be dug up when the leaves have died down to separate the new bulbs. These can be pulled off and replanted.






Horticultural.

WHAT'S NEW

WHATS NEW ON THE MARKET?

Rubber mulch
Recycled rubber mulch will be popular this year, I’m sure. It could take preference over wood bark. Its long lasting, clean and provides a safe play surface for children. The shredded rubber also looks good and keeps the garden low maintenance. There are many different grades of rubber mulch available. One company called Rubbascape produce the 100 per cent recycled rubber product. It's nearly five times heavier than wood mulch, so it stays in place and is good on uneven or wet ground. I am sure it will get a mixed review though as it isn't exactly organic!

Carpet stones
Putting down large areas of paving is time consuming. One product that will really help to save time is carpet stones. Carpet stones are great for building pathways or patios without the time and expense of laying individual stones. The stones are already joined together, to make an easy-to-lay, flexible mat, which can be cut to go around awkward spaces. Lay on a semi-dry mix of sand and cement followed by a dry mix of sand and cement, which should be brushed into the joints for pointing.

To find out more about the carpet stone range visit

MARCH IN THE KITCHEN GARDEN

Photo: Peach blossom.

Outdoor sowings
Crops to sow outdoors or under cloches now include broad beans, beetroots, brussels sprouts, summer cabbages, leeks, lettuces, hardy peas and radishes.

Seed potatoes
Set out seed potatoes in trays and stand in a cool, bright position for shoots to form. Early varieties can be planted in March, but plant main-crop potatoes later in April.

Shallots
Plant shallot sets now, spacing them at 15cm (6in) intervals in rows 30cm (12in) apart. When the conditions have warmed up later this month, onion sets can be planted out into a firm seedbed.

Early blossom
Protect flowers on trained or compact fruit trees on frosty nights. Remove covers in the day for insects to reach the blooms. Hand-pollinate the flowers of peaches and nectarines with a soft brush.

Plant out Jerusalem artichokes. It’s about the time of year to plant the seeds of peas, early carrots, salad onions, beetroot, spinach, cabbage, radish, and turnip. Keep them in a cold frame or greenhouse and protect them from rodents. I lost all my first sowings in one evening when mice got into my cold frame a few years ago

Horticultural.

HORSE MUCK

Hi Ian
I’ve been told horse manure is too strong for growing vegetables, if this is true what is it good for growing apart from mushrooms. Thanks Charlie by e-mail

Reply
Raw horse muck has a reputation for being thrown under rose bushes without rotting down. Adding any type of manure to the soil in its raw state might be a bit too strong for plant roots. It all depends what the muck is mixed with as well. Wood shavings, hay and straw would be present in muck that has been picked up from the stables. Both of these ingredients will rob the soil of nitrogen as they rot down. If the horse muck was well rotted before you added it to the soil, I cannot see any problem with it being too strong, as long as it is mixed in well and not touching the roots. There could be a problem with weed seeds in muck taken from the fields though. Horses don’t seem to process their food very thoroughly and the seeds survive the stomach. I put in well rotted muck into my raised beds last year. I don’t know if I put it too deep, but the vegetable growth was quite poor - horse muck isn’t really that strong when it is rotted down, so maybe I didn’t use enough!

Horticultural.

PROTEA

THE LONGER LASTING FLOWER

I spotted an interesting flower last week in a floral display. It was called a Protea. The flower heads are very similar to thistles and it is said that they last far longer than any other flower head in a display. In their native country of South Africa they are the national flower. Climate wise they probably wouldn’t be suitable for outside here but I’ll bet they could be grown in a greenhouse. The Proteaceae are an ancient family, probably one of the oldest groups of flowering plants. Scientific probes into the early history of plant life have shown that the ancestors of today's Protea were present 300 million years ago. There are some 329 known species of Protea in South Africa. In these areas the flowers are mostly harvested in the wild, though in later years many flower plantations have sprung up for the commercial growing of the flower

Horticultural.