13 Mar - Sowing Brassicas, Broad Beans & Spring Onions

With the first week of snow and ice, March has seemed pretty cold this year and there has been significant rain too. Finally, we've had a few signs of Spring over the past few days with daytime temperatures getting up to around 14 degrees. The forecast anticipates another dip in temperatures this weekend with possible frosts at night and two days of 4 degrees but, temperatures are set to rise again next week. We really need some dry, fine days so the soil can be prepared for the early potatoes and onions sets.

In anticipation of Spring arriving in the next week or two, I've been sowing brassicas. All sowings have gone into cells and will be put into a heated propagator. I've sown my cabbages, both Summer and Winter varieties. My Summer cabbages are Primo II (aka Golden Acre), they always heart up well into a large size. My Winter cabbages are Tundra F1, they are much slowing growing so need to be sown now so they are ready by the late Autumn and early Winter after the Summer cabbages have been harvested.

Time to think about Christmas! OK, not really but if you want Brussels Sprouts for your festive lunch then it's time to sow them this month. I've gone for Bosworth F1 again this year as they always produce loads of sprouts and don't 'blow' open. I recommend that you spend an extra few pence on F1 sprout seeds as they will give you better crop than the cheaper, old varieties. Remember to protect against pests by netting brassicas.

Broad beans have also been sown. This year, like last, I've gone for Bunyard's Exhibition; they produce a large crop of broad beans though they do require staking and tying as they grow. Once germinated they will grow rapidly so will have to be planted out relatively quickly. Broad beans are pretty good and they will grow well if planted direct into the plot, just pop two or three seeds at every station and thin down to one plant.

Finally today I've sown some Spring onions (White Lisbon) into small cells as well. Salad onions are supposed to be easy to grow direct but I've seldom got good results doing this so I sow a small pinch of seed into each cell and plant them out in clumps when they are ready.

Everything sown today has been placed into a heated propagator to start them off. Hopefully the temperatures will be high enough by the end of the month so the young plants can be transferred to an unheated greenhouse to grow on, (I always keep an eye on over-night temperatures until May just in case I have to cover them with fleece to protect against frost).

That's it for now, bye.