ON IT! My 2020 propagation production line: March
I’m expecting the seeds I sowed indoors in February to start showing signs of germination this week or next week at the very latest. However, I’m afraid that the cucumber and sweet pepper seeds I planted in teabags (experiment, see my 23 February post) aren’t looking terribly hopeful. Is the window sill that I have them on too cold? Patience, patience …
I have to push on. I have almost finalised my selection of seeds to sow in March. I’ve divided them into three groups: Early March Indoors, Late March Indoors, and March Outdoors. And I’m ON IT!
Early March Indoors:
Sunflower Helianthus annus
Spanish Needles Cosmos bipinnatus
Evening Primrose Oenothera oderata
Tomato Solanum lycopersicum (4 varieties)
Potatoes Solanum tuberosum. I will start chitting my maincrop ‘Sarpo Mira’ seed potatoes.
Late March Indoors:
Sweetcorn Zea mays (3 varieties)
This will be a joint effort with my sister. The UK advice is to sow maize seeds indoors two weeks before the last frost is expected. We’ve decided to go a little earlier as we want to get early crops. We’ll utilise the greenhouse if we have to.
I cut it fine last year and won’t be doing that again.
March Outdoors:
Brassicas (cabbage, sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli etc) in seed bed. Seedlings will be transplanted to final growing locations later.
Beetroot Beta vulgaris directly into the ground in final growing location.
Wild flower mixes directly into the ground in their final growing locations.
Potato Solanum tuberosum. I started chitting early season ‘Red Duke of York’ and ‘Sharpe’s Express’ seed potatoes in February and they are now ready to be planted directly into the ground, their final growing location.
Notes:
I planted all of my chitted ‘Red Duke of York’ and ‘Sharpe’s Express’ seed potatoes on 10 March!
My single wildflower bed was quite pretty last year, as you can see below. I’ve included the same mix of flowers in my selection for this year for other beds. I’m expecting last year’s flowers to have self-seeded (surely some plants should have been fertile), so I don’t plan to sow any seeds in that bed.
Wildflowers on my plot, summer 2019. The small starry yellow flowers are from self-seeded tomato plants. I got lots of super-flavourful cherry tomatoes from that patch, even though it was choc full with competing flowering plants! I love mixing ornamentals and edibles!
