At this time of year, a weather beating greenhouse is invaluable. Hot sunny days, followed by clear, cold nights means that the remains wet and cold, so it is too early for sowing outdoors directly into the soil.
It’s long been accepted that parsnips are sown outdoors in February but the truth is that sowing early means erratic germination, and re-sowing once the soil warms up. You can either wait until late in March or even April or gain time by sowing both parsnips and carrots in modules, providing they are planted out before the roots become too large as the resent root disturbance.
Sow them from early March in an unheated greenhouse in the cardboard centers of kitchen towel rolls, about 15cm long placed vertically in seed trays and filled with peat free multipurpose compost. Sow three seeds per tube then thin to leave the strongest seedling. I also sow round rooted beetroot and carrots around the edge of a 7.5cm pot (or a similar size), for later ‘hardening off’ and transplanting. Thin as required and harvest when they are about the size of a golf ball; once planted, they develop like eggs in a nest.
Peas can be sown in pots, ‘root trainers’ or sections of plastic guttering cut to a manageable length, usually multiples of the width of the plot, in peat free multipurpose compost in a repeat pattern of a 5 on a dice. ‘Harden off’ the seedlings when they are 5-7.5cm high, soak the compost, then starting at one end of the drill and moving towards the other end of the drill, slide the peas and compost gently down into a shallow pre-dug trench and gently firm. Adding a little detergent to the water helps the compost slide down smoothly. Protect them immediately with netting to stop them from being eaten by pigeons, making sure that there is a big gap between the netting and your plants.
It is also worth sowing a few leaves like lettuces, spinach, salad leaves in pots, trays or modules as a backup, too in case the weather deteriorates after the first sowing. It is very much ‘belt and braces’ at this time of year.
Citrus should be repotted just before they start into growth. Tease the old compost gently from the roots, washing it away, if necessary, then trim back the roots by about 1/3 and repotting into peat free John Innes no 2 (or similar) mixed with 20% horticultural grit for drainage or peat free ericaceous compost if you are likely to have to use hard water. Later in the month, switch to summer fertilizer and increase watering as new shoots are formed.
Containerised figs can be treated in a similar way, but are transplanted into peat free John Innes no 3 compost (or similar) leaving a gap of about 2.5cm between the compost surface and rim of the pot for watering. Once the weather warms in early June, if space is short, they go outside onto a sheltered patio. Make sure that the new pot is one or two sizes larger; don’t overpot.
Later in the month tender fuchsias can be stirred from their winter rest. Mist with tepid water once or twice a day. When the first shoots appear, give them a little tepid water, increasing the amount as more growth appears. Spraying the stems with tepid water softens the bark and helps the new shoots to emerge.
