Gardening
From our Resident Expert, Nell Williams

This is the time of year when I really get moving in my garden. Grand New Year resolutions of turning my patch of ground into a vegetable paradise, and scribbled ideas on paper have remained just that for the past month. It is now when I feel spring is coming that I get outside and stuck in properly. January is far too fickle a month. One day the birds will be singing, and the air smells of spring, the next day the pond is frozen, and all is dusted in white.

For the coming year in Connect I will be looking at the various goings on at my allotment, the successes and failures, as well as some inspirational groups using allotments for education and community involvement. Hopefully it will motivate everyone to get growing more of their own vegetables, and fruit.

My allotment is apparently 10 rods in size. It’s about 9 metres by 24 metres in real money! There is a shed, (very useful for hiding from the rain!), and a little section of polytunnel (allotment regulations prevent a proper sized one). There are also compost bins, coldframes, a comfrey patch, and a variety of fruit bushes and trees. All this I have done - rather haphazardly -over the last three years, since taking on my plot. Then it was the obligatory derelict area, filled with various rusting objects (including 3 lockers each 6ft high), old carpet, and perennial weeds.

During January, I put down strips of permeable black matting on the paths. The idea is that it will keep down the weeds, as well as providing clear pathways between beds. Posts and wires for a new raspberry bed have also been added, and manure spread on some of the beds. Luckily the mass of self-seeded nasturtiums that took over last year have acted as living mulch and prevented many weeds taking hold.

Jobs for February & March
From the notes I have kept over the last couple of years, the weather has dictated much of what I have (or haven’t) done on the plot. In general the ground has been too wet to do much in February, so tidying the shed, edging beds, painting the coldframes, burning prunings are all things to get on with. There is little point in planting seeds as the cold and wet either makes them rot, or they get off to a really slow start. Later sowings will grow more vigorously and soon catch up – or overtake- earlier plantings.

Broad beans, shallots, onion sets, and garlic can all be planted out in March. This year I have invested in proper garlic bulbs to plant, rather than putting in some random variety from the supermarket. The supermarket ones work out much cheaper, but so far have always produced tiny cloves, which are fiddly to peel. So I am going to try out some un-named garlic from the local seed merchant/ farm supply shop, and elephant garlic, Solent Wight, Iberian Wight, Albigensian Wight and Early Wight garlic from the Garlic Farm based on – you’ve guessed it – the Isle of Wight. Hopefully they will produce decent sized garlic bulbs.

I’ve also planted onion sets Red Baron and Stuttgart, shallots Sante and some banana shaped ones from a friend. Onions remain an eternal mystery to me and I find some do really well whilst others stay virtually the same size they went in. But they are part of the rotation, and as I seem to always get some decent sized ones I intend to persevere.

The broad beans I have planted are Aquadulce – which should have gone in the ground in the autumn - , and Crimson Flowered, an old variety, less prolific but rather beautiful.

Seeds of lettuce, parsley, chives, beetroot, carrots and spring onions can be sown under cloches in March.

Now is also the right time to chit seed potatoes – this means putting them in a light place to encourage sprouting, to be ready for planting in April.

Sow seeds of tomatoes, aubergines and peppers in heated propagators in February and March. Tomatoes germinate much quicker than peppers and aubergines, and need a slightly shorter growing season, so if you have limited space start the peppers and aubergines off first.

A good job for this time of year is planting fruit trees and bushes. The advantage of doing it now, whilst the trees are dormant, is that you can purchase bare rooted plants, which will be about half the cost of ones in pots. Space will be a deciding factor in what you plant. Many fruit trees will be available on different rootstocks. Rootstocks dictate the eventual size of the tree, and can restrict the growth to make them suitable for even the smallest garden. Another point to remember is – most trees do better if there is another nearby to pollinate the blossom. Therefore you need to choose two varieties of, say apple, which flower at the same time. Alternatively you can get family trees with two or more varieties grafted onto the same plant.

Fruit bushes take up less space, and don’t always need a second to help pollinate. Blackberries, loganberries etc can be trained along walls and take up little space. Nowadays there are plenty of thornless varieties out there to choose from.

If you have established fruit trees and bushes, now is a good time to prune them. The basic idea is to remove dead and diseased wood, and open up the framework to allow air to circulate, and light to get in. For more specific information on particular plants consult a book such as the RHS Pruning and Training manual.

Companies such as Scotts Nurseries in Somerset, and Thornhayes near Cullompton have a huge variety of fruit trees, and should be able to advise you on rootstocks, varieties etc for your individual requirements.